White substance (not ich or ick) in my flowerhorn skin. He also scratches himself every now and then

[xserenity17]

I need help determining what's wrong with my flowerhorn. He often itches and scratches himself. I removed the gravel for now since I'm also having problems with my water parameters. I believe my tank didn't cycle as expected. He also has this algae looking substance in his skin and fins. (Not sure how to describe it, pls check the pictures). I don't think that it's ich since I've dealt with ich in my 10 gal tank when I used to have guppies and betta. (My fh is in a 60 gal tank right now). Please let me know what this is and how to cure it. Also, is there a way for me to properly cycle the tank faster? Been doing water changes for now just to help lower the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

Thanks!

 

[convict360]

Sounds like fungus

 

[Pomatomus]

A picture of it would be really helpful

could be saprolegnia, fin rot, columnaris, oodinium, etc...

 

[pops]

agreed, pic would really be helpful.

 

[xserenity17]

agreed, pic would really be helpful.

Sorry I thought the pics were uploaded coz I did. I'll reupload the pics.

 

[xserenity17]

Right now the white stuffs on his head were gone but he's still scratching. :/

 

[Pomatomus]

Hmm I can't tell for sure, but it looks kind of like oodinium ("velvet") to me. If others agree then you can basically treat it like you would ich. The pics are great though, and so is the fish!

 

[Ihsnshaik]

Right now the white stuffs on his head were gone but he's still scratching. :/

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I remember you posted this beautiful guy on the flowerhorn section. Sorry to hear he's sick but I believe you have ICK from the looks of things. You just got him and spots look like ick. Crank up the heat to 86 and add some salt and get some ick medicine. Should be fine in a week or two

 

[xserenity17]

I remember you posted this beautiful guy on the flowerhorn section. Sorry to hear he's sick but I believe you have ICK from the looks of things. You just got him and spots look like ick. Crank up the heat to 86 and add some salt and get some ick medicine. Should be fine in a week or two

Yes I just got him last week and now his already sick. I know how ick looks like coz my previous fishes (guppies and bettas both got it). They made my fishes look like pretzels coz those parasites look like salt grains. But the ones that my flowerhorn got doesnt look the same. The best way to describe it, is when you have dry skin and it's peeling.. that's
how it looks like. He also has a little bit of a thin white film on his eyes. Now he lost his apetite too. Whenever we give him pellets he eats it then spits it out. Now he's not as active and excited whenever he sees us. Before he always greets us whenever we go near his tank. I'm really worried. So far his poop is normal.. kind of orange and thick so I don't worry about him having hexamita or anything like that. Pls help me diagnose him. Thanks!

 

[Pomatomus]

Look into velvet. It is often misdiagnosed as ich, but treatment is similar. Either way I'd say that you're looking at an external infection. If you don't have live plants I'd treat with heat and salt, maybe some quickcure or paraguard or something.