Something is wrong with my fish and I don’t know what it is! Help!

[Rivershine4u]

So today I noticed something odd in my freshwater aquarium. A lot of my fish have this odd look to them, kind of like some sort of rot or fungus maybe, however not quite. Some of their bodies look as if they’re covered in lint or something, it’s hard to explain. I’ll try to see if I can get any decent photos to share. It’s weird though cause it just showed up today, and it’s not on all my fish, but enough to have me concerned. It’s only visible when they go directly under the light, for a second I was worried it was ick, but it after looking at it a bit longer it’s become clear that’s not what I’m looking at. What’s odd is that one fish with it is acting somewhat lethargic and moving a lot less, while one will not stop swimming in circles. Just over and over again. It kind of looks like they’re covered in little fibers of cotton or something.. but all the pictures I’ve seen of fungus don’t resemble it either. I guess my question is what could it be? And can I use Maracyn or Lifeguard on it? (I have both.) The only problem is, I also have 2 Snails in the tank, 1 nerite and 1 black racer snail. There’s also a peacock eel in there.. so I’m not sure what meds are safe and what aren’t. Please help, I need to do something! Also, unfortunately I don’t have a hospital tank at the moment, so anything I use has to treat everyone. 

[Colu]

If you can get a picture that would help with diagnosis and what are your water parameters

[Rivershine4u]

Here’s the best photo I could get of one of my rainbows, he’s the only one that would sit still long enough for one.. also don’t mind the little white bits in the water, I just fed them. It almost resembles dry skin like that of a human, but I don’t know, it’s weird I’ve never seen it before.

[Rivershine4u]

Also I haven’t noticed any flashing or glancing, whatever the phrase is. So they don’t appear to be itchy. 

[Colu]

It look like over production of the silme.coat could be cause by fungal or bacterial What I would do is remove your snails and put them in a bucket with.an air stone and treat with tetra lifeguard as it treats fungal and bacterial infection if there's no improvement after treating with tetra lifeguard I would also get hold of API fungus cure and kanaplex

Edited July 9, 2021 by Colu

[Rivershine4u]

Okay, what about the peacock eel though? Or any scaleless fish as I do have a ghost catfish as well as some corydoras and a pleco.. are those guys gonna be okay with lifeguard?

[Rivershine4u]

Thank you by the way, I appreciate your help

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi, Aww poor fish. I'd check the labels and see if there are any warnings- some of those could do fine but you don't want to risk them if you don't have to. Check online and see if there are any sites that say people have had issues with them on the scaleless. I see one site that says absolutely no on scaleless fish, remove them too to be safe. It seems Lifeguard is pretty caustic. Be careful when using meds and use exactly as directed!

[Guppysnail]

If it is overproduction of slime coat could something in the water column maybe be irritating them causing this. Maybe try a series of large water changes and see if they react favorably. 

[Colu]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:53 AM, Rivershine4u said:

Okay, what about the peacock eel though? Or any scaleless fish as I do have a ghost catfish as well as some corydoras and a pleco.. are those guys gonna be okay with lifeguard?

There's not a lot of information a can find some say not to use with scaleless fish  if your do want to take the risk a start treating with maracyn and I would get hold of some kanaplex and API fungus cure