How long should I expect my GBR to recover from Cotton Wool Disease?

[Tholamew]

Hi all,

As the title says, I have a German Blue Ram with cotton wool disease that has developed on his tail. He is in a hospital tank right now. I live in Canada where getting any proper meds is extremely difficult. Someone gave me their remaining kanaplex, which equaled a total of 4 doses, and I don't expect to be able to get anymore, at least until after the pandemic. Once that ran out and the cotton wool was still there, I added API aquarium salt to the hospital tank at a dose of 1 Tablespoon per gallon, as well as daily doses of API Pimafix. It's now been approximately 3 weeks since I gave the first dose of kanaplex, and while he looks a lot better, there is definitely still some cotton wool fungus on his tail. Is this recovery time frame still within a reason? I'm starting to feel like I'll never be able to add him back into my tank.

Thanks!

 

[Brookster123]

Ermmm they're not really the most resilient fish. I've never had luck saving sick ones. Best to start with the best possible genetics/breeding and give them the best possible experience. I'd treat aggressively and fast and pamper him after.

 

[Tholamew]

Ermmm they're not really the most resilient fish. I've never had luck saving sick ones. Best to start with the best possible genetics/breeding and give them the best possible experience. I'd treat aggressively and fast and pamper him after.

He does seem to slowly be getting better, the size and surface area covered by fungus has gone down significantly, so I'm not giving up hope yet. How much more aggressively could I treat him? 1.5 tablespoons per gallon of salt? 2? scraping the fungus off with a razor seems too agressive, lol. I'm pretty limited with what I can get here. Natural/herbal methods are about all that's readily available to my knowledge.

 

[Brookster123]

If no meds available than salt and frequent, large water changes are your best bet. Keep temps 82-83.

 

[Tholamew]

If no meds available than salt and frequent, large water changes are your best bet. Keep temps 82-83.

Thanks! I've got the temp at 83 already, and ill up my water changes. Apparently my province is allowing vets to reopen next week (they just announced this afternoon), so maybe i'll be able to get something prescription strength.

 

[Brookster123]

Let us know how you make out! I've had my ups and downs with gbr, they're such a cool little fish but can be very frustrating hahah