How To Treat Fungus Without Malachite Green?

[graceofbass]

I have quite a few marigold platies, and the dominant male platy (I say dominant b/c he has staked out the castle as his and is the largest) has developed a cloudy covering over one eye that appears to have also created a ridge over that same eye. I understand that it is probably a fungus and malachite green will probably take care of it. However, I am pregnant and malachite green, a known carcinogen, is dangerous for me to handle. I did recently bring the water temperature up from 73F to 78F after getting a new heater, and am wondering if that might have caused it, although I was under the impression that increasing the temperature in a tank was good for fish immune systems. I'd appreciate any help with diagnosing and treating.

 

[helterskelter]

If it's a cloudy eye it's more likely he's gone blind and little you can do.

You can salt dip him

Put 30g of salt in a litre of water. Add him for 30 seconds to 1 min and put him back.
They dont like this and they will float and not look happy but it works

 

[graceofbass]

Um... I have no idea how much 30g of salt is, or 1L of water. Sorry, I'm an American and we use our retarded gallon system. Do you have a conversion measurement at all?

Also, I'm thinking it looks like a layer of fungus b/c it goes up onto part of his head, like I lay a piece of fabric over his eye and eye ridge. It's not just the eye that is affected.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi graceofbass

Um... I have no idea how much 30g of salt is, or 1L of water. Sorry, I'm an American

Don't worry about that, I don't know either. If it wasn't for this conversion table I couldn't make sense out of any of it.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/conversion.html

For the salt baths, use about one rounded tsp. of aquarium salt for each 2 cups of aquarium water you use. Add the fish for up to 20 minutes, up to 6 times a day, until you see improvement. Mix up a fresh batch each time and throw it away after each use. Stay with it during treatment because the fish might have to be removed sooner, especially the first few times. If it passes out, immediately put it back in the tank and it will revive.

 

[graceofbass]

Thank you, I'm awful at metric conversions. Now let's see if I can catch him...

 

[OldMan47]

Don't use that conversion system. I just tried 30gm and it told me 10 ounces. That is so far off I know it right off the top of my head. 30 gm is much closer to one ounce. You can figure a liter as the same as a US quart for these purposes and at 2.2 pounds, 32 ounces, per kilogram, it is pretty easy to figure out that 31.25 gm is an ounce so we are talking about an ounce of salt in a quart of water. At that rate your solution will be within about 5% of the same solution as Helter Skelter suggested.

 

[helterskelter]

yes 30grams is about an ounce and it works to to a 3% salt dip

use no longer then 60 seconds

If you weaken it down you can use for longer but i use dips and it's works fine even if the fish look's more stressed they recover better

 

[Truck]

30 grams to 1 litre works out at 30%PPT thats about 1.018 high end brackish, do until the fish becomes lethargic

 

[graceofbass]

Thanks inchworm, I double-checked the measurements b/c I've never done this before and I'm a little nervous, but your conversion is totally correct. Wish me luck!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi graceofbass

That really works out? I didn't convert it, but that's the way I do it with corydoras. For livebearers, I would go with helterskelter's advice to keep it in the solution for a shorter period of time. He knows a lot more about those kinds of fish than I do.

I think the salt bath will do more to clean it up and let nature take it's course than to actually heal it, so try to figure out what caused the problem in the first place. You also want to stop a similar thing from happening to your other fish.

Did you check your water for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates? The higher temperature will promote growth of bacteria in your tank that could have caused a problem if a fish has a weakened immune system. A good bottom cleaning and some water changes will help with this. The stress of a sudden increase in temperature might have been a factor too. Another thing to check is the oxygen in the water. If you have good movement at the surface, this shouldn't be a problem, but if not, adding an airstone will help.

I hope your fish gets well soon.