Red Tail Shark looks bad

[Kred]

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
-Red tail Shark. He started looking bad right after I treated my whole tank for ich. He has white circular spots on his body that are flush (meaning they are not raised spots) and all of his fins are shredded looking. He is in a tank with chiclids and seems to be the only one effected.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
- ammonia -0 nitrites- 0 nitrates - 80 pH- 8.0 Temp- 82

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
-75 gallon tank that has been set up for 10 months

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
- 2 Fluval 407 canister filters and a sponge filter.

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
-12 fish in the tank. They are African chiclids and they are all around 3 inches

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
- I completed a water change 3 days ago and vacuumed the gravel.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
-i have had the fish for 4 months

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
- no new stuff added to the tank

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
-api tropical pellets and vegetables

[Andy Sager]

First off, a pic would be very helpful.
2 things come to mind:
1) The white spots are areas where parasites used to be attached to.
2) The white spots are an infection that was caused by where the parasites were attached.
The shredded fins after an ich attack is commonly due to a bacterial infection ( which will go along with #2 from above.)
The fact that this started right after medicating the tank sounds like it's a reaction to the medicine but the shredded fins points towards infection or a combination of both.

But a picture would help out tremendously.

[Kred]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

First off, a pic would be very helpful.
2 things come to mind:
1) The white spots are areas where parasites used to be attached to.
2) The white spots are an infection that was caused by where the parasites were attached.
The shredded fins after an ich attack is commonly due to a bacterial infection ( which will go along with #2 from above.)
The fact that this started right after medicating the tank sounds like it's a reaction to the medicine but the shredded fins points towards infection or a combination of both.

But a picture would help out tremendously.

Sorry, here is a picture. I also want to note that he eats fine and is still very active. He is his normal self other then his appearance.

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Kred

Sorry, here is a picture. I also want to note that he eats fine and is still very active. He is his normal self other then his appearance.

A picture says 1000 words.
I'd be more concerned with the ripped fins than the white spots. The Ventral and Dorsal fins look like they've been shredded in a fight. The anal fin however looks like there may be some infection to it or open skin that can get infected. The big clue is the tail. I see areas where the fin has healed from probable fighting. All this leads to a possibility that the fish got ich from the stress of being picked on by the other fish. That's something you really should address. A RT shark is not really a good mix with African Cichlids.
Also, your nitrate level is a little high. Do more frequent water changes to help bring it down. The goal is under 40 ppm but closer to 0 is better in tanks with no live plants.

Hope this helps.

[Kred]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

A picture says 1000 words.
I'd be more concerned with the ripped fins than the white spots. The Ventral and Dorsal fins look like they've been shredded in a fight. The anal fin however looks like there may be some infection to it or open skin that can get infected. The big clue is the tail. I see areas where the fin has healed from probable fighting. All this leads to a possibility that the fish got ich from the stress of being picked on by the other fish. That's something you really should address. A RT shark is not really a good mix with African Cichlids.
Also, your nitrate level is a little high. Do more frequent water changes to help bring it down. The goal is under 40 ppm but closer to 0 is better in tanks with no live plants.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your help. I do want to mention the ich came from a fish I put in there without quarantining it first Needless to say I now have a quarantine tank. lol Also, I have never seen the Cichlids pick on him ever but that goes without saying there is no telling what may go on when I am not watching the fish, so that is good to know. I was going by some websites that said they make great tank mates, so once again thank you for that information. I could move him out to another tank that is 75 gallons that have no fish in it yet. What would you suggest to be a good tank mate for the RT Shark? Also, thank you for the info about the Nitrates, again I read somewhere that as long as it is not above 80 ppm you were fine. I guess I shouldn't trust everything I read, huh? lol Thank you for all of your help, I really appreciate it.

[m.j.gomez]

Originally Posted by Kred

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).

-Red tail Shark. He started looking bad right after I treated my whole tank for ich. He has white circular spots on his body that are flush (meaning they are not raised spots) and all of his fins are shredded looking. He is in a tank with chiclids and seems to be the only one effected.



2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.

- ammonia -0 nitrites- 0 nitrates - 80 pH- 8.0 Temp- 82



3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?

-75 gallon tank that has been set up for 10 months



4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.

- 2 Fluval 407 canister filters and a sponge filter.



5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?

-12 fish in the tank. They are African chiclids and they are all around 3 inches



6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?

- I completed a water change 3 days ago and vacuumed the gravel.



7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?

-i have had the fish for 4 months



8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

- no new stuff added to the tank



9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

-api tropical pellets and vegetables

Hello, just tossing this out there. I know 82° temp is good for African cichlids but a bit high for a red tail shark. I believe around 79° is max. This may be stressing him out & making him susceptible to diseases. Hope this helps!!!!!

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Kred

Thank you so much for your help. I do want to mention the ich came from a fish I put in there without quarantining it first Needless to say I now have a quarantine tank. lol Also, I have never seen the Cichlids pick on him ever but that goes without saying there is no telling what may go on when I am not watching the fish, so that is good to know. I was going by some websites that said they make great tank mates, so once again thank you for that information. I could move him out to another tank that is 75 gallons that have no fish in it yet. What would you suggest to be a good tank mate for the RT Shark? Also, thank you for the info about the Nitrates, again I read somewhere that as long as it is not above 80 ppm you were fine. I guess I shouldn't trust everything I read, huh? lol Thank you for all of your help, I really appreciate it.

Here's the thing about ich, it's really more a symptom that there is a problem more than the problem. Healthy fish can usually hold off the parasite but a weakened/stressed fish usually succumbs. The pic shows damage to the fish so that's when you need to put your Sherlock Holmes hat and magnifying glass to figure out why it's like that. Since RT sharks are more nocturnal, you never know what they are doing after the lights go out and/or who is getting pissed off at it for disturbing their sleep. LOL

Glad to read you now have a quarantine tank. With today's fish, you really can't trust that everything is coming in clean. There are actually some parasites that have a 120+ day life cycle so I suggest you don't rush fish out of quarantine unless you know they were medicated before you got them.

Fish that go with RT sharks, there are a lot ( too many to list ). Since these fish originate in rivers and creeks in Thailand area ( although you will probably have a tank bred one), you'll want to concentrate on other fish that inhabit similar areas. Also, since the fish is territorial and a bottom dweller, you'll want to stay away from other bottom dwellers. So any fish that inhabit the mid level and top levels of the aquarium would be good tankmates as they won't pose a threat to the shark. This includes Danios, Gouramis, Tetras, certain Barbs, Larger Rasboras ( I have a fondness for scissortail
and clown rasboras ) and others of this type.

As m.j.gomez stated, you really don't want the shark at the higher temperature. They do better in cooler water (mid-upper 70s) so you want to add other fish species that will also do well in this temperature range.

As for where you get your information, the internet can be a great place to get info if you know where to look. ( There is a lot of bad information out there. ) Fishbase.se is a good place to get accurate information of the habitats and specifics on a fish specie. Same with Seriouslyfish.com. Keeping in mind that most fish you get today are farm raised, knowing the "typical" environments a fish comes from can help you better understand what a fish needs. (For example: a specie common in shallow water will do poorly in deeper water. A fish commonly found in running water will do poorly in stagnant water. etc.) Then there are the forums like here where you have some people with loads of experience you can ask for help.

Nitrates are not major problem like ammonia or nitrites but make no mistake, they are not good in an aquarium. In fact, they can alter the water chemistry, stress the fish and even kill some species that are extremely sensitive to water conditions. You can't avoid them since they are part of the nitrogen cycle but you can control them with water changes or nitrate absorbing items like live plants or chemical filtration pads, etc. It's all about what the fish needs.