slime coat issue with warmouth

What is wrong with the warmouth

I have had this warmouth for about 2 years now, he is about 8”-9” long

About every two months he seems to have slime coat issues (this has gone on for about a year). It is kind of milky white on his head and back and clumpy looking. It will look like that for about 2-3 days and then be fine for a about 6 weeks or so. it also seems like the clumpy slime coat does not stay on the fish very long. No other fish in the tank has this problem. He does not seem to be bothered by it, no rubbing on tank walls or structure or anything like that. It is not itch (I have seen it before, and no other fish has it.)

What do you think?

Here are tank specs and water parameters

75 gal
Eheim pro II canister filter
Drip system with charcoal filter (changed about every 3 months), drips 84 gal per week (.5 gal per hour)
Reverse under gravel filter pushed by mag 5
there are some java ferns in the tank, no other plants

Water prams:
Ph = 6.6 (tap is 6.8-7.0 24h out of tap)
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 3-5

I generally do a gravel wash once a month, but there is almost nothing in it, so i skip sometimes

I have been feeding a good brand of floating food for the last year, (I have a big bag of it)
I generally feed the fish every other day.

Tank mates

1 BlueGill 4”
2 sleeper gobies 4”-5”
1 bullhead catfish 4”-5”

There was a madtom in the tank but I have not seen it in a while.

I will post a pict when the wife returns with my camera

Thanks guys

the fish cleared up before i got the camera away from the wife a few weeks ago

but,

I got back after a week away and the fish had no white stuff on it,

this morning it had about 3 white areas on its head. tonight it looked like this.









if what ever this is acts like it usually does, then it will be gone in about 48 hours. then two - three weeks later it will be back.

no other fish in the tank has it, or has ever had it

the fish does not seem to be bothered by it, (no flashing, or rubbiing against structure) and the white stuff will fall off from time to time

I have not had a fish addition in the tank for about a year (the bluegill is an un-eaten feeder, the last one he has gotten)

Sorry I didn't respond to this before Harry.

I had the same issue with one of my warmouth in the past. I was never sure what caused it but no matter how many or how big of water changes I did, it still came back. I also used more salt in that tank than I usually would have.

That fish was from a different location than the one you have so I don't think it would be related to where they are from.

Are the parameters of your source water consistent? What do you use to treat your water?

the tank is on a drip system, mobile has chlorine in its water supply

I have the drip system run through a charcoal filter (like the kind you use under your kitchen sink) prior to dripping into the tank.

the water conditions pretty much stay the same.

I have seen the same with chocolate cichlids and bluegill with the very same pattern of ups and downs in terms of abundance. Can you catch the fish and scrape some of the white lumps onto a slide? Then study with a microscope. I think you will find a protozoan of some sort.

I can defiantly get a sample of the slime coat, i do not have a microscope. I can probably borrow one from someone. What exactly should i look for? I am assuming that normal slime coat will not have any "critters" in it.

how would i treat this issue?

or should i?

I can defiantly get a sample of the slime coat, i do not have a microscope. I can probably borrow one from someone. What exactly should i look for? I am assuming that normal slime coat will not have any "critters" in it.

how would i treat this issue?

or should i?

I do not know what organism is responsible as when my fish were affected I had limited resources as well. My fish exhibited signs of the infection intermittantly for over a year without losses I attributed to the condition. Seemed to clear when temperatures got into the lower 80's and I got agressive with water changes.

I do not know what organism is responsible as when my fish were affected I had limited resources as well. My fish exhibited signs of the infection intermittantly for over a year without losses I attributed to the condition. Seemed to clear when temperatures got into the lower 80's and I got agressive with water changes.

questions

1. did you have any losses? not 100% sure from your post

2. have you had any more outbreaks on the infected fish?

3. did the infection seem to spread from fish to fish? (i.e. one fish had it one instance, then two or more, then several, etc)

thanks, i would rather get good info than make assumptions

I am not exactly sure what to do at this point

I can easily add another drip emitter or two and drastically boost the ammount of clean water introduced into the tank, i can add a heater.

or go the other way, and cut out the drip system for now and dose with salt and heat, all the fish and snails i have should tolerate high salt and heat if i am careful when adjusting params.

If it were me, I would treat the water with something like NovAqua+. If you don't use salt now, I would add at least 1 tbsp/5 gal. I've kept catfish in water with that much salt without problems but just keep an eye on it.

questions

1. did you have any losses? not 100% sure from your post: NO DEATH LOSSES CAUSED BY CONDITION

2. have you had any more outbreaks on the infected fish? NO

3. did the infection seem to spread from fish to fish? (i.e. one fish had it one instance, then two or more, then several, etc): MOST BUT NOT ALL FISH IN 55 GALLON AQUARIUM AFFECTED

thanks, i would rather get good info than make assumptions

I am not exactly sure what to do at this point: MY ADVICE, DO NOT OVER REACT. CONDITION NOT PRETTY BUT LIKELY NO LETHAL EITHER.

I can easily add another drip emitter or two and drastically boost the ammount of clean water introduced into the tank, i can add a heater.

or go the other way, and cut out the drip system for now and dose with salt and heat, all the fish and snails i have should tolerate high salt and heat if i am careful when adjusting params.

THE CASE / DISEASE / CONDITION AFFECTING MY FISHES DID NOT CAUSE SIGNIFICANT HARM THEREFORE MY TREATMENT REGIMEN DID NOT TARGET. FOR ME IT WAS LIKE AN OUTBREAK OF YELLOW GRUB, COULD BE ERADICATED BUT RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH TREATMENT OF A LOW HARM CONDITION EXCEEDED BENEFITS.