Something is off....

[Naughts]

The location of the white marks is not typical of ich.
Take out the coconut shells for a few weeks and do some big water changes as that would be an easy fix; but the symptoms are indicative of a pathogen coming in with the recent arrivals.
Do you quarantine?

 

[Colin_T]

The white mouth (top lip) is most likely a fat lip on the new rainbowfish you got recently.

The fish are covered in excess mucous and have clamped fins. This is typical of something in the water irritating the fish.

The occasional rubbing on things can be poor water quality, chemicals in the water, or an external protozoan infection. However, external protozoan infections (Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina) normally appear as cream, white or grey patches over part or parts of the body. White spot shows up as small white dots on the body and fins. Velvet shows up as a yellow or gold sheen on the fins. Your fish are covered in excess mucous from nose to tail and that is caused by something in the water irritating them.

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Wipe the glass down.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week (if you can). Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

If it continues after a couple of water changes, add some salt. Use 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. keep salt in there for 2 weeks. You can use any type of non-iodised salt so if you have non-iodised cooking salt in the cupborad, that is fine. Otherwise go to a hardware or swimming pool shop and buy a 10kg bag of pool salt and use that.

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Dropping the temperature and increasing hardness will not get rid of Columnaris. You need antibiotics for that, but this is not Columnaris.

Make sure the fish get plenty of plant matter in their diet. Duckweed is a great food for rainbowfish.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I've been doing big water changes this last week, I'm away from home until tomorrow but when I get back I'll take out the coconuts and do another water change with some salt. I'm relieved to hear its not columnaris, freaking out about that. Thank you

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

How are we looking today?

The salt has been in since Sunday, I'm going to do a water change shortly (which is going to be a pain in the neck as I'll have to use a bucket to measure how much salt I need to put back in) ...the fish appear more active and their colours are brighter, there has been a lot of breeding behaviour this morning and I've not seen any flashing..

 

[Wills]

Glad things seem to be getting better - hate it when its not quite obvious as to what is going on.

I had a problem a bit similar quite a few years ago when I added a new piece of wood - it came from an LFS I didn't know but it was a great piece and was plastic wrapped from a brand (I think Aqua One but not 100%) so though should be fine. I pre soaked it to sink it and get the worst of the tannins out but after I added it - it definitely did something as I had similar issues to you. I don't think I lost any fish but when I took the wood out as it seemed the obvious culprit, it smelt pretty bad!

Wills

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

So frustrating! I'm assuming it's the coconuts? I've no idea what else it could have been

The salt is eating my plants though the quicker I can get the salt out the better

 

[seangee]

So frustrating! I'm assuming it's the coconuts? I've no idea what else it could have been

The salt is eating my plants though the quicker I can get the salt out the better

If the fish are fine you can start reducing, its not like medication where you have to complete the course

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

If the fish are fine you can start reducing, its not like medication where you have to complete the course

I'm aware, thank you. I'll give them a couple more days, there's one or 2 that still have excess slime so I should wait a bit longer really

 

[Wills]

So frustrating! I'm assuming it's the coconuts? I've no idea what else it could have been

The salt is eating my plants though the quicker I can get the salt out the better

Did they come wrapped in plastic? I remember that piece of wood did and I've seen coconuts in the same kind of thing? I wonder if there is some kind of contamination going on?

Wills

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Did they come wrapped in plastic? I remember that piece of wood did and I've seen coconuts in the same kind of thing? I wonder if there is some kind of contamination going on?

Wills

Yes they did come to think of it. Like shrink wrap type of thing, the stuff you use heat to shrink around the product

 

[Wills]

Yes they did come to think of it. Like shrink wrap type of thing, the stuff you use heat to shrink around the product

Yeah same thing as me - interesting I wonder if the heat can give off some kind of chemical or solution that is absorbed into natural materials in a way that it isnt in artificial decor (which is what a lot of these manufacturers will be used to packaging).

 

[Slaphppy7]

So frustrating! I'm assuming it's the coconuts? I've no idea what else it could have been

ANYTIME things go awry in an otherwise healthy tank, ask yourself, "have I changed/added anything recently"?

As for the wrapped coconuts, I've never purchased them that way, they've always been just preboiled, sanded, and cleaned

I'm betting they're the culprit...keep those WCs coming, nix the salt

There's lots of DIY vids on YouTube for making your own coco caves, as well...you can use the "meat" from the fresh coconuts to make a nice coconut cake, as well

 

[Alice B]

I'm so uneasy I don't buy fish anymore. I'll just let mine breed. Good luck

 

[Colin_T]

The fish in the latest videos are still unhappy. They still have clamped fins and don't look right. Keep the salt in there for at least 1 more week.

Make sure they get plenty of plant matter in their diet.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

The fish in the latest videos are still unhappy. They still have clamped fins and don't look right. Keep the salt in there for at least 1 more week.

Make sure they get plenty of plant matter in their diet.

I don't see the clamped fins I got another video from this morning, apologies for the glare and the Octonauts on the TV but you can see the fish look amazing and there's breeding action...if they were unhappy I wouldn't be seeing this, surely?