Possible Fungus Problems?

[Lizzie71]

One of my platys appears to be unwell, and I suspect a fungus problem. The fish in question is spending most of her time hiding, but I have noticed one white spot on her body, near her tail. No other spots, no flicking etc. She hasn't been up for food for a couple of days, and I barely see her unless I move plants to find her.

Tank details are in my sig below. All other fish are fine.

Tank stats (taken last Friday before a water change)

Ammonia 0.1
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
PH 8ish (always is high, only have a broad range test)

Temp is constant at 26

I know ammonia should be 0 so I did a 1/3 water change on Friday. Haven't tested again since.

Trouble is that in 5 days I leave for my holidays. I was going to just leave the lights on timer and let the fish fend for themselves as they can go without food for that long. But what if there is a serious disease outbreak whilst I'm away? Or what if she dies and that affects water quality?

Is there anything I can treat with before I go to try to put things right?

 

[Colin_T]

fungus is white and fluffy. If the fish has a small white spot that doesn't stick out at all then it isn't fungus.
any chance of a picture of the sick fish?

if the fish has a disease it will get noticabely worse during the next few days. You will have time to see if she is sick before going on holidays. If she has whitespot or something along those lines you can treat her with a medication that gets dosed once a week. Treat her before you go and when you get back.

Unless the tank is really small, having 1 fish die is unlikely to cause a major water quality problem. The shrimp and catfish will probably eat her anyway.

I would just monitor her over the next few days and see how she goes.

 

[Lizzie71]

Managed to catch her in a net today and the small white patch (which did appear fluffy) has faded somewhat. But she is still hiding and not eating. I can't get a photo, she won't come out for long enough.

I'll just keep an eye on her I guess and see what happens.

 

[WILDER]

The spot does it have any red like a circling of red on the outside of the spot, or a red centre.

http/www.flippersandfins.net/flexibacter.htm

 

[Lizzie71]

No it doesn't look like that, thank goodness. It was more like a small raised white spot.

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
Somtimes spots can go away on there own.
If its not the size of a grain of salt you could add a bacterial med.