FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hello all,

I have a new tank, its been going for about a week and I have two lemon tetras in there. One seems to have fungus covering its right pelvic fin. The picture isnt great because the fish keep swiming away from the camera but it is alsmost visable. How should I proceed?

I have salt here but have not added any because of concerns for the plants I have added.

http://www.picshosted.com/v/11739/untitled.JPG

I will check NH4 and make sure it didnt spike in the last two days. Also the fish still is moving around a lot and hasnt lost any color.

Chaos

__________________________________
- - - Humorous Bit of Wisdom - - -

It could be a fungus, or if I remember correctly, something bacterial. I'll be honest- I'm not an expert with disease identification. This stuff is fairly common, I've seen similar bits of fuzz attached to other fish before. They don't seem to be life-threatening, and actually go away fairly readily.

My advice is to check pollutant (ammonia, nitrite, etc.) levels as I suspect that the "fungus" is brought on by stress associated with poor water quality. If your tank is cycling, the fish have good reason to be stressed. They will be fairly susceptible to diseases during this period. No need to add salt at all, that will likely only upset the fish more. We're not yet sure what the tetra has, so there's no point in treating it.

Normally I'd recommend water changes, but it sounds like the bacterial filter is still getting established. You'll need to hold off until the cycle is through unless something extreme happens. Just keep an eye on the situation and make sure that things don't get any worse. Again, this fuzz stuff doesn't seem to be that harmful to fish. It seems to vanish pretty quickly once a frequent water change schedule is implemented.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Thats good to hear. Because in my past expirence ive never had any fish with fuzz who seemed as healthy otherwise as this one does. I ran the tests I have:

pH 7.6 (im trying to slowly lower this but it wont seem to move)
NH4 - 0.25ppm
NO2 - 2 ppm
NO3 - 5 ppm
Temp, 78*F

Ill keep an eye on him, I might get some bloodworms from the LFS for them, I suspect 'real' food will help the fish's health.

thanks, Chaos


__________________________________
- - - Humorous Bit of Wisdom - - -

Common Name - Cotton Fin Fungus

Pathogen/Cause - Various, often Saprolegnia spp.

Physical Signs - Cotton-like "fluffy" or wispy growth trailing on fins of fish. Can gradually promote decay of tissue.

Behavioral Signs - Usually not severely affected until later stages.

Potential Treatment - Many formulations available, including brand names: Jungle Fungus Guard, Mardel Maroxy, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Fungus Cure and generic formulations usually containing methylene blue.

Other Notes - Prefers to attack already damaged or injured tissue. Most important action is to do water changes and increase circulation of the system. Saprolegnia prefers to live in stagnant water. Sometimes improvement of water quality alone will erradicate the disease.

The above information is from http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html, a very good site for viewing disease pictures. The bold and italicized text is emphasized by the writer. I always try the easiest treatments for disease symptoms before I rush to medicate a fish.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

hello,

bob, thanks for the info. The infection, it seems, was more than superficial and progressed quickly. The color change in the fish was supprisingly significant, by the time it died almost all the color was gone from the body. I will take the advice on the water change to help safeguard the one other lemon. That one luckily still looks healthy and is more active again (it kind of slowed down with the other fish which was the more dominant one but seems fine now that its being independant) Hopefully I will get it a companion or two soon to keep this one from stressing badly but I would like advice on that point as I dont know if I should wait and make sure the disease didnt catch with the other fish.

If you have advice please reply in this thread:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/13888.7.htm?150#

Thanks, Chaos

__________________________________
- - - Humorous Bit of Wisdom - - -