Blue Tetras - ? Fungus?

[Elaine2]

One of my blue tetras had what looked like a large white area covering its nose yesterday evening. I managed to net the fish for closer inspection and it looked as though the front of its face had replaced with a flat, white area. I thought maybe the fish had injured itself and that it could possibly be fungus, so I treated it as such this morning as soon as I could get a treatment. I've just checdked the fish this evening and one blue tetra was dead and floating on the surface and now two others have the same problem.

Water parameters are ammonia zero, nitrite zero, pH 6.4, temperature 24 degrees C. The fish are swimming around normally and don't look otherwise unwell - they fed OK earlier. The other fish (bristlenose plec, Emperor tetras and corydoras) look fine.

Is this fungus or something else? Am I treating for the right thing? Are the other fish likely to get it too?

Suggestions welcome.

Many thanks,

Elaine

 

[Sofia]

What are your nitrAte readings?

What medication are you treating them with?

Have you seperated them into a Qt tank?

Are there any other symptoms?
Gasping?
Bloating?
losing weight?
losing colour?
lumpiness on the body?

Was the white patch fluffy or did it look like part of the skin had just turned white?

A picture if you could get one would really help

It 'could' be neon tetra diseas...how long have you had the fish for?

 

[Colin_T]

sounds like columnaris. a broad spectrum antibacterial medication should get rid of it.

fungus normally sticks up a couple of mm from the fish. Columnaris causes the lips and surrounding areas to go white and gradually get eaten away. There is sometimes a reddening around the infected area.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating otherwise it will absorb the medication out of the water.

 

[Elaine2]

Thanks for the replies. I've had the fish for well over a year and they have no other symptoms - the remaining ones are swimming around quite happily and feeding - so far. Nitrate ( as opposed to nitrite) is zero also. I have been treating them with King British fin rot and fungus medication which is supposed to treat both fungus and columnaris - having read Colin's post it definitely sounds as though that is what they have as it looks as though their faces are being eaten away, they are not going fluffy.Filter carbon was removed.

So far the Emperor's and the bottom dwellers are unaffected - hopefully things will stay that way. I don't currently have a quarantine facility but it's got me thinking that it is probably a good idea to sort one.

 

[Sofia]

Yeah I think colin is right, it's just that with NTD in my experience the fish showed up a whole load of symptoms so I was just trying to rule that out.

I am glad that things are going well and that the medication appears to be working. Just as a side note you said that your nitrAte reading was zero it shouldn't be. Your NitrAte should generally be between 5 and 40ppm. Your nitrIte should be zero though.

Good luck!!

 

[Elaine2]

Thanks, Sofia. May be my imagination but the white patches don't seem to look as bad this evening. The fish are still otherwise looking and behaving normally - fingers crossed.