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hi!

i have a 55G planted tank that has been established for over 3 years. i do weekly water changes of about 30% and my water parameters are as follows: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <20, pH 7.0.

it's basically a community tank with a variety of tetras, dwarf cichlids, rasboras, platties, swordtails, and gouramis. i haven't added any fish in about 2 months.

recently i noticed that some of the fish have what appears to be a fungal or bacterial infection. it started with my pearl gourami and seems to have spread to some of the swords and platties. it's not a cottony growth, more like a greyish slime on the sides of the body. a few of the platties' fins are clamped and frayed (fin and tail rot?).

my question is: what could be causing this and what's the best way to treat it?

thanks a lot
emily

p.s. the tank has recently started to grow some hair/brush/beard algae... could this be related?

Jungle labs fungus clear tank buddies and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Furan-2 both have Nitrofurazone, and Fruazolidone in the active ingredients. I'd suggest one or the other as they're both positive and negitive antibactierals, and can be used for fungus.
Keep surface agitation up while medicating, remove carbon, make sure to keep an eye on ammonia.
I've use the Jungle tablets before to handle a case of fin roth and had good success.
Not sure if that's any help.

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Try some Jungle Fungus Clear, if you think it looks like fungus it's probably columnaris. Columnaris is almost always associated with poor water quality or maintenance so I would do an extra large water change (30-50%) and thorough cleaning to be safe. Also test the water (double check) for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc. The Fungus Clear (you can also try Furan2) *may* harm your plants so it's better to isolate the fish in a separate tank if you can. If not, go ahead and treat the main tank but be aware that you might lose some of your more sensitive plants and it may also affect your biological filter so you'll need to monitor ammonia.

Brush/beard algae is usually associated with low CO2/carbon. I can't really go into it more without more info about the tank. In general, any algae bloom can also be a sign of maintenance issues so again, a thorough cleaning might help you there. If you're not injecting CO2 you may want to try some Flourish Excel, a lot of people have had good results with excel treatment and black beard algae by doubling (or even tripling) the dose of it temporarily for a week or 10 days then dosing regularly afterward. I would not overdose the Excel at the same time that you're treating the bacterial issue, however. It may stress the fish out, which is something they certainly don't need while they're fighting infection.

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I have always had the best luck with mardel products. I don't know the specific name of the medication of the top of my head (I believe it is maracyn) but I know they make a fungus treatment. Good luck!

I suggested the Fungus Clear / Furan2 because they're more broad spectrum for antibiotics. If I remember correctly they're also cheaper. I like mardel products but when I treat with maracyn I always use both maracyn 1 and 2 unless I'm absolutely sure I know what bug I'm treating, which rarely happens with poor diagnostic methods for fish. So it's far easier to treat with one med (much cheaper too).

thanks so much for the advice. i've always been a little nervous about using jungle products (i prefer mardel, too) but if you've had good luck with it i'm more than happy to try it (cheaper + big tank = good thing!).

i'm confused as to why i would have gotten fungus in the first place, because like i said i'm anal about water changes and tank maitenance. but, i guess that's besides the point now.

so, i guess i'd better get on it! thanks again.

Jungle Products are great, I actually prefer them to Mardel for most things. A lot of people hesitate with them but the active ingredients are what counts and they are very good meds. Fungus is actually not really fungus at all most of the time, it's a columnaris infection. A lot of the time it'll show up in poor water quality, sometimes it can be as simple as a wound that gets infected. Good luck.