Black Ghost Knife Fungus

[cb854]

Hi,
I have a 10 inch black ghost knife fish who has had a small sort of fungus thingy on his side for about 2-3 weeks now, I have been doing a lot of water changes hoping it would get better, He had one like it a long time ago but it just cleared up within a week or so with lots of water changes, he’s still acting totally normal, still has a massive appetite and swims around pecking at everything all night. The fungus does looks like a little cotton bud and does stick out slightly, not sure what its called.

Tank is 55g and my water is:
Temp: 26*C
pH: 6.7
gH: 4-5dgh
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

Tankmates are an ABF, 10 neon tetras, 10 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Glass catfish, 3 Tiny silver sharks(3cm each which I am just holding for a little while), L333 pleco (3cm), peppermint Bristlenose (5cm), Sailfin pleco (8cm), Hoplo catfish.
I know it might be slightly overstocked but the sharks will go soon and the pleco will go when hes big too, I just like seeing them grow, he grew about 0.9 cm last week

So how long until I should be worried and what sort of meds should I use on him if I have to, I had a bgk a while ago and it died suddenly while I was treating my old pleco with melafix but it was only about 5cm or less, Im pretty sure it was a half dose too so im not too sure about melafix even though it is herbal and 97.8% water...

I will try get a picture tonight
Thanks in advance for all your help
Charlie

EDIT: One other thing i totally forgot, a few days after i noticed the fungus i had closed down another aquarium due to selling it and I Put a few fish in his tank for a night before i sold them to a lfs, I have kept quite a few in his tank with him which werent in there before like the ABF, hoplo and l333. He already had the fungus before these changes were made so would this maybe add some stress and distrupt his healing process?

 

[primagen]

you should really treat a fish with meds once you've confirmed it to be sick. otherwise, you risk the development of a secondary infection. what you describe could be columnaris, which is bacterial. if that's what it is, then treat with maracyn 2, or even better kanamycin for at least 10 days. do you have a photo of the bgk?

 

[cb854]

you should really treat a fish with meds once you've confirmed it to be sick. otherwise, you risk the development of a secondary infection. what you describe could be columnaris, which is bacterial. if that's what it is, then treat with maracyn 2, or even better kanamycin for at least 10 days. do you have a photo of the bgk?

I have decided to use meds and went and got some WARDLEYS FUNGUS ADE and have used a half dose, I also had Aquamaster Multicure but the expiry date was feb2007 lol... I thought Columnaris was a highly contagious disease, the fungus spot is only in the one place on the bgk and no other fish are affected.

does anyone know whether Wardleys fungus ade is any good and how long untill results should show? the dose was only 2.5ml per 250L so it must be very strong. the multicure i have used before was 5ml per 25L...

 

[cb854]

Its been 2 days since i added the dose and the fungus has got a little smaller and faded. the directions say re-dose after 48hrs. should i add another dose or just leave it? Since the fungus is fading slightly does this mean its dying?

Also can fish diseases travel on plants because i did add some plants just before i noticed the fungus. the plants were washed just under the tap for a few minutes before placed in the aquarium (no chemicals to kill snails or anything)

 

[hanny93]

You must redose, its like us taking antibiotics, if you dont finish the treatment fully, there is a chance you might not kill all the bacteria and they might come back. keep dosing until it is gone, make sure you have enough aeration in there as some treatments can dangerously lower oxygen levels.


Some diseases can travel on plants, or so ive heard, but not lots, i should imagine fungus can because it is transferred via spores.

where did you get the plants from?

 

[cb854]

You must redose, its like us taking antibiotics, if you dont finish the treatment fully, there is a chance you might not kill all the bacteria and they might come back. keep dosing until it is gone, make sure you have enough aeration in there as some treatments can dangerously lower oxygen levels.


Some diseases can travel on plants, or so ive heard, but not lots, i should imagine fungus can because it is transferred via spores.

where did you get the plants from?

I got the plants from a store that doesnt seem to have the healthiest fish, ive never bought fish from there before because of it. This was the first time i have bought plants from them, don't know if i'll ever go back..... they are cheap for parts media etc. though.

I also added another dose just then, does the meds from the 1st dose just evaporate or anything or is there now 2 doses in the water?? it didnt say anything about a water change in between doses, should i have done a w/c? i did many 25% or so water changes before i added any meds...

hopefully it will be gone soon