# Fungus that won't go away....ideas?



## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Could be columnaris, but could be something else too. Use a gram positive and gram negative medication. Marycn 1 & 2 will cover both. But they'll ruin your cycle a bit, so keep up w/ water changes in the QT according to the directions.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Hi, thanks for the response, I don't _think_ it's columnaris though, the patches are more cottony and raised than stringy on the mouth or flat grayish discolorations on the body, and there is no fin deterioration, the white spots will be there one day, disappear and crop up somewhere else but leave no visible signs that they'd been there. That said, it could still be bacterial. Should I try melafix? I know salt is a good cure-all but how much can tetras generally handle? I don't want to add osmotic stress to the equation and accidentally kill them by using too much salt to try and cure them.


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Well, cotton mouth is another name for columnaris. I had something similar to what you're experiencing--no fin damage, spots increasing/decreasing/moving around day to day, and the lesions were puffy white, not stringy. I never knew for sure what the fish had, but I only treated w/ both Marycins/erythromycin I believe. Took more than a week to clear up. Don't increase the temp as it quickens the disease development (if it is columnaris).

Melafix might help if it's a fungus. But I wouldn't waste the time waiting to see if it is, and would dose antibacterial at the same time.

I've never salted, so sorry but I can't help you there.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Personally, I'd try the Mela/Pima combo for a week and if that doesn't work try the Maracyn. Unless the fish seems to be deteriorating, then I'd go ahead and try the Maracyn.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Thanks for the input, I decided when I got home and did the water change to hit them with both mela and pimafix and we'll see what happens. They don't seem to be deteriorating, they're both swimming and eating a little, and they're not getting more and more fungus (or bacterial growth) one spot disappears, leaving no visable trace, and a new spot appears. So from day to day they're no worse, but not really better because the spots are just in different places. I'll see what happens with the mela/pimafix combo before trying the maracyn(s).


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Both fish looked a lot better this morning, I think I'll keep hitting them with the double-whammy of mel and pimafix and see how that does. 

Should I be adding some salt to the mix as well or leave that out?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'd leave it out.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

I thought so too, figured it's best not to mess with too many things at once so I left it out when I did the water change last night, I will continue to leave out then. As always, thanks for the advice!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Sort of threadjacking, but how's your betta?


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

haha no worries, not really a thread jack, or maybe it is but I don't care. As for my Betta boy, unfortunately, I finally had to euthanize him, the tumor (or whatever it was) was definitely getting bigger and he was having so much trouble getting to the surface even though i lowered the water level. He was still eating but wasn't going after the food as vigorously so I decided it was time. I was very sad to lose him, I'd had him for quite a few years. He was a good fish. My new orange Betta is gorgeous, but doesn't have quite the same personality. My sparkling gourami has stolen my heart though :hihi: he reminds me of mr betta the way he comes over to check out whatever I'm doing whether I'm just sitting staring at the tank, or am am elbow deep in it, or I'm feeding. And he comes right up when I feed him frozen blood worms and takes them from the tweezers now like the Betta did. He's a silly little thing :biggrin:

Mr. Betta will be missed though, R.I.P. Mr. Betta, you were a great fishy!!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Sorry to hear it, but I'm sure he's at peace now.

Your new betta is definitely gorgeous.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Thank you, yeah I felt he was starting to suffer so I wanted to put him at peace. 

And thank you, he is a pretty orange and purple boy isn't he?! :biggrin: Doesn't pay to dwell on the sad things


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

So I've been hitting them with both mel anf pimafix (i dose in the evening) and in the morning they both look better, but by the evening before that days dose they look worse again. two days ago they remained better looking in the evening, but last evening they looked worse again. I don't know what to do! I'm thinking maybe I should break down the little QT tank, bleach it and then bare bottom it with them in there. It was set up to house my Betta as a sort of Hospice tank, so it has gravel and fake plants in it. I'm thinking maybe something is lurking somewhere that I'm not seeing and I should just go ahead and break it down and start fresh for the little guys. Does this sound ok? Or will the stress of getting put in a holding tank and then back be too much for the lil buggers?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

You doing WCs regularly w/ the dosing? I've never used Mela/Pima tho, but most meds require WCs to counteract buildup and lost biofilter.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

yup, daily PWC and re-dose, the directions on both mel and pimafix say to dose daily and do a water change after a few days, but because I'm dosing both I figured PWC were not a bad idea....maybe I should dose 2 days in a row before WC?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

The combo killed the biofilter in my QT tank, so I did daily water changes. It does sound like water quality may be an issue, though. How are they eating, and is there any uneaten food left behind?


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

I'm thinking water quality might be an issue too, they're eating a little and I'm trying to only feed a tiny bit of food so there isn't too much left over and what there is I siphon out but with the gravel and fake plants set up i'm worried I might be missing some. I think going bare bottom might help so rocks aren't getting stuck and in my way when I try to siphon out the old food.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I always keep tons of snails in my QT tanks to help with uneaten food- is that an option for you?


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

That is an excellent option too, i can definitely pull a bunch of snails from my other tanks....i don't know why i didn't think of that? most of my snails are itty bitty things so I guess I assumed they wouldn't do enough to be useful, but i reckon I could pull one of the big fat enormous parent snails to go along with it


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

well, I went bare-bottomed with the tank and switched the filter and so far the fish have been looking consistently good for 2 days, but this could be for a couple of reasons.
I switched to morning dosing the other day when i woke up and realized I'd forgotten to dose the night before so I dose in the AM got home from work, fish looked good, fish looked a little worse yesterday morning, I dosed in the AM and they looked good when I got home from work, cleaned the tank, dosed again last night because of the 100% water change and they still look good this morning. Won't really know if it's due to the meds twice in one day or the nice clean tank, so I guess i'll find out this evening.


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## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

The fact that its moving around is strange... Parasite? Dono.... Possibility I guess.... Maybe add a tad bit of salt to the next water change since you have stopped that for a while. 

If they look good 12hrs after the Waterchange/Dosing, maybe you should do one in the evening and in the morning. Its worth a try. I wouldn't break down the tank, very stressful. I would wait till after this situation is resolved.


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

I've had a similar problem with my tank as well. I just had my whole fish tank go down with a really bad fungus problem and it only took the correct amount of melafix without light for two days for the fungus to go away. As for the water condition and filtration I just cleaned out my filter pads and left the media untouched, its been 2 weeks now and everything is now in good working order (happy fat fishes) with a 25% WC. And while I was using medications within the first 8 hours the fungus was at its worst on all my little fishes until the next day. This process worked for me and I hope some of this can help you.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Thanks for the input, it wasn't a full display tank that I broke down, just the small quarantine tank i have them in and they seem to be doing well now that I've gotten the gravel out and switched the filter. I seeded the new filter with gravel from one of my established tanks along with some "sponge squeezing." 

chonzilla - may I ask why you shut the lights off? Glad to hear your fish are doing well!


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

Karackle said:


> chonzilla - may I ask why you shut the lights off? Glad to hear your fish are doing well!


I did that to eliminate all stress ( cause I'm no professional and I had no idea what caused the fungus "looked nasty"). It wasn't complete darkness cause the tank is set-up across from a big window, so I'd say just room light. but yes it was supposed to eliminate further stress.


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## ticcy09 (Jul 20, 2017)

Hello,

I have the same problem, but don't understand what Mela/Pima is - can you advise and where to get it?

Also you say bleach the tank and start again - will this not kill the fish?

Thanks


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