Can Fish Get Fungus From Plants?

[GuppyGoddess]

I'm posting a flurry of topics in hopes of keeping my remaining fish alive or how to approach since the guppy tank is my son's and another tank belongs to my other son.

A few weeks back, I brought home live plants from a fish store. I washed them in hot water a few times and then split one of the plants into three sections and put one in my guppy tank, and the two remaining in two seperate betta tanks.

On two of the plants a few days later, the stem began turning black and it looked a bit moldy, so I took those out (one in my guppy and one in my betta). The third portion didn't seem yucky, but I yanked it right out.

Question is. . .could that stuff on those plants have transfered to my fish? I'm now concerned two of my bettas may get the same disease. They do have seperate syphons, etc., so there is no chance of cross contamination with equipment.

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

If the plants have gone black to sounds like there rotting.
How hot was the water when you rinsed the plants.

Do the fish have fluffy cotton wool on there bodies. If so it sounds like columnaris.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

They did have fluffy cotton wool. I looked online and they didn't have that sattleback look though. . .

I had to euthanize another this morning so only the two little guppies are left. They're both light fish (almost white) and so it's difficult to see if they have any cotton on them yet. I decided rather than spend $22 on antibiotics and hope that that kills what's contaminated the tank and if it doesn't be stuck buying a whole new set-up, I'm just going to go directly to buying a new set-up and put a betta I already have in it.

Was the columnaris caused by poor quality alone or would be from bringing in new fish who were contaminated and that combined with poor quality had it spread?

I was stupid to overstock my tank. I thought that with good water changes the tank would be okay. Sure learned my lesson!

 

[GuppyGoddess]

I just read and it's cotton fin fungus of sorts. Since I have a bottle of melafix, I added 1/2 teaspoon and will do a 50% water change tomorrow and add more. Maybe the two little ones will survive.

 

[Inchworm]

Was the columnaris caused by poor quality alone or would be from bringing in new fish who were contaminated and that combined with poor quality had it spread?

Hi GuppyGoddess

It could be either one. Poor water quality will cause the fish to be stressed and become run down with it's immune system weakened. It could then catch a disease that was brought in by another fish or catch something that was already in there and that it was no longer able to resist.

A fish will get that white fungus either from an injury or as a secondary infection to a bacterial infection. Melafix might help but it's important to get the water quality improved and excellent while it is healing. It will also help to gradually lower the water temperature to 75 F. and make sure the water is agitated enough to be well oxygenated. These things will make the environment less hospitable to harmful bacteria.

I hope your fish get well quickly.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Okay, thanks so much. I did a 1/3 water change about a half hour ago and adjusted the melafix. I didn't reduce the temperature, so I'll do that (slowly a degree each day? does that sound good?) and cross my fingers for the two little ones left.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi GuppyGoddess

You can lower the temperature a little more quickly than that. Unless it's very high, lowering it over the course of a day will be fine. The idea is to avoid causing them any more stress than necessary.

Keep up the water changes and add more Melafix to replace what was removed. If it doesn't seem to be working within a few days, or if they seem to be getting worse, I'd suggest removing it and getting a stronger medication. Let's hope that won't be necessary.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Thanks. I lowered the temp by 1 degree F and the temp went down by a few degrees. Heater isn't the best.

So, my newest update is the two little 1/2" guppies aren't showing any symptoms. I just did another water change (50%) and found a dead fry in the gravel. Yesterday, the female I culled had been at the bottom of the tank for a while and I thought it was because she was sick, but apparently she gave birth. There's no way to know for sure if she would had survived if I had treated the tank with her still in it. She had a few white spots of fungus on her tail, but they were so tiny. . .I may have made a mistake rushing to get her out of the tank.

At any rate, we still have the two little ones! My son was told the fish were sold and that we're just going to keep the two we have now. He's upset that we're not going to breed any. I told him some day when we get a bigger tank we'll do it.