Oto with white fuzz

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hmiddleb13

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Hello Iā€™ve had my 15 gallon set up since August and Iā€™ve posted a couple of times. Itā€™s beautiful and we are loving it. I thankfully have not had any real issues. My pH is always about 7.6, ammonia 0, nitite 0 and nitrates were up a bit to .10. Then yesterday I discovered one of my otos ā€œPaulā€ had a fuzzy white spot behind his eye. I thought it had looked funny a few days prior but he moved. I quarantined him last night in a tank using some of the sponge filter from the established tank. I was afraid I killed him with the stress of catching and moving. I cleaned the established really well and found an algae wafer that had slipped under the bubble wand and had gotten gross. So I donā€™t know if that was the culprit or not. Anyway I dosed Paul with API Pima fix last night and again today. I actually thought he was dead this morning but I came back to scoop him out and he had moved. Then again when I came home he was on his side and I went to scoop him and he shot off. Tonight he has moved around several times tonight and finally looks a little more life like. But I am unsure what I should do next. His water is a bit cloudy. I had put in prime and some aquaLife activate. His fuzzy growth on the right is bigger and is now growing a spot on the left. Pictures below. Do you all think it is fungal or bacterial. Iā€™ve seen some things on internet that talked about columnarius and treating with kanaplex. Iā€™ve also seen mention of of giving a ā€œbathā€ in methylene blue. What do you guys think? And should I do a water change daily?
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This is not a bacterial infection so do not use Kanaplex because it will not help.

The fish has a fungal infection and needs treating with a fungus treatment asap or it will die. Methylene Blue is the most commonly used medication and you treat the fish in the quarantine tank. You add Methylene Blue at the recommended dose rate and keep the fish in it for at least 5 days after the fungus disappears.

Methylene Blue wipes out filter bacteria and stains silicon blue. Silicon is the glue that holds the aquarium glass together. It does not damage the silicon but it does make it blue in colour.

If you can't get Methylene Blue then get any fungus remedy. Make sure it is suitable for scaleless fishes (catifsh, loaches, eels). If you can't find one for scaleless fish, then use a normal one at half strength.

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will absorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
 
Thank you so much! Thatā€™s what I thought it was. Poor little guy. Do I need to do the water change and wipe down daily? Then add meds? And when I get the Methylene Blue, I donā€™t need to do the API Pimafix any more?


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Also should I take any precautionary measure for the established tank he was in or just watch the other fish closely?


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Fungus only gets into open wounds so unless the fish in the main tank have sores/ wounds, they are not likely to develop this. Doing big daily water changes and gravel cleaning the main tank each day for a week will help dilute fungus spores and other microscopic organisms in the tank and help reduce the chance of infection.

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If you put Methylene Blue in the main tank you will wipe out the filter bacteria and the tank will have to cycle again. This could cause problems to the fish so do not treat the main tank.

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Melafix and Pimafix don't help with this problem so stop using it.

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Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the bottom and wipe the glass down before adding Methylene Blue. It's a good idea to do a huge 90% water change, gavel clean (to remove the poop from the bottom of the tank) and wipe the glass down each day before you re-treat the tank.

If the directions say to treat every 2 days, then do the big water change and clean every second day before re-treating it with Methylene Blue. Normally you do it every day.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

I would use water from the main tank to do the 90% water changes on the quarantine tank, then top up the main tank with dechlorinated water. That will keep the quarantine tank clean and let you do a 75% water change on the main tank to help dilute things, as described above.

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Don't feed the fish too much while it is being treated. The more food you put in the tank, the higher the ammonia levels will get and the more chance of the fish dying from ammonia poisoning. The big water changes help keep the ammonia levels low but you should minimise feeding to help keep it low too.
 
Thank you so much Colin you are always so helpful! Unfortunately Paul didnā€™t make it. Iā€™m going to go get some of that medicine to keep on hand. We lost John a few weeks ago so we will be replacing them soon. My daughter says they canā€™t be the Beatles with only Ringo and George.


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One more question. I removed a cucumber I had put in the established tank last night for the healthy otos and found these little bugs! Could they have been part of the problem? Or are they a problem?


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I am sadly dealing with the same issue. I was told on this site that mine was a fungal infection too and to treat as above. I almost lost my fish. With the help of a close aquatic friend, she sent a video and pics to her vet ( thank you, Dr. Dave)! He diagnosed as Columnaris. He had me order AAP Spectogram which is a combination of Kanaplex and Furan-2. Neither Kanaplex nor Furan-2 alone will help. It has to be the combination of both. You can order Spectogram from American Aquarium Products . He also had me do 2 methylene blue baths per day and add salt to the tank at the rate of one tablespoon per gallon. Columnaris does not like salt and is why the disease is not found in salt water tanks. My fish had to go through 2 rounds of the Spectogram as she was at deaths door by the time we got correct treatment going. She is now swimming and eating and almost back to her old self. I posted a very good article regarding Saprolgenia (fungus) vs columnaris on here yesterday. I suggest you read it and order the Spectogram. Keep us posted. Good luck! Note: Spectogram will not affect the beneficial bacteria in an established tank either which is great to know!
 
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Iā€™m so happy your buddy is doing better. I will note this info. Thank you.


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The picture doesn't work.

And the Otocinclus does not have Columnaris. You can see the fluffy bits of fungus in the reflection on the bottom glass.

Columnaris gets introduced into tanks with contaminated fish from pet shops or fish suppliers. If you haven't added any new fish within the last few weeks it's unlikely to be Columnaris.
 
The picture doesn't work.

And the Otocinclus does not have Columnaris. You can see the fluffy bits of fungus in the reflection on the bottom glass.

Columnaris gets introduced into tanks with contaminated fish from pet shops or fish suppliers. If you haven't added any new fish within the last few weeks it's unlikely to be Columnaris.
Yes it definitely wasn't Columnaris. It was super fluffy.
 
Can you set the camera to macro and get a closer look at the grey things?

Do they have lots of legs?

I am guessing they are probably gammarids/ amphipods, which are harmless and feed on dead plants or dead fish. They are general scavengers and don't cause any problems. Big fish will eat them.
 
Colin, I respect most of youā€™re expertise but in the case of Columnaris, you are wrong. You are also the one who gave me the poor advice. Columnaris bacteria is in all tanks. It just depends on stress level of fish and water conditions as to whether or not it breaks out. My fish was ā€œFuzzyā€ too. You told me it was an injury and fungus. You advised to treat with MB for 10 days, I believe. She almost died. She is the only fish in the tank and in there for 5 months. No other fish have been introduced and the tank has no live plants. I suggest you all read more on columnaris. I am simply cautioning you all. I worked in healthcare for 32 years. That doesnā€™t make me capable of diagnosing all diseases or make me an MD just as working in ā€œ shopsā€ doesn't make anyone a vet. My fish almost died because I was provided with ill advice. I was set straight by a professional, licensed vet. I just hate to see another fish suffer by someoneā€™s conjectured advice. I mean no trouble. I am only offering my own experience. Thank you for understanding and best of luck with your fish.
 
I did read the articles again which I bookmarked along with the medicine. I sure hope I never need the info again but if something should arise I want to be better prepared. I had also read them when I was first trying to diagnose. But I had come to the fungal infection already too. My tank has 8 other fish and Paul was the only one infected and it grew super fast.


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