Fungus?

[jiffy]

I was watching my tank one night and it looked like my female apisto nipped one of my cory cats. My cory cats are hiding a lot so I didn't get a good look at it for about a week now.

Well, the one that got nipped, its fin looks like it has a cotton like patch on it, which I think is a fungus. I also noticed his barbels have erroded. I do 30-40% water changes weekly, however had been feeding a little on the heavy side the last week. I'm going to do a 50% change tomrrow and have cut back feedings.

I had read that a fungal infection can cause their barbels to errode, so this backs up my thought that it is infact a fungal infection. I'm not sure how to treat this though...

 

[The-Wolf]

there are two things tha can lead to the appearance of "cotton wool" like growths.

1 ) Saprolegnia (fungus) infection. [A true fungus]

2 ) Columnaris infection (mouth fungus/cotton wool disease) [A bacterial infection (Flexibacter sp)]

obviously the treatment for each will be different.
Personally I'd go the bacterial route as it is th most life threatening. if anti-bacterial dosn't clear it, then treat for fungus.

HTH

 

[WILDER]

Bacterial way i would say too, as corys are very prone to them, plus if the barbals have really worn down, it dosn't sound good sorry.

 

[jiffy]

Thanks for the replies. Could anyone suggest a brand of medication I should buy?

 

[tttnjfttt]

Where are you loccated?

 

[jiffy]

USA

 

[tttnjfttt]

Go with maracyn and maracyn 2. These meds are god antibacterials and won't hurt your filter.

 

[jiffy]

I checked bigals website and found those two, but these seem more specific to bacterial infections:

maracyn plus here:
http/bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xm...id1=2233;pcid2=

But, I also saw marox:
http/bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xm...id1=2233;pcid2=

 

[tttnjfttt]

"fungus" can be two different things. It can be a true fungus or it can be a bacteria called columnaris. Columnaris is much much much more common in aquariums, and it is also more lethal. This is why people are telling you to treat for columnaris first, and then if that doesnt work, to treat for fungus.