Hi I just came back from a weekend skiing and everything seemed ok at first until I got a good look at one of my fish ("The Andrew fish") - he's got a bunch of white stuff near the eyes, on the fins and other places. He was pretty tattered when I got him because he fights over a female in the tank so his fins never really looked that great but now I feel like he has some kind of fungas or something - does anyone know what this is?
I just took some photos (which were hard to take but I did the best I could).
So the white stuff that looks kind of like puss is along the borders of his eyes, on his side fins and near the area where the side fins connect to the body.
The other fish look ok.
They've been in my 46g tank (4 bps) for a month and a half now. My readings looked good (nitrates slightly high but everything else cool); water chrystal clear; etc.
Any thoughts on what this is a how to treat it would be greatly appreciated. His behavior hasn't changed much and he still wants to eat like a pig so I am not 100% sure what to do - THANKS!
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Comments
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (white
hi,
I am afraid I can't see well enough by your photos, to be able to tell your problem. Your camera is focusing on the background and not your fish. Mine tries to do that, in my case I have a box to show where it is focusing, I watch it and make it focus on the fish. Not sure, but yours might have a way to fix focus.
Back to your BP. As soon as as you can add salt to your tank. And get temp to 82 degrees. This can help on it's own. I don't think it will be enough. You will probably have to treat the problem on your fish. But we need to know what it is.
you said (nitrates slightly high but everything else cool); Exactly how high is it?
Nitrate: 0-40ppm (optimal)
Symptoms: can cause flip over problems, dilated blood vessels in fins, decreased immune response.
Treatment: partial water changes will help to bring nitrAte down to safe levels.
next about the sores. Does the puss seem to be coming out of holes? Do you notice any craters or holes without puss coming out?
Do the fishes eyes look like they are swelling? Cloudy? Anything unusual about his eyes, other than the sores? There are a couple things I can think of that could be causing your problem. I guess we need a much better description.
Do your best to give a better discription of the areas of damage. You might see if you can get your camera to focus where you want it too, then your photos would be good of the fish. That would be great. Otherwise get back with a better discription.
good luck
Re: Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
So the nitrates are 40 so maybe not high afterall (they got higher from 20).
I don't see any holes, just puss. It also looks like there may be some fungas starting on the fins that i never noticed before (almost as if the fish had dust on its fins, like the type that is on the floor - whitish-grey in color.)
I dont think the eyes look swollen or cloudy - they just have the white puss on top on them as per the photo (Im going to try to re-take them as you suggest when I get home - I work nights so I will do it in the morning)
The fins are ragged but he came that way (from fighting with another fish) but now he almost looks more ragged than usual and more fin damage has happened. (Someone gave me these fish about 6 months ago.)
Re: Re: Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (
I don't know if you said if you're using salt or not. But, it's been my experience that salt will cause fins to fray.
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
From your description, it sounds like the following. (See if it sounds right to you, I decided to go ahead and post this, so you can start sooner. If it doesn't sound right, let me know.)
Body fungus:grayish-white stringy material on much of the body: white or grey patches. Fish has columnaris- Body fungus.
This is not a true fungus but a bacterial infection Treat with Maracyn.
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Mardell Maracyn. Directions on package (Check at pet shops or aquarium stores.)
Broad spectrum antibiotic against gram-positive bacterial, and fungal diseases in fish
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Continue raised water temp and aquarium salt. Since it is contagious your BP needs to be kept isolated. Stress from the other fish, and injuries, probably caused this. Keep an eye on the other fish Your BP was with, as there is a possibility they were exposed.
Re: Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
The fish have small little greyish white patches, mostly on the fins (I say fish because I am realizing that another one now has this) - since this is contagious do I go ahead and medicate all 4 fish? Should I assume the others have it to? I know that's not a great idea but i don't want them all to get sick. I think injuries may be to blame because the 2 that most often fight with each other in fact have the problem. I tested my readings again and they look ok (Ammonia 0, notrite 0, nitrate 40 [which I know is at the higher end of the acceptability specturm on the nitrate].
I did use some salt. The original sick fish actually looks a little better. They didn't have a lot of this fungus but I don't want it to worsen.
BTW - there is a pleco in the tank - will the salt hurt him since he is a scaless fish? I read this someplace (which is why I did a dip rather than adding salt to the community tank on the one fish that was initially showing signs of fungus).
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
I have used salt with many plecos of many types. I always kept a smaller amount of salt in all of the tanks. No problem. Salt is a great preventative. I do not know what the amount of salt to help them get well would do to your pleco, so if you use it, you might remove it. Salt and temp raise would help the exposed tank. You might find info from someone that knows more about plecos. But to be safe, I would exclude it.
Watch them very carefully, since they were not stressed, the big tank may not get it. But they could. The Maracyn is the important part. It can be used on a pleco. Salt and heat would be a best start. If you can't take the pleco out, I don't really know what to tell. I hate to use meds if you don't need to. On the otherhand if you wait and they get bad, it would be harder to treat. I guess that will be up to you.
Good luck
Re: Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
I will give it a try - thank you for your comments
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
I am sorry, I am in a terrible hurry and missed the part about another fish being sick.. You definatly need to treat the big tank. Raise the temp to about 82 degrees. Salt would be best to use along with the Maracyn since it is in the big tank now. If you are worried about your pleco, take him out. I think I would, unless an expert on them gives you different info. Then they all need Maracyn. Including the pleco.
Hope you understand this, So sorry.
Basically they are all in the same boat now as far as treating. Except don't use salt on the pleco, just the maracyn. Try to put it in a hospital tank alone.
good luck!
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (white
You can use canning salt instead of aquarium salt, if you can get that quicker.
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (white fu
Are you sure your water parameters are good? It looks to me as if he has irritation from poor water conditions. However, if you checked your water and it's fine, I'm wrong.
I wouldn't raise the tank temp just yet. Rasing the temp is more for parasites and I'm not so sure that's what you got. Raising it needlessy could stress the little guy for no reason.
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (white fu
i understand. and u will probably get more comments on specific diseases and things like that, this is just what i would start with. u should always keep aquarium salt on hand. and yes, a 55 is probably the minimum for 4 of these guys. alot of us would like to see u get a bigger one than that. i have 2 in a 55 gallon. i also have 2 gouramis and tetras, pleco and a pictus cat, but these guys need space! they can get up to like 8 inches! they will eventually get very territorial and start fighting over space :( just make sure for now that they have plenty of hiding spots (as much as u can with ur tank) let us know how it goes
Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (white fu
well it doesnt look awful. u will need a bigger tank though. they say that 1 bp needs 30 gallons then 10 gallons 4 every additional 1. i would say 4 now to do some water changes. also turn the heat up to about 84-86 degrees, if it is disease it will stop itfrom spreading so readily. also add some aquarium salt, that will also help with alot of things. thats what i would start with.
Re: Re: Came home from skiing and one of my fish looks bad (whit
I can get some salt tomorrow. I keep the tank around 80 degrees but can easily change that. 3 of the fish are large and one is a baby so v small. I would love to get a bigger tank - 55g? It is hard to squeeze that extra foot into a NYC apt. I changed the water today to get started, did my regular filter maint etc. It was weird to see those white lines forming on the top of the eyes so I dont want it to get worse.