My Rainbow fish woke up with this white stuff all over the top of them
- Thread starter Anon_05
- Start date
I honestly don't know, but I would be worried that is was some sort of fungus.
Has anything happened that might have stressed them lately? I don't know why it's just them, unless they are more susceptible than other fish varieties and show it sooner.
Have you got another tank you could quarantine them in, and treat both tanks - theirs in the hope you'll get rid of whatever it is, and the main tank as a prophylactic measure to try to stop is spreading?
I'm sure that wiser heads will be along in a moment and someone will probably identify it and offer advice.
It's usually helpful if you can include water parameters eg pH, nitrate and nitrite levels etc, temperature - the more information the better, really. Have you added any new plants recently - anything that might be harbouring parasites or infections?
Has anything happened that might have stressed them lately? I don't know why it's just them, unless they are more susceptible than other fish varieties and show it sooner.
Have you got another tank you could quarantine them in, and treat both tanks - theirs in the hope you'll get rid of whatever it is, and the main tank as a prophylactic measure to try to stop is spreading?
I'm sure that wiser heads will be along in a moment and someone will probably identify it and offer advice.
It's usually helpful if you can include water parameters eg pH, nitrate and nitrite levels etc, temperature - the more information the better, really. Have you added any new plants recently - anything that might be harbouring parasites or infections?
Thank you i appreciate it!, yeah i was thinking maybe ich? i just did a 50% water change, ammonia was very lightttt green so not bad but the nitrate was RED, ph perfect and nitrite was also perfect. I read rainbows are more susceptible to ich but i would like an expert on here to confirm maybe.
It's definitely not ich.
I'm not sure what it is, but it certainly isn't ich.
It looks like something has irritated them enough to make them over produce their slime coat perhaps, but again, no expert.
But ammonia readings of any shade are not okay. Ammonia literally burns the fishes gills and skin. If ammonia or nitrites are anything other than zero, you need to be doing water changes until they're at zero again, and keep monitoring them. Then if you get a reading above zero again, you do water changes until it's zero again.
I can't stress it enough, I looked back at your thread in July, when people explained about ammonia and water changes. When was your last water change before the one you did today? And what are your ammonia/nitrite and nitrate readings now, after the water change?
I'm not sure what it is, but it certainly isn't ich.
It looks like something has irritated them enough to make them over produce their slime coat perhaps, but again, no expert.
But ammonia readings of any shade are not okay. Ammonia literally burns the fishes gills and skin. If ammonia or nitrites are anything other than zero, you need to be doing water changes until they're at zero again, and keep monitoring them. Then if you get a reading above zero again, you do water changes until it's zero again.
I can't stress it enough, I looked back at your thread in July, when people explained about ammonia and water changes. When was your last water change before the one you did today? And what are your ammonia/nitrite and nitrate readings now, after the water change?
Ammonia was very light green almost yellow nitrite was that perfect blue (0) no purple at all and Nitrate is the red before the last. I been doing 20% water changes every 2-3 weeks, every level was perfect besides nitrate that was a little orange. I do see now though though after this water change i did alot of it has come off of the rainbow fish 
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What Adorabelle is getting at is that any ammonia at all means something is wrong. So if you got a "very light green" reading that is still an ammonia reading and means you need to perform large daily water changes for several days. Ammonia should always be 0ppm. Typically you only will have problems with disease and illness when something is wrong in the tank (which can be many factors), it doesn't just randomly happen without cause. And an ammonia reading is probably the leading cause of sickness for fish. It's good that your nitrite reading is 0 though.
Also, you should be changing at least 25%, ideally 50-75%, of your water weekly - not every 2-3 weeks. That's probably the cause of your ammonia readings - water changes that are too small and infrequent.
Also, you should be changing at least 25%, ideally 50-75%, of your water weekly - not every 2-3 weeks. That's probably the cause of your ammonia readings - water changes that are too small and infrequent.
Yeah i see that thanks guys, my water readings have been checked every week and they were perfect 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and light orange nitrate but today when the rainbows woke up like that we saw some ammonia and nitrate at 20 which is actually the third to last reading as im looking at the booklet and 0 nitrite still. Ph is always perfect.
It's excess mucous caused by poor water quality or stress or possibly an external protozoan infection. Most likely poor water quality.
Rainbowfish do best in water with a pH above 7.0 and a GH above 150ppm.
Make sure the ammonia and nitrite are always on 0ppm and the nitrate is below 20ppm.
If rainbowfish ever get sick or look unwell, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. If there's no improvement after a couple of water changes, add some salt.
--------------------
Using Salt to Treat Fish Health Issues.
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate will not affect plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
Rainbowfish do best in water with a pH above 7.0 and a GH above 150ppm.
Make sure the ammonia and nitrite are always on 0ppm and the nitrate is below 20ppm.
If rainbowfish ever get sick or look unwell, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. If there's no improvement after a couple of water changes, add some salt.
--------------------
Using Salt to Treat Fish Health Issues.
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate will not affect plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
@Colun_T f it was protozoan, what would we treat with?
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