What is this disease?

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dulcisveteranus

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Mar 1, 2015
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This has been on my bleeding Heart tetras for an entire month. I thought it was an injury but many of these white patches started to appear. They don't rub themselves on the substrate and still have a healthy appetite. This is a 55 gallon aquarium and has many plants.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5–20
 

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I see some major fin damage.i think it's a fungal infection. Spots are too big for ich?


Caleb
 
Fungal issues usually come from an existing illnesss or injury.
They also usaully are found in poor water quality.
I'm not reading that.
Tough to tell the difference but I'll go with my standard columnaris , if it is not fungal.
First link has 4 types(strains) of columnaris,easy read!
http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned...-1689.html

Link 2 is a summary on fungal issues,easy read;
Common Fungal Infections in Aquarium Fish: Causes and Treatment

Next link has both columnaris and fungal issues;
Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention

Have you seen aggression with these fish?
 
There fins were already nipped when I bought them. Can I use Rid-Ich Plus to treat it? It says it controls Ich and other protozoan or fungal external diseases.
 
Are you sure it's columnaris Does it kill fish fast. My bleeding hearts have had this for more than a month. Only two of them have it.
 
Are you sure it's columnaris Does it kill fish fast. My bleeding hearts have had this for more than a month. Only two of them have it.
I'm not sure at all!
Without medical necropsy we are all guessing!
I do pretty good with my fish and some other peoples also.
The pics are not clear enough for me to tell and you probably haven't read the links or you would know about the 4 strains of columnaris and that strain 3&4 can kill ever so slowly.
It can also be cured easier then the other strains.
What I do know is that the med route(treatment) I suggest to almost everyone with this issue(kanamycin &furan) will kill a whole bunch of other issues also ,so my being 100% is not as important as if I were telling you to use a med or treat for something that will only work for that one thing.
You stand a much greater chance of successfully treating your fish if you go with the gram positive and negative meds at the same time as if you choose only one and it does not work.
Read the first two links I offered and then say what you think it is.
 
This kind of rot can be one of several diffrent types of bacteria, not just columnaris. It could be Pseudomonas or Aeromonas infections as well. Your best bet is to get the antibiotic whether its in food or in the water. Rid-ick is not gonna work for this, it really dosent help much with fungal issue rot. The best treatent for them would be
Kanamycin + Furan-2 green
Oxytetracycline + Methylene Blue
Other than that, your water must be pretty bad to get that kind of rot on a tetra. You need to be doing more Water changes, and bigger ones.
Understand that once bacteria move thru a fish and kill the tissue, fungus sets in and decomposes the rest. Fungus does not affect healthy living tissue. You must improve water quality and use the antibiotics or they may not recover.
 
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