Ok Here goes, This is a topic which has been covered numerous times before and should be one of the things that every aquarist learns about when they get their first tank IMO.
Slime coats are like a protective amour or shield that blocks infections and diseases, there are other advantages to the slime coat for each type of fish as well but we wont get into those now as we really only need to talk about the health portion of it. There are several reasons for your RTC to be losing its Slime coat
Which can be Poor water quality, improper water temperatures, water changes, other fish, stress or even because its sick.
Poor water quality is a really common reason for Slime coat loss and is caused by improper ph, salinity, ammonia levels, etc
- regular water changes are the best way to avoid this.
Improper water temperatures, which is one of the most overlooked problems and one of the easiest to fix
tank size plays a part in this though as the problem could actually be the fluctuation in temperature with the heaters turning on and off it can cause a large change which could be fairly drastic in its time frame
causing stress onto the fish.
Water Changes - every time you change the water in the aquarium, you are adding stress to the fish. This comes from both the cleaning/water removal process, and the introduction of new water that may contain chlorine and be at a different temperature than the aquarium water. Be particularly cautious when doing larger water changes, and make sure to use de-chlorinator to treat the water.
Other Fish- this Is usually not a problem with RTCs however there are some people who feel the need to try to keep theirs with other fish
This can actually cause enough stress on your fish to cause something like losing the slime coat. Remember that RTCs are solitary when young and are bottom dwelling fish with their eyes on top for a reason, They can see your other fish swimming around above them and it makes them nervous as their first instinct is to try to eat what ever it see
it may not be able to eat that Aro or paroon or ID that just doesnt stop swimming above it.
Even with a good slime coat, fish can end up infected and ill. The stress from fighting off the infection will commonly result in a reduced slime coat, in turn making the fish even more likely to have additional problems.
