# White fuzz



## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

Ok, so one of my angels is developing a whitish fuzz/film all over him. I have a 29 gallon with 2 angels, 1 dwarf gourami and 6 phatom tetras. Any thoughts to what this is? And how to go about treating it?? 

I cant get a good picture of it! He always darts away, He is all black and now he is starting to form this weird looking almost cotton like blanket. It's not very thick, but i feel if I act now, I might be able to get rid of it quickly.

I have an aqueon quiet flow 30 on my tank. If I do use medication in it, do I need to take the filter pad out?

Thanks.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Do you have a quarantine tank available? Are any of the other fish showing this same symptom?
Can you please post water parameters for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH? Also, keep trying to get a photo. I'm pretty sure I know what it is you're talking about, but photos help a great deal. Accurate diagnosis is important and doing it via internet can be quite difficult. What is your water temp?

Sorry for all the questions but all info I will need to know before I can offer any real help. The more you can tell me about your tank the faster we can get a treatment plan in place for you. Every little thing helps, including how long the tank has been set up, exactly what other fish are in there, how many of each, live plants, etc.


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## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

I don't have a QT available. Water: pH 7.2, Ammonia .2 ppm, Nitrate 5 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm.

Water temp is 78 F

No live plants, one other angel, 6 phantom tetra, and a dwarf gourami in the tank

Aqueon Heater 100 watt and Aqueon Quiet Flow 30 filter, 29 gallons, bubble bar.


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## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

I do water changes everytime I see a reading of .2 ammonia


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

How long has this tank been set up? Its not a good idea to medicate a tank with an elevated ammonia reading, you may want to look into a quarantine tank at this point. I also would not want to expose healthy phantom tetras to the meds... they are quite sensitive to most medications.

For quarantine I would suggest a tank, heater, sponge filter (with air pump to run it), some decor to help minimize stress, and water from the main tank to get it started. 

For the main tank I am going to suggest daily water changes of 10% to reduce the ammonia without harming the biological cycle. 

In the future I would strongly suggest getting onto a regular maintenance routine of 30% water change once/wk, gravel vac once/month. Keeping the water quality clean and stable is vital for healthy fish. Letting it deteriorate until you show problems and then doing a water change to try to fix the problem, is only asking for more and continued problems. The constant up and down of water quality will cause many illness issues in any fish. 

You will then have the option of medicating the sick fish in quarantine or moving the tetras to quarantine until treatment is complete... but I will tell you it is less expensive to medicate the sick fish in quarantine (you'll use less medication). As long as none of the other fish appear to be showing any symptoms, if you catch things quick enough, you may be able to beat it rather easily. 

If you tell me how big your angels are I can suggest a proper size tank for quarantine use. If you wish to get just 1 tank that will last for the life of those fish to serve as quarantine, a 40 gallon breeder tank would be the smallest I would consider for adult angels. Healthy angels will grow quickly, so this also may save you some money in the long term (not having to buy a larger tank for quarantine later if its needed when those fish reach adult size).

I hope this helps... unfortunately there isn't much more to do until the water quality is cleaned up and we find a way to separate the sick fish from the phantoms for medicating. It is possible that with the improvement in water quality the fish may get better on its own, but it sounds like things have advanced pretty far already, so I have to say there is only a chance and it is more likely medication is going to be required.


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## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

Well, it's too late. He has gone onto the big ocean in the sky. None of my other fish have developed any sickness though, so far. Hopefully the disease left with the dead one.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I would strongly suggest keeping a close eye on the other fish for the next few wks, especially the other angel. Because we don't know what caused this problem, the cause may still be present... not to mention that fish illness/disease is highly contagious. 

If you notice any symptoms in the other fish please post them asap and we will continue to work on getting the issue resolved.


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