Sick Hoplo Armored Catfish

[CaseyGPhotography]

We (my mom and I) have a sick catfish and can't figure out what is wrong.

A little backstory:

There used to be an angelfish, 2 red tetras and 2 other tetras that I can't remember what they were. The tank got ick and all the others died 😭 We treated and the catfish got better for a while. He was eating and interacting. Then we went on vacation for 3 weeks. Left him with an automatic feeder and my boyfriend came over once a week to check on both tanks and our plants. Everything was fine. The second or third day we were back the catfish started not being so interactive. I went away for a couple days and my mom was taking care of him. He got progressively worse. He developed this white flaky stuff all over him that peels off when he moves and he spends most of his time laying still in the corner. Once I thought he had died cuz he didn't react at all when I came up to him and usually he will at least wiggle when someone approaches the tank. As soon as this started my mom started treating with Paraguard. This is day 4 of Paraguard.

 

• pH 6.4
• Nitrates 70 🤦‍♀️ (I didnt know it was this high. My mom said it was high and she was going to do a water change. I'll do another water change, though.)
• Hardness 1000 (also didnt realize it was this high.)
• Nitrite 0
• KH/Buffer 0
• Water Temperature 80 (!)

I think I'm answering a lot of my questions just by going through writing all this out.

I'll do a full water change and scrub the tank to get the nitrates out of there. I unplugged the heater already and I'll check to make sure its going down. I'll make sure to treat the water and test it for hardness before putting him back in there. We're thinking about doing a Paraguard dip for an hour.

I spent all this time putting this together so I'd still like some advice. Am I on the right track? Anything else I can do? Any other advice for a newbie tank owner?

Thanks!

Casey

[Colu]

What your ammonia level as what your describing could over production of slime coat caused by poor water quality  high levels of nitrates can effect fish immune system act as an appetite suppressant