Cotton Growths On Oscars Eye

[cuticom]

My Mum has a 6-7 inch Oscar fish, a month or so ago he had a few patches of cottony growth which were treated with salt, they cleared up quickly. But he's had this weird thing going on with his eyes for a while. These small white growths that come and go, their on the skin around his eyes. Maybe 2mm long, like a tiny bit of white cotton thread, kind of twirly/curly. They aren't anchor worms, they were my first thought but they look nothing like this. They come and go, at the moment he has one on each eye. I'm really hesitant to treat with medication unless there's something wrong, the anti parasitic stuff is really good at wiping out filters and we have no other tanks we can take filter media from, and this is a big messy oscar. I could treat with salt again though. Does anyone know what this is? Sorry can't get any pics.

 

[WILDER]

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

Cotton growth is usually columnaris and its bacterial.

 

[moritzbuesch]

Hi Mate,
I had something similar on my pearl gourami and I got rid of it by adding Melafix which is a natural remedy with teatree oil. It works perfectly and I have cured white spot with it also.
Might be worth a go. I use it for new fish to avoid stress.
Cheers,
Mo

 

[Athena]

I think maybe Pimafix might be a better option in this instance.

Pimafix is good for fungal and bacterial problems - and those cottony-like strands growing from the fish are likely to be a fungal disease (columnaris is usually cotton wool-like growths around the mouth, whereas these are cottony strings around the eyes).

Again, Pimafix (like Melafix) is a natural remedy so should not harm your filter or fish.

Regards - Athena

ps - forgot to add that before starting any treatment, do a water change and gravel clean to remove any food waste.