More advice please!

[nataliedd]

Me again more teething problems, well more than teething problems seeing as my cory died ok so here's the info...340litres, Fi cycle, now cycled. Parameters good. 10 neons, 6 rummys, 2 Dalmatians, 6 corys.
So I added two new lyretail mollies a few days ago. 1 of them has appeared highly stressed since arriving, hiding not eating much. Was keeping an eye on it. tonight it's developed some sort of infection as it has small fluffy/ cotton wool bits around his face. So medication is needed possibly? Will this mess with my established filter media? Is tank in trouble?
Anyway not sure if this is related or not but woke up this morning and one of my corys was dead. Not sure what's going on? Levels this morning- amnonia 0.25(usually 0)PH 7.8. Nitrite 0 and the nitrate 5. After water change numbers haven't changed. Amnonia still 0.25. Help?


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[Coursair]

Test you tap water and again after sitting 24 hours.


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[Fishfur]

Sounds like a mouth fungus. I'd have to go look up what might be done, I've never had to deal with it myself. It may be contagious but it is not likely it killed a cory overnight either.
Extra water changes.. if meds are needed, they may kill the BB, so a QT is often the way to go. A small tank will do and if you don't have one, a big bowl or waste basket or storage box can fill in. If you do regular water changes you can even get by without a filter, but having one is easier. You can seed it with media or rinsings from the existing filter and cycle pretty much overnight, for a one fish load.

 

[Fishfur]

This site has good information on this problem.. which is actually bacterial, even though it's nearly always called a fungus.

Aquarium Fish Mouth Fungus

 

[nataliedd]

This site has good information on this problem.. which is actually bacterial, even though it's nearly always called a fungus.

Aquarium Fish Mouth Fungus

Thanks fishfur.Having read this, think it may be a fungus as it says the fungal infection tends to be like cotton wool and that's what it looks like on my fish. So having read a bit more on it think is contagious and possibly in the tank. Looks like il have to treat the tank. Anyone reading this have experience with this fungus? So if I treat tank will my established filter media be affected?

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[nataliedd]

Can't take a photo of the molly cos it's hiding.

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[Fishfur]

It depends on what you use to treat. Find out if it affects BB before you use it.. antibiotics, obviously, will probably kill them off.

It can be fungal, for sure, but the bacterial one is a lot more commonplace. Good luck with it.

 

[Tolak]

Good example of why you should quar new fish. I would go by what Neale says in the linked to article; kanamycin, 50% daily water change & redose, 7-14 days.

 

[Alan79]

I successfully treated some fish i was given (in a neglected and overfed tank) for fungus with a couple of products containing malachite green dye. It wound up costing me more to treat the sick fish than it would have to buy healthy ones. It does not harm the BB. I failed to treat others that were badly effected with the product though so it's worth a try but it's not a miracle worker. Other products contain Methylene blue which fights both white spot and fish fungus but will destroy your BB.

With stressed fish problems show up more commonly so i'd probably try and treat the fungus with a Malachite based fungus cure. If it does not clear up try the more potent Methylene blue. I would maybe treat the cory as a random death unless some others start to show signs of bad health. Isolating your sick fish would be a good idea though. No use keeping a potential disease carrier in the tank. Fungus has a few causes and can be a symptom of other things. Sometimes worse disease, sometimes it's just stress and poor water quality. Hopefully by isolating the fungus carrying fish a worse disease might not be spread to your healthy fish. Prevention verse cure.

 

[Matt68005]

Yes prevention vs cure. I agree alan, malachite is o.k but not great against fungus and methylene will destroy your BB, plus make an absolute mess and turn everything blue, but it is the best thing for New fish or fungus.
They make a new product called "paraguard" by secahrem, their a good company, the other older malachite and formalin and methylene are getting phased out, and theres absolutely the necisitty of a Hospital tank if you have such a large display tank and small cheap fish. Mouth fungus is just another name for columnaris, yes it is a bacteria, but alot of the time if you see white on their tails or bodies it actually IS fungus. Remember people TRUE BACTERIAL tail rot IS BROWN! Mouth fungus (Columnaris) is a death sentence and every fish that seems even slightly effected needs to be immediately culled and the rest treated asap with strong Antibiotics or their as good as dead within a week.

 

[Tolak]

The fungus you see is secondary to the bacterial issue you don't see. It's more a symptom than the actual problem, solve the problem, not the symptoms.

 

[nataliedd]

Quarantine tank is Def on our list of priority things to buy but unfortunately just at the min it's not something we can afford. Ta everyone for advice

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[nataliedd]

Ok my hubby has a relative who can lend us the quarantine tank for a little while. It's ready to go. All other fish are appearing normal but should I also treat the main tank? Don't wanna unnecessarily add stuff to tank if I don't need to and I'm unsure cos all my research on this fluffy fungus is conflicting! I am researching as much as possible so I can care for my fish appropriately but sometimes it confuses me more! Water parameters are still the same from yesterday which means amnonia is still 0.25. I'm cutting back on feeding and doing plenty of water changes with gravel cleaner.

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[Matt68005]

The fungus you see is secondary to the bacterial issue you don't see. It's more a symptom than the actual problem, solve the problem, not the symptoms.

Your right, i didn't notice she said "mouth" fungus. This needs an antibiotic as well as an anti-microbal.

 

[Matt68005]

Ok my hubby has a relative who can lend us the quarantine tank for a little while. It's ready to go. All other fish are appearing normal but should I also treat the main tank? Don't wanna unnecessarily add stuff to tank if I don't need to and I'm unsure cos all my research on this fluffy fungus is conflicting! I am researching as much as possible so I can care for my fish appropriately but sometimes it confuses me more! Water parameters are still the same from yesterday which means amnonia is still 0.25. I'm cutting back on feeding and doing plenty of water changes with gravel cleaner.

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Hunny, mouth fungus is a hobby name for Columnais, a very serious bacterial infectious disease. After the bacteria eats away the fins and flesh, fungus develops on the dead tissue, so they have BOTH.
I assume you live in the us.....you might try a Marycn-2 plus "Fungus cure" which is Furan-2 which can both be found at petsmart.
Absolutely use the quarenteen tank, you don't want to waste money on treating the main tank, especially since maracyn-2 (Minocycline) is an expensive antibiotic.

Hope i helped clear that up for you.
Not sure how "safe" it is to use minocycline with furan, but since one is a complex antibiotic and the other a simple furan anti-microbial, it MIGHT be safe, if not are there any dedicated "FISH" stores where you live? They would have a better combo of meds to use, remember you gotta treat Bacteria AND Fungus in order to clear this up, and don't even waste time on fish that are too far gone. GOOD LUCK! Pm me if you need to ask a more specific question, because sometimes i loose these threads

 

[trennamw]

So sorry to hear you're having more trouble. As I recall you've had quite a few fish deaths. I'm wondering if we might be able to help by going back to basics so to speak, to see if you've been misinformed of something?

Were these fish that went through a fish in cycle?

Do you have a full test kit with the dropper bottles? Do you know your KH and GH?

One thought I have is to maybe put a thread in the getting started section with an overview of what you've been through. You seem to really want to understand everything and I'm wondering if, by mostly reacting to fish illnesses, we've given you some advice along the way that doesn't quite fit.

Fwiw, mollies tend to top the lists of "fish that are sold for beginners that really aren't beginner fish." They die a lot.




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[Matt68005]

Trennamw, her fish had columnaris or aeromonas/psuedomonas, her tank is empty right now, she lost her fish but is saving the tank/filter to setup again when she gets new fish. Ive advised her to get a antibiotic, and to keep the tank clean and do PWC until she can get more. Maybe it wasn't cycled in the beginning IDK.

 

[trennamw]

Sorry, if you saw what I'd posted earlier. Got confused with another thread.

Matt I think you may be mistaken. She's started another thread.

 

[Matt68005]

I think you may be right! Lol it gets confusing so many people with similar problems on here, God a google search is what this fish Dr ordered