ugh.. Is my fish shedding?infected?or buggy?

I

ImALittleFishy

Julie
Nov 25, 2004
32
0
0
Indiana
I have one of my 4 rainbows with what seems like shedding. It is on both sides going vertically. One line only, not whole body. All other fish are good, I hope. He is not scratching. He could have been picked on, but both sides?no fish that big. Water quality is good: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites. ph 7.2 water changed tuesday, very stable, established tank 7+years. Have had the fish atleast 3 years.

Do they shed? He is still eating, swimming, doing all the same fishy things.
 
They will shed their slime coat, but usually as a stress reaction--are you saying the scales are standing out? Google Pinecone disease, see if any pics look similar.
 
No. None of the pictures resembled it. I wish I could put a pic on here, but do not know how...pics too big. He looks like he got hurt, but I do not have a fish big enough to hurt him on both sides. I have looked all over the internet for shedding and found nothing. I have seen most of the disease pics and doesn't look like any of them. He has had this for a couple days, so if it was fungus or bacteria, would I have seen him get worse? Infection, is my only guess. It is not red, kinda opaque, one almost straight line, both sides. Pics of fungus looks closest to it, but it is very little and has not gotten worse in 2 days. Fish usually die pretty quick from this, so I have heard. Not as thick either, I can see his scales through it, nothing falling off (in the water), but looks like a shed.
 
You can place your pics on an image host site (www.aquaticphotos.com is run by a member here) and then link to the image--might help. Is there anywhere the fish could have gotten wedged in, and hurt itself pulling free? What other fish are in with it? Sometimes smaller fish can damage a much larger fish just by contantly picking at it. I would remove the fish to quarantine and try an antifungal medication, or even just a salt bath.
 
width/height not right, Pics too big :( It could be any of those things, but I think it's his stress coat. Tend to look like it's shedding, when there's a problem. (Orion girl was right I think)He is in with too many fish. Buying another 55 soon (very soon) to make everyone more comfy. He could have been wedged somewhere, because it's almost identical on both sides, and I can't imagine another fish able to do that. He is still the same as tuesday, if not better. Poor little guy, I didn't mean to stress him :sad Thank you for the reply! I am also making a 20 or 30 gallon (sitting in garage now) a QT tank, as soon as I can afford it.
 
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