Rainbow Shark with white patches

[Smitty]

Howdy,

Yesterday afternoon I saw what looked like white patches on my Rainbow Shark (he is about 2" long) by the top fin. This morning I noticed he wasn't swimming around as much as usual and see that now almost his entire back 1/2 is covered in a white fungus looking thing. I say a fungus because it looked flaky, not smooth (although it did look smooth last night).

I've tried to get pictures this morning but he is pretty much hiding and it isn't going to happen.

Any thoughts? My biggest concern right now is it spreading to any of my other inhabitants...

[EnyaGirl]

This sounds just like what happened to my Rainbow Shark. I still am not sure if it was Ich or a fungus, but I used Super Ich Cure in my tank (two treatments, according to the bottle), and it cleared it up. From what I understand (and I am new to fish tanks, so please consider that when taking my advice!), medications can kill your biofilter, so if you have a quarantine tank to treat the little guy, that would probably be best.

[Jnam]

Does it look like baby powder? or more like a mucous?

[Smitty]

It is hard for me to get a really good look because the guy hides so much, but my guess would me more of a baby power. It doesn't look runny or goopy or anything, very fine. At first last night I thought he just got bit by another fish and lost some scales because it was smooth, this morning is when it looked a rough around the edges.

[mike47517]

He could have gotten injured then stressed out because of it. Since you thought he might have gotten bit by another fish. The stress probably led to his sickness. Baby powder huh? If it looks like baby powder then i would say its ich/ick. Ick is easy to cure. Just turn you heat up to the mid 80's for a while and it will die off. But remember to only turn the heat up 1 or 2 degrees per hour to ensure you dont stress the fish.

[Jnam]

Ich is more like salt grains. Velvet looks like baby powder and for me it is usually fatal. Not that there isnt medication for it or treatments i personally have never been succesful at curing it. Velvet (fish disease) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the wiki try googleing it and look at the pictures of fish with the disease see if it is simmalar

[mike47517]

no offense but i dont trust wikipedia as far as i can throw 'em

[Jnam]

Thats fine how is this for another source
Velvet Disease
or
Velvet

Wiki is ok as long as you double check your findings. I agree though that its use as a sole point for information cannot be trusted.

[Smitty]

Ok, here are some pictures of the fish. These are the best I could get. I didn't try to shrink them or anything.

[Smitty]

Oh, I did buy an Ich remover stuff "Ich Attack". I was told I needed something like this because of my Snowflake Eel. Says it treats Ich, Fungus, Protozoans and Dinoflagellates. I have to add 6 tsp (for my 55g) a day.

[Jnam]

I trust Kordon but i have never used this product. It may be worth a try after reading up on it they suggest to avoid PWC durring treatment. I would do a least a 50% WC or more before starting treatment. It looks like fungus to me, the info on the ICH attack says it treat both fungus and photosynthetic infections (velvet is the second type). Good luck with treatment Anyone else care to say what that patch looks like on his shark

[Smitty]

Well, I did a 30-40% WC two days ago, and started the treatment yesterday so I hope that was enough.

[tetroid]

Looks like a bacterial infection, probably columnaris. Columnaris is notorious for resembling a fungus at first. That lesion is almost diagnostic for columnaris - it's called a 'saddleback lesion' and is typical in bottom feeders. You can google it for more info. Do you see white 'pimples' inside the infected area, or red spots? I thought I saw signs of them in the photo. Anyway, I would recommend moving that fish to a quarantine tank and treating it with a gram negative antibiotic like Maracyn 2, Kanamycin, or oxytetracyline.

[Smitty]

Well, I don't have another tank in the house. If it is an issue I will just 'remove' him and get a replacement.

I don't recall seeing any pimples of any kind, and I've been looking a lot.

[tetroid]

The white 'pimples' or red spots/streaks would have confirmed it as bacterial. Anyway, I still think it's a bacterial infection, because I dealt with similar symptoms in a twig catfish and Maracyn 2 fixed him up.

You can treat your fish in the main tank. It's just cheaper to use antibiotics in a quarantine tank. Keep an eye on your other fish. Bacteria can spread fast. Lowering the temperature and doing water changes will help keep it down.