Whoa, what is this and how do I cure it?

[Daven]

I don't see any signs on any other fish but this seems like it's been growing for a while. Fungus? Spreadable? Best medications to use?

10 rummynose tetra
9 panda corries
3 guppies
1 platy
10 Amano shrimp
1 nerite and tons of MTS and ramshorn snails
Low light planted 20g long tank


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[coralbandit]

It does look like fungus.
What are your water nutrient parameters.
Do you also know your pH,gh,kh?
How long have you had the cory and how long has tank been up?
Some cories are very sensitive to sodium (salt/gh) in water...
How long has it looked like this?

 

[Daven]

0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and less than 5ppm nitrates at all time (plants have been taking it all before it can build up any). First 4 corries added on December 4th I believe, and the rest were a week or two after. Tank setup on oct 23rd I believe and I've tested regularly (the odd time I seen .25ppm ammonia after adding new fish but I never let it get above that). They have always stayed hidden but the light in the tank is pretty bright so I was thinking they'd need some time to adjust. Like I said, the others don't appear to have anything like that so I must have not seen this one because he's stayed away during the day.


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[Daven]

Also I've never tested hardness. But my ph is 7.8-8 (depending on the kit I used) and supposed to decently hard. The pandas in my girlfriends tank have been out and healthy, but they're from a different batch


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[coralbandit]

Rid ich will work if avail to you?
Aquarium Fish Fungus

 

[Daven]

I'm not sure what that one is. Can someone recommend a good medication for this? And is it contagious? From what I've read, it seems like it's not and more so to do with the fish being unhealthy enough to ward it off to begin with. But should I treat the main tank as well?


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[coralbandit]

rid ich is malachite green and formalin.
Neither is an antibiotic so you should be able to get them.
They are best used together.
Malachite Green | Kordon

Expanded Section - Malachite Green - Koi Goldfish Pond Information
You are correct that fungus is not contagious.
It is usually a weak/stressed fish ,injury or poor water quality as cause.
Treatment is often done in a separate treatment tank.

 

[Daven]

How can I tell if it's fungus or columnaris? It was mentioned online that they can look similar and be mistaken?

I had moved 3 corries to a 10 gallon tank with an established sponge and filter to quarantine and 2 of them died. The one I watched die and he would swim normal then seem to float down like he died and repeated that for a while. If that makes any difference to the diagnosis. I ordered some fungus treatment that should be here tomorrow or maybe Monday if working days didn't work out with the two day shipping. Should I be worried about the rest of my stock?


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[Delapool]

I find bacterial will infect multiple fish, shows as white patches or lesions or white pimples and grows across/into fish. If you can't match it to pics I'd favour bacterial as it has many forms.

Fungal as white patches which grow across/up, mainly one fish only and will respond quickly to meds here. Extreme case is tank debris will get caught in it.

Where as a single fish with a white patch can be hard to tell. Or the fish has both. I try a general purpose med that treats fungal first but also covers bacterial (like the dyes or even Pimafix), then onto anti-bacterials if no improvement after several days. Or a med that covers both.

Important to figure out cause as well. That can help. Eg sudden temp spike would indicate greater risk of bacterial infections here. I'd imagine cases vary.

 

[Daven]

Thanks for the info! I don't think the cause is tank related per say. From what I can tell anyways. I'm pretty crazy about maintenance and keeping perimeters in check. But the first group of corries I bought always hid away and had some ragged fins from the start. I was hoping it would heal up since it was likely from shipping. But the second group I added was immediately out more but I never really seen them out much still. Maybe the first group just never healed up and eventually got sicker from it?

When the meds come I'll try the fungal stuff first. But does anyone know about the api stuff? Like will it harm corries or shrimp (hard to find a solid answer on Google), or will it die the tank if used in the main tank?


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[Coursair]

What temp are you keeping your Panda Corydoras at ? They are a cooler water species.

I doubt temp alone would cause fungus, but it might add to their stress and shorten lifespan. Feed any survivors well. Live or frozen worms and brine shrimp are best. Omega One Shrimp pellets are decent sinking food.


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[Daven]

Tank has been set at 75 degrees based off of their needs. Food is a community flake and freeze dried bloodworms alternated and fed to the other fish, and sinking hikari catfish pellets broken in half and dropped in both at regular feeding and at night. They never really came out to eat, from what I can see anyways, so it seems I'm mostly feeding the snails and now the shrimp lol

I always wondered if the tetras were stressing them out from having he bottom their territory. Since they roam the bottom as well actively.


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[jessipanda]

They never really came out to eat, from what I can see anyways, so it seems I'm mostly feeding the snails and now the shrimp lol

Are you talking about cories here?? I thought cories were super friendly and active fish...this seems like they are extremely uncomfortable. ?

 

[Daven]

Are you talking about cories here?? I thought cories were super friendly and active fish...this seems like they are extremely uncomfortable. ?

Yes and I agree. But unless there is some unseen bullying from the tetras, I'm not sure why. Water quality tests really good. In fact I tested again yesterday to be sure and the removal of the 3 fish caused my plants to bottom out my nitrates as well. So I test 0ppm ammonia, nitrite, AND nitrates. The light on the tank is decently bright compared to stock fluorescents, but still only a 16 or 17 watt LED light so nothing crazy.


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[Daven]

Ok so I went the the LFS I usually like to see what he had for meds vs the one where I live that mainly stocks melefix and not much for actual antibiotics or whatever. Turns out he doesn't have anything for meds, but he tried recommending me to add a some aquarium salts. I told him corries are sensitive to salt, as well as my live plants, and he seemed to think a small dose wouldn't hurt them and would help with the situation. Does anyone know wether it would be a good idea to add some aquarium salts when I have the corries, live plants, and Amano shrimp in there?

Here's the situation as far as I can tell now. Still the one panda alive in the quarantine tank. From what I can see in the actual tank, the corries seem ok aside from some ratty fins. The tetras in there also seem to have some slight tears in their fins but nothing major and they seem to be fine otherwise. I can't make out any real patches of white on anything, but it's hard to get a great look lol nothing too big anyways.

So are we thinking bacterial still? Water has absolutely no waste in it as far as nitrogen byproducts. But is there something else that could be messing with the water quality?


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[Matt68005]

This is water mould, is your tank in a cool damp and dark room?
The best medications to use are....
Furan-2
Acriflavine
Methylene Blue

I dont see something like this going away without meds, or at least alot of heat and fresh water.
Cories can take some salt, but "rid ick" (malachite) is a poor choice to use since catfish are sensitive to it.
Usually mould does not just grow on fish like this without some sort of injury site, the fishes slime coat protects it from mould like that.
I would try to find one of the meds i reccomended, even online. Depends on how many fish are sick and what you can get.
If your worried about bacteria causing this, the three i reccomended will control external bacteria/microbes.

 

[Daven]

Thanks for the help. I wasn't sure what to use so I started treating with Api fungus cure. The active ingredients are 3mg Victoria green B and 30mg acriflavine


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