Hello all!

[Minx]

Hi everyone!

You have been recommended to me by a member of The Tropical Tank forum, said you may be able to help! My apologies for my first post being one asking for help but i am losing control of my tropical community tank. In this tank i have what we think is a Platydoras armatulus plus another i havent identified yet.




Ive had what we think is a bacterial infection in my tank and i have lost many of my fish. The catfish hadnt been effected i thought, until today when i saw what looked like thin, see through membranes floating around the tank. Then i saw it on the cat fishes body, peeling off like a skin. The pics are bad but hopefully you can make it out enough.




He is behaving strangely by not hiding under the wood as normal but in light shade elsewhere. I am using Interpet 9, Anti Internal Bacteria. The question is, is this the cause or is this part of the wider problem i am having? I almost feel silly asking but they dont shed any skin do they?

All the tests have come back fine for the type of fish i have and cant see any other reason for it.

Can anyone advise me on the best course of action? I have recently bought a hospital tank but the biological filtration is far from ready, with a reading of 5ppm Nitrite!



Thank you in advance!

[Martin S]

If you meand the black and whte spotted fish hiding in pic 2, then that's probably

Agamyxis pectinifrons

.
With regards your

Platydoras armatulus

(it could also be

Platydoras costatus

?), shedding skin is often a sign of poor water conditions, but as have had a bacterial infection, it is most likely an effect of the infection (or the treatment?) which this causing it. First thing to do is to ensure your water conditions are as good as possible (which I am sure you are doing already), which as am sure you know, will involve regular water changes, remove charcoal (if present) from your filter(s) to ensure the medicine is not being removed and keep the feeding to a minimum. There are other medicines which may be better in this situation - scaleless fish, such as catfish, are often harder to treat than 'normal' aquarium fish. I hope we can get things back for you as it would be such a shame to lose any more fish.
HTH
Martin