Fish turning white then dying!!!

Hi all
I have a major problem in my tank.
I noticed 2 days ago that the "Catfish" were all swimming up right at the top of the tank so I did a 50% water change to see if that would help and it did not. I also noticed that the fish have a white colour on there bodies and when you touch it, it is very slimy. I have lost 4 fish in 2 days now
I have also see that on my Frontosa and on the Hi fin Pangasius there eyes have a white layer like "Pop eye" so I take it to be a fungus. can it be any thing else?

Please Help....

 

I had the some thing with some of my fish. About 5 died and that was the end of it.
Had some black netting in the tank and noticed that some white slime would accumalate on it.
Would also like to know what it is.

 

i think its ick. you have such hardcore fish dont let them die to something like this. how have you been treating it? that 50% water change was not a good move it just causes more stress and weakens their slime layer further. get some good medication tetra general tonic is good, add some gud anti stress med to the tank to

dude you need to act fast not wait 2 days . get tetra general tonic it cures most diseases. if you cant see it working by tomorow get a full on ick treatment. in the future treat with general tonic as soon as anything funny appears on your fishes skin

 

I added Velvet cure because some one told me they are 100% sure that is what it is but I don't think so any more. I am sure it is some sort of fungus so I did a 60% water change today as the bottle suggested and then I added the fungus stop from Tetra I will leave the tank for 3 days and the check the fish and do a water change and if needed add more meds...

 

Definitely not something simple like ick that I can assure you.
Know exactly how ick looks.

Gareth it seems only to attack fish with some small injury. My fish that's really healthy and strong is not effected, so far.

 

DISAGREE!!

Almost all our fish diseases are a result of poor water quality. I doubt your water quality is bad gareth, but maybe something with the quality was not 100%, and the disease broke out. The 50% water change was the PERFECT thing to do in my opinion. Yes it can stress out the fish more... but I believe that if the fish are use to water changes, it doesn't effect them too much. I would believe you also did the water change very carefully so as not to cause unnecessary stress

NO NO NO

DO NOT just use any medication unless you know what the disease is! PLEASe. This idea that you can use a multi-purpose tonic is like saying a multivitamen will cure chicken pox!

And the WORST thing you can do is use one medication, and "if it's not working by tomorrow" use another medication. You need to let the first medication run it's course, remove it with a W/C and add Charcoal to the filter for 3 days, and ONLY THEN use a different medication. Mixing medications is DANGEROUS!! Gareth, you might recall that I lost my entire tank's inhabitants, plants, and biofilter due to mixing meds.

This is why it is so important to try and diagnose properly the first time. A misdiagnosis could result in you having to wait 7 days for the wrong medication to run it's course, and then remove it for a further 3 days with charcoal. I think in principle you could remove it instantly with the charcoal, BUT you still have a few days to go through. Misdiagnoses + wrong medication will result in more deaths because you cannot properly medicate.

I stand to be corrected, by Professor Dirk says that a lot of fish diseases can be treated rather successfully just by bettering the quality of your water!

 

When something go wrong in my tank I would usually do a few water changes in succession to make sure the water gets better as fast possible.

The only thing I do treat for is finrot in my hospital tank. I do not treat it in my main tank. Do not know if it is not contagious but only one fish would get it or not.

 

@ Zoom: I agree 100% with you on the fact that it can be the water quality but unfortunately I can't test the water because my Kit is finished so I have to wait till the LFS gets a new one for me.
I am treating the tank now with fungus stop and I am going to run it according to the instructions on the bottle. I will be doing the water changes as the instructions say and yes I do it as best I can not to course any stress to the fish.
I do recall the thread you started where you lost all your fish and I really hope that it does not happen to me now. So I did a 80% water change on the tank now to remove as much of the other meds as possible..
Thanks guys for the replies.

 

I think you are right on the fungus part Gareth. Take note in your tank if there are anything dead. I noticed that any protein based thing, like flakes or so would become a very white puffy ball quickly.

 

I have to say I started getting this problem only after I started with new food so I think that might be the big cause be hide this all.I don't think the fish ate the new food and it has become poisonous to them... That's my Guess any way.

 

can you post some pics please...

 

Gareth do you have any Neons in your tank?

 

im typing from my phone so i have to be brief. first tetra general tonic is designed to be used with its other cures. and it also runs its course in 2 days so i was being safe in giving that advice.

yeah water quality cures. i believe it does when a disease is in early stages.
when a disease is in early stages then by spotting it early doing a 25% percent water change and some general tonic will either stop most diseases or slow down the diseases advancement enough so that water quality can be improved after the water change

how can you say im wrong so bluntly ? I feel its not the smartest thing to do such large water changes especially 50 then 60% after a few days, when there is a disease that is killing of fish ? the fishes slime coat is the main concer, do small water changes gradually.
ther is two ways to skin a cat i can say so much more when im using a pc not my dumb touch screen phone

 

I agree Brads with the water change thing you have typed but I had to do a major water change to get out all the old food and stuff that was folting in the tank and the second big water change I did because I had to remove the other meds but I would normaly only do a 20% or 30% water change daly to get the water right.

@ Dolphin: I will post pics soon just waiting for the water to settle.

 

and remember to use anti stress coat when doing water changes. i made the first post hastily because i saw that no one was helping you out and i figured it was a life or death situation. that? why i said general tonic it will slow down disease if it doesnt cure and its suitable for scale less fish wich is great as your fishes slime layer is compromised by the diseae .

water quality and protecting the fishes slime layer is important i feel they go hand in hand.
next time ill explain beter i see i got into alot of trouble but i figured you were lost.

i always throw in general tonic and stress coat when a fish seems to be getting sick and if the disease develops i go from there . monitoringyour fish is key to prevention as is water quality
shot

 

I think the best way to describe it is: looks like the fish is about to shed its skin like a snake.

Yours like that Gareth?
Mine are schooling fish so not so apparent like big fish.

 

Yes it looks almost looks like that Vis
@ Brads you definitly have a point.
Thanks guys I really appreciate all the help

 

okay well let me know how your fish are doing.
feed them a good diet of live foods it should keep their stress levels down and aid recovery

 

I am feeding them now on cichlid mix, it is a frozen food that has brimshrimp and other stuff hope that this will them recover quicker

 

Without seeing pictures this is not the easiest to diagnose but my first guess, based on your description would be Columnaris Disease. Doing the water change is exactly what you should have done. Try get some pictures up as soon as you can so that we can positively identify the problem as Columnaris Disease is extremely contagious.