Please help!!!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Romina

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 22, 2013
Messages
3
I have a 29 gallon tank, overall very healthy never had a problem. I lagged a water change last week and noticed a white spot. The guy at the fish store said it was ich but after much research I realized its more likely a fungal infection. I started treatment with primifix and aquarium salt. Just finished day 2 of treatment. My sick angel is in a hospital tank and I am currently treating both tanks for high nitrates and nitrites. I'm already noticing a difference in activity level and he finally has an appetite after not eating for days. But the fungus doesn't seem less and his belly is still bloated. Please look and the picture and help me confirm that it is for sure fungus and after treatment is complete, do I need to float fish in main tank and acclimate before adding him back in? Thank you for all your help!

image-3394059902.jpg
 
Welcome to AA.

Can you get a better picture? That one is dark we can't see the white spot you're referring to.

Until you have a definite diagnosis, your best bet is likely water changes. You say you're treating for high nitrites and nitrates. How are you treating? Do you have either in your tap water?
 
Thanks for the reply! I've been doing water changes everyday and he seems to be doing better. I don't know what you mean about my tap water having nitrites/nitrates, I've never checked. I usually use tap water and add conditioner and that seems to do the job just fine until now. I've been treating both tanks with Prime for the high levels but it really doesn't seem to help. The levels are still at "stress" and "danger"

Oh and sorry about the picture. I'll try to get a bigger one but this shows pretty much the extent of it. There's a big spot near his eye and another cloudy like thing at the top of his head under his fin
 
Sounds like you are using test strips. Unfortunately that's part of your problem. They are notoriously inaccurate. You should invest in a quality liquid test kit. API is the most common and typically sells on Amazon for around $20. It is good for around 800 test, so in comparison to the strips, much cheaper.

Daily water changes may be your best course of action, but if you have nitrite and/nitrite in your tap water you are adding more every time you change water.

Posting from the app at the moment so I can't see if you've mentioned, forgive me if you have. What size tank(s) are we dealing with and what all lives in them? Until you noticed a problem, how much water were you changing and how often? What and how much are you feeding?
 
It's a 29 gallon tank. I have 5 gouramis, 1 Bala shark, 1 angel (which is in a 5 gallon quarantine tank at the moment) 2 tetras, and 1 that looks like a Bala shark but is colorful (don't know what he's called) I usually do a 25% water change once a week and I've never had any issues with the water or fish getting sick/dying. I skipped one water change and that's when my angel got fungus and my nitrites/nitrates went up.

And yes I am using the test strips..I didn't know they were inaccurate. I will look into the liquid kind...thanks for the tip! And I feed them tropical flakes twice a day and on occasion I give bloodworms.
 
Oh boy, you've got quite a tank there. Are any of these recent additions?

Multiple gourami can become a huge disaster, they are not schooling fish. If you have females its less likely to end horribly. Bala sharks grow way to large for a 29 gallon. Do you know what kind of tetras you have? Can you post a picture of your mystery fish for an id?

Your nitrates have probably been climbing higher as your fish have grown. You'll need to start 50% weekly changes once you get your nitrates around 20 ppm. While you have nitrite in your tank, you need to do a water change any time it goes over .25. Anything more and you start to see health problems with your fish.

Last, bit certainly not least, cut back to once a day feedings. Chances are there has been quite a bit of leftovers that you haven't noticed. Left over food will also add to your bioload and foul your water.
 
Back
Top Bottom