Zebra loach with patchy raised skin

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Nevenka
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:27 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Zebra loach with patchy raised skin

Post by Nevenka » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:36 am

Hi there,
One of my five zebra loaches has started to show patchy raised white skin. It does not look like Ick (we had it couple of years ago,so I know how it looks like). The other fish (5 clowns, 4 more zebras, 3 yoyos, 3 polkas, 6 golden barbs, 10 rasboras, tank size 120 gallons) seem to be unaffected. The loach in question is still eating, but hiding even more then usual. We went to our local fish store and they suggested it was fungus and gave us PIMAFIX treatment (active ingredient Primenta racemosa). I have been treating the tank for 6 days now, as suggested by instructions and noticed that my loach is progressively getting worse. Now all of its skin is almost uniformly white, and some is pealing off (it does look like he's flashing against the rocks).

Here are some pics that we took to the store. Can't take a more recent pick unfortunately. The tank is 3 years old, pH 7, nitrate/nitrite levels undetected, ammonia undetected, phosphate 2 ppm, hardness 1.
ImageImage

Diana
Posts: 4675
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:35 am
Location: Near San Franciso

Re: Zebra loach with patchy raised skin

Post by Diana » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:01 pm

Columnaris is one of the more common fish diseases that can look white or grey patchy, but somehow I do not think this is it. Maybe. Do not discount it as a possibility.

In the picture it looks more like the fish is producing and losing excess slime coat. They usually do this if there is some irritation present. The flashing hints at this, too.
Irritants could include water chemistry (pH or ammonia are most common) or external parasites. Ich is not the only external parasites that fish can get.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA04100.pdf
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

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