Excess Slime

[mattlee]

i bought home a humbug catfish yesterday and the guy at the lfs told me that they dont travel that well and are vulnerable to whitespot. he said the first signs would be excess slime on the body as a defence mechanism from the fish.
so today the catfish has excess slime covering its head and partly along the sides. ill do a 50% water change tonight and see how it looks tomorrow.
water stats are-
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 20
ph - 7.6
the tank the fish is in is a 180L quarentine tank with no substrate and also in the tank are a jaguar catfish and a pike cichlid which both seem healthy and have no symptoms. this is the second humbug catfish ive brought home and never had any trouble with the other.

is the excess slime a defence against the parasite?

shall i increase the temp and do several water changes to hope it goes?

or do i start a whitespot treatment?

 

[mattlee]

the excess slime has now gone from what i can see. ive done a 25% water change anyway so lets hope it was just acclimatising to its new water etc

 

[WILDER]

Excess slime on fish can be bad water quality, parasites, columnaris, bacterial, ph shock, toxins, etc.

Any signs of flicking and rubbing, darting, erratic swimming, laboured breathing.

Does the slime on the head and sides of the body look like a greyish white film
As that can also be columnaris.
How long did you climatise the new catfish for?

 

[mattlee]

Excess slime on fish can be bad water quality, parasites, columnaris, bacterial, ph shock, toxins, etc.

Any signs of flicking and rubbing, darting, erratic swimming, laboured breathing.

Does the slime on the head and sides of the body look like a greyish white film
As that can also be columnaris.
How long did you climatise the new catfish for?

there are no signs of anything abnormal in the fishes behavior and its eating ok still.
the slime looked white/clear almost like a very thin layer of clear jelly but it has now all cleared and there is none left.
the fish was acclimatised for about 30-40 minutes. i would normally take longer but the spines had punctured the bag
none of the other fish show any signs of anything unusual, they were all added at the same time into the QT.

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
Hows the fish today?

 

[mattlee]

Ok.
Hows the fish today?

the slime is back.....

 

[mattlee]

Ok.
Hows the fish today?

the slime is back.....

just went in to do another water change on the humbug tank and it was totally clear of slime

ive done a 20% change anyway for good measure. im thinking its due to stress of the move from lfs to my tank and the fact its sharing a tank with a jaguar catfish that doesnt like sharing the space with him. i hope its this anyway and nothing serious... the jag cat will be removed in a few days so it will get more peace in the QT.

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
Just keep a look out for parasite signs.

 

[mattlee]

Ok.
Just keep a look out for parasite signs.

thanks wilder ill keep you posted

 

[WILDER]

Fish will produce more slime when there stressed, parasites, or ill. It's protection.
Does it look like he settling down yet.

 

[mattlee]

Fish will produce more slime when there stressed, parasites, or ill. It's protection.
Does it look like he settling down yet.

yeah i think so i cant see any slime today either. hopefully all is well

 

[WILDER]

Thanks for the update.
Good Luck.

 

[mattlee]

Thanks for the update.
Good Luck.

the slime seems to come and go... one day its gone and another its there

the fish seems to be fine otherwise and is eating so im not sure what it is now.....

 

[WILDER]

No signs of flicking and rubbing?
Darting?
Any greyish white patches on the fish?

 

[mattlee]

No signs of flicking and rubbing?
Darting?
Any greyish white patches on the fish?

no its free of spots etc and doesnt flash......

no slime today......