Synodontis Eruptus - Help, Please

[MagicWings]

My syno. has what I can best describe as flaky skin or something on her. Maybe it would be right to say she looks like she's peeling after a bad sunburn, but not so dramatic. I noticed she seemed to be agitated and trying to jump/splashing the water at the top of the tank so I checked on her, only to notice her weird skin. I'm having trouble deciding if I want to say shes peeling or looks like she has something ON her. Whatever it is doesn't seem to have progressed very far yet.

I'm currently treating the tank with Ich Attack, I'm on day three because I noticed another fish at small white dots on his fins. I assumed this to be ich and treated. Those spots have disappeared and now my catfish looks like that.

<a href="http/www.cichlids.com/uploads/tx_usercic...01_IMG_1161.jpg" target="_blank">http/www.cichlids.com/uploads/tx_usercic...01_IMG_1161.jpg</a> This is not my fish, but a good picture of what she usually looks like.

The tank is a 44 gal salted freshwater tank.

Other tank mates include a pleco, 3 phantom tetras, a serpae tetra (spelling might be wrong), 1 cory catfish, one goldfish (a feeder fish for a needle fish I used to have that has somehow outlived everything...), and one zebra danio. I think that's all that's in there right now.

When I tested my levels about a week ago, everything was in a normal range.

Should I do an immediate water change or add salt or what? Please help me save my catfish, I've had her for several years since she was small enough to fit in a 1 gallon "tank" and she's my most cherished fish.

UPDATE: Did a more recent check of my levels... not quite as good as it was, here it is.

pH - 6.4, was closer to 7 on last check
Ammo. - 0 or .25. I say 0, boyfriend says .25
NitrAte - 20 or 40, again hard to tell, but I'm aware it's too high regardless
NitrIte - 0
Temp. ~80 F

UPDATE TWO:

I decided to change a significant amount of water and add new carbon to the filter. The tank is a bit cloudy now from me stirring up the filter... I accidentally pulled out a sponge at the bottom and it clouded everything up a little. Once that settles I'll try to get a look at my catfish again.

If she still seems sick tomorrow, are meds recommended? I was thinking maybe a broad spectrum anti fungal/anti bacterial? Something like Melafix and Pimafix... though I know those two specific meds are not widely praised, any alternatives?

 

[indigoj]

I'd guess it's a reaction to the ich meds - catfish can be sensitive and 1/2 dose is usually recommended.

 

[WILDER]

Your tanks overstocked with the goldfish. What type of goldfish is it.
Also goldfish need double filteration due to being massive waste producers.

Peeling skin can be bad water quality, parasites, columnaris, irratation.
Also cloudy eyes can be a sign of irratation.

I would dilute the med down with a water change.
Does the skin look like its rotting away.

 

[MagicWings]

Your tanks overstocked with the goldfish. What type of goldfish is it.
Also goldfish need double filteration due to being massive waste producers.

Peeling skin can be bad water quality, parasites, columnaris, irratation.
Also cloudy eyes can be a sign of irratation.

I would dilute the med down with a water change.
Does the skin look like its rotting away.

Thank you for the replies.

Let me be honest, I hate that little goldfish. I know he takes up twice the amount of "space" as my other fish and he poos a lot. I wanted to remove him from the tank since the day he went in there and wasn't eaten... but I could never catch him with my net. The other day I finally managed to catch him and put him in a clean bucket to try and decide what to do with him and my friend made such a fuss about it being wrong for me to get rid of the goldfish, when he was "so happy in the tank and living just fine" that I was forced to put him back. Type? It was purchased as a feeder fish... <a href="http/people.ucsc.edu/~kyahuey/Goldfish.JPG" target="_blank">http/people.ucsc.edu/~kyahuey/Goldfish.JPG</a> I guess thats accurate enough. Its about 2 inches in length, maybe.

I have a bubbler running at all times in the tank in addition to a pretty hefty flow from the filter. How can a 44 gallon be over stocked with 18 or 20 inches of fish, estimating high Even including the goldfish takes up double his size, that's a bit much to say it's overstocked.

I've seen columnaris before, it used to kill my guppies, so I don't think it looks like that.

I already did a pretty significant water change last night, at least 50%, maybe 60%. I added some clean treated water as the old water was still sucking out to try and keep it from going below the line of the filter (the noise is so grating, and I hate when they don't have a filter going), so I don't know exactly how much I took out.

it doesn't seem like rotting, just like a film or something over her skin, I guess. I checked on her as soon as I got up and shes sort of just hanging out near the top by the heater.

I think I'll do another water change today, just to make sure those meds are out of there. Are these types of fish sensitive to aquarium salt, too, or should I keep adding that?

UPDATE: I see a few white spots on the goldfish again and I'm starting to wonder if the catfish doesn't have ich herself. There are a few distinct white spots on her eyes now, where as before they were just sort of cloudy. I still can't make out if she has spots on her body or not.

 

[WILDER]

With the goldfish being a big waste producers it overstocked if you only have one filter running for a 44 gal.
I would do a 20% water change to see if that helps first.

 

[MagicWings]

With the goldfish being a big waste producers it overstocked if you only have one filter running for a 44 gal.
I would do a 20% water change to see if that helps first.

I've already done two water changes, as I've said.

My cafish has definitely gotten worse. Whatever is on her is much more pronounced now. Will ich look slightly different on a catfish? On her skin, it doesn't look like ich but on her fins, it sort of does. She's definitely covered in something white, but it's hard to say if it looks like shes covered in "sand" or not.

Is it time for meds? If so, what?

 

[MagicWings]

I tried to get a picture, but it just wasn't showing up well at all.

This was the best I was able to do. <a href="http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/Mag...01/Monster1.jpg" target="_blank">http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/Mag...01/Monster1.jpg</a>
<a href="http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/Mag...01/100_1486.jpg" target="_blank">http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/Mag...01/100_1486.jpg</a>

On her eyes and fins, its definitely grainy white dots, like sand. On her body though it's not so clear cut whether it's ich or not. I've started to increase the temp. and added more salt. She's not eating though that I can see, but she's still swimming around a little.

Ignore the dates on the photos, my camera is messed up.

 

[WILDER]

I would add some pimafix to the tank with the parasite med. You can mix pimafix with parasite meds.
What whitespot med are you using?

 

[MagicWings]

I would add some pimafix to the tank with the parasite med. You can mix pimafix with parasite meds.
What whitespot med are you using?

I'm currently not using any meds in the tank. I was given advice to add more salt and increase the temperature, due to sensitivity of the catfish... however someone else is of the opinion that my fish is actually suffering from salt burns, and I should reduce the salt immediately.

I'm really unsure which way to go now... is there a way to test for salinity to see if I am over salting?

 

[WILDER]

Catfish don't tolerate salt.

Remove the salt with water changes.
Add a whitespot med but only half dose.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/art...uck-/Page1.html

 

[MagicWings]

I did a large water change just now, no salt at all in the new water... in fact, I ran out today so no worries about me adding more

Should I change more water tomorrow as well? What if theres no improvement or my catfish gets worse? The white spots on her eyes still make me worry it's ich... and her body practically looks like she's just covered in bumps now...

I definitely see some signs of ich on her fins, but I don't want to treat her with meds yet... the goldfish had ich as well, so I know there was an "out break" of it within the last few days.

As far as being over stocked goes, I intend to get rid of the goldfish. I don't like it, never have, and it just poops and eats a lot. I haven't seen my cory recently, I'm worried it died... but once everything is settled down again, I want to get some new fish. I really liked the powder blue dwarf gourami they had at the LFS...

 

[WILDER]

The fish will die if you don't treat for whitespot. They already suffering.
Keep doing water changes to get the salt out of the tank.
Add a whitespot med at half dose.

 

[MagicWings]

The fish will die if you don't treat for whitespot. They already suffering.
Keep doing water changes to get the salt out of the tank.
Add a whitespot med at half dose.

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped me. My catfish is eating again today and has come out of the corner to 'greet' me.

While I'm so glad to see this, it's given me an up close look at her. Her eyes seem... different somehow. Sunken in or bigger... I'm not sure, they just seem different.. a little less cloudy, but the rim around the eye just looks different. Also it almost looked like she had very tiny pieces of glass or bubbles on her... they were super small, but shiny and clear. They weren't covering her whole body, just in one little area. It almost looks as if they aren't quite attached, swaying a little in the water but not actually floating away...? Any guesses on this one?

 

[WILDER]

Little bubbles can be whitespot on a fish.
Are bubbles on top of the fish or beneath the skin.

Sunken in eyes can be internal parasites, bacterial, dropsy, vitamin deficiency.

Have you added a whitespot med.