Fungus - updated, need help

[Elle]

UPDATE:

The JD in the hospital tank is now 99% fungus free. However, one of the featherfin catfish has now developed a fungus which is in front of his dorsal fin and on top of his eye ridge. It looks more like columnaris (red edges, looks like the skin is eroded underneath), although he's still active and eating. I've been applying methyblu directly to it 1x daily for the last 2 days, but it doesn't seem to be responding very fast, if at all. I'm ready to yank HIM into yet another hospital tank, as nobody else in the main tank seems to have issues beyond the odd spot.

I am at loss here, can anyone give me some help? Do I do 2x methyblu treatments? Increase the salt factor? Continue with the maracyn? He's going into a hospital tank for sure tomorrow.

I'm currently treating the whole 75g tank with Maracyn in case there's a systemic bacterial infection. I'm also adding lower concentrations of salt (nervous about salt and catfish), plus Pimafix and Melafix on the premise that they won't hurt anything and might help. I'm tempted to try Maroxy again, as it seemed to work with the JD. The other thing I was thinking of trying is swabbing the fungus with a 1/3 concentration of hydrogen peroxide.

The tank is running 2 penguin 350 filters (no carbon right now, just filter foam) and I'm changing 75% of the water weekly, plus a daily 10% change to vacuum the poop out that I just started. I've had consistent issues with cloudy water in this tank - I blame the crappy penguin filters, Djamm blames the blasting sand we're using for substrate, as we STILL had cloudy water even when running a huge Eheim canister on the tank.

These guys are waiting on their 180g to be set up...but that isn't happening for at least a few days, and I kind of wanted them healthy before they went in there.

Tomorrow I think that I am pulling everything out of the damn tank and disinfecting it and then going bare bottom before resuming treatment.


AAARGH!!!!!!!


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Well, I'm still fighting with this stupid fungus. I had a new fish come who developed it. He's now in a QT tank and I'm treating with salt and Maroxy, but it is super slow to go away.

Any recommendations? I've heard that applying QuickCure or a similar malachite green formula directly to the fungus can help get rid of it.

It's true fungus, not columnaris.

[Pamela]

You can apply Methylene Blue directly onto the fungus area or give your fish a dip in a diluted Methylene Blue solution (warning: it stains). King Ed's sells it.

[CRS Fan]

For fungus, I've done what Pamela suggests. I net the fish and then apply a few drops to the affected area while the fish is out of water in the net. Let the Methylene Blue sit for a couple seconds and then release the fish back into the tank. This is extremely effective on fungal growths.

Best Regards,

Stuart

[BelieveInBlue]

malachite green is more for bacteria i think. Formalin might work, but it's toxic and stains, so be careful. Could also try "Pimafix", it works well against most fungi, and isn't nearly as toxic, although it does give off a funky smell. And as mentioned before, getting a little artistic with methylene blue works too

[Elle]

He seems to be WAY improved (fungus is all falling off, he's eating), but I may pick up the methylene blue in case it happens again. I'm using a mix of Pimafix, salt and Maroxy.

Blah. Sick fishies suck.

[Elle]

OK This stuff is just not going away fast enough, so I picked up the MethyBlu. We swabbed the remaining fungus bits last night. No major change this morning, but will keep an eye on it.

Does one treatment do it, or should he need another go? If I don't need to do it again, I'd rather not, as it's stressful for the fish and wet for the entire surrounding area when they have a fit about being netted.

We're still doing major water changes and trying to keep the tank super clean with salt in there.

[Elle]

bump for update in original post...