Do I haver a Fungus or a Parasite problem?

[Ariamus]

I have an African Cichlid (Red Zebra) that has been a little out of sorts of late. First problem I noticed with her was a couple of days after I moved her and her bretheren into a new 30 Gallon tank. That tank had cycled and was stable. The only possible concern with it was the fact that I decorated the tank with blue slate and some of the edges of the rocks were kind of sharp. I first noticed that the fish wasn't swimming right and the fins were pretty ragged. When she turned around, I saw a large swatch of her scales missing, as if they had been scraped off. I pulled her out of that tank and put her into her old tank for observation. At first I thought parasite because she didn't appear to have anything fungal growing on her. So I treated her for external parasites (I used fizz tab meds). The treatment seemed to be working fine. By the third day (when I gave the second course of the meds) she was swimming fine and the fin raggedness had ceased. By the seventh day, the scraped area seemed to be healing up, the fins were definitely growing back and she had returned to her usual pugnacious self (bothering the Plecos in the tank she was in). So I put her back into the Cichlid tank.

Yesterday, she's again swimming funny and now she has a very large, fungal-like growth on the same side as the damage before. The scraped scales area is much larger and the fins are again tattered. This time, though, she had a large, fuzzy growth on the wound. I pulled her out again and the fuzz fell off and left behind a red spot which seems to me a more tender area of the larger overall wound. The "fuzz" however, did not feel like a fungus. It didn't come apart between my fingers but stayed in one whole piece.

So I put Red back into her original tank and I medicated again, this time for both fungus and parasites. But to be quite honest, I have no idea which one I'm dealing with. And, the other perplexing thing is the fact that none of the other fish in either tank are showing signs of sickness. No signs at all...

Thoughts...?

 

[Zagz]

It sounds like she is getting an infection from the injury. Or she may have re-injured herself. Did you remove the blue slate from the tank? Otherwise she and the other fish will continue to run into it. I'd keep her in the tank you are using to medicate and treat her with some salt and melafix and pimafix. Too many meds can be harmful to the fish. I don't think she would have a parasite if none of the other fish are acting similar, it must be related to the injury. Keep her in that tank for a couple of weeks I'd say, it also stresses her to move her from tank to tank. Hope everything works out.