Hey all, just wanting to throw this out there see if there are any opinions. My 6-6 1/2" red tail keeps sheding a new slime coat every 4-5 days. Water parameters are perfect, he's in a 55 gallon right now with a 5-5 1/2" Marble cat.... The marble kind of crowds him but I don't think he could be stressed from that. The two of them get along flawlessly they are always chillin together. Tank is kinda bare (only one ornament in the middle) don't know if that might be it ( no hiding spots). He's been doing this for about 3 weeks now with no signs of anything else wrong. I have seen where people saying some slime coat shedding can be normal but it shouldn't happen this often. Oh and before anyone wants to take the time to tell me the 55 gallon isnt going to last me long and the red tail and the marble are going to get huge I have places to put both of them and I have researched many, many hours on both species. I am posting this question on Monsterfishkeepers not SuperUltraMegaAwesomeGuppyOwners.com so i knew what I was getting into when I made the purchase.
Thoughts On RTC sheding Slime Coat Every 3 Days
- Thread starter CatfishReffe'
- Start date
Guys an answer to his question would help a lot. Mainly because the expertise advice could come in handy one day.
haha love the stuff at the end there. it does get kinda annoying when you say youve go a big cat housed in a small tank and people flip, but there just tryin to look out for the fish, alot of people do know what size they get to and all that. try not to take it personally if anyone flips on you cuz ur tank size, theyre just trying to make sure your aware.
I aint gonna flip... im too nice for that... but I will just give you an idea.... I got my rtc abpout 5/6 months ago in a 300g so I hope ur planning on getting it soon... rtc are supposed to shed but not that much... it might be the food upir giving aswell... or it could be the cramped conditions.... red tail when they are young like to have a place to hide because they are real nervous until they are older more confident and realise thet can hold they own...... he wont get on with your other fish for long he will eat him once he can swallow him.... oh and also check the heat in ur tank... I dunnno may work for you....
oh ya I forgot to add he is in a 300g and I have him five/six months got him about about 3 inches and he is now 15/16 inches.......I is building pond got attached 
What are your water parameters? They can shed due to ammonia and nitrite. Providing him with a hiding spot couldn't hurt, even if's just a piece of PVC. But to me, this sounds like water quality. When Guido (my RTC) was growing, he did shed some, but not enough to worry me. Your guy kind of worries me, because it is so frequent. I'd look to water params.
Water parameters are perfect.... always have been, the only thing that I can think of is that I use Seachem Prime and live in the central U.S. I'm thinking that the Prime is bonding with the limestone that exists in our water and pulling it out and making a white slime... as kind of the same stuff is on the glass of the tank. Maybe it's not his slime coat at all but a byproduct of this chemical combination of the Prime and limestone deposits in the water. That is my theory.... because he still shedds frequently but never shows any other signs of stress. Always eats, and is a frequent swimmer when the lights go out and he goes on the prowl
I know you requested that no one mention your tank's size, but you have two large cats in there that probably (if you're feeding correctly for growing cats) eat a lot. They poop a lot. I'm just worried that, since you don't give numbers for water params, your water may not be perfect. It may have always been. But your fish were smaller then. What type of filtration are you running? This isn't much volume for these fish with a huge bioload, and you may have exceeded your filter's abilities, even if everything was just fine a month or two ago. These guys grow fast, and they ARE in a small tank right now. Even if you have places to put them when they get larger, it still doesn't solve for the small tank they are in right now. I'd test every three or four days, and you must be having to do really frequent water changes to keep nitrate below twenty.
I agree with you yes it is a large bio load to handle, but I am currently running two- 200 gph filters and changing the media every two weeks. That makes the turn over slightly under eight times an hour so that should be plenty good for clean up. As for the water parameters I've got em below just to validate that they are good and have always been that way. The fish never show any signs of being lethargic at all and don't swim constantly as if they are looking for water with less iritation. Nothing is too bad other than the water is a lot a big hard.... but there is nothing I can do to control that were I'm front since our water comes from a limestone bed.
