White Fluffy Patch :s

urs

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hi, i've had fish in my tropical tank for two and a half months now, and there are 12 fish living in it. one of my platys recently got fin rot so i treated him and he's getting better, but i recently noticed one of my other fish has a white cottony patch under his chin. it's not on his mouth and it's not salt or sugar textured, it's actually quite flat, and it also has bits of red on his skin beneath it. The medicine i used for cosmo (the one with fin rot) also says it cures cotton mouth, but i don't know if it is cotton mouth. ive looked up his sympotms but i can't find anything that seems to apply! anyone help? his names velvet by the way.

by the way, the ph and ammonia are fine, i always check them. the water is clean and i use the de-chlorinators, conditioners and stress-reliefs. i have also been using aquarium salt with the fungus medication
 
How big is the tank and what are the fish in it?

It sounds as though the platys both had columnaris. It's caused by the same species of bacteria, but there are different strains that produce different symptoms - such as finrot (usually white lines that move towards the body, eating the fins as they go), 'saddleback' lesion (white and red lesion in front of the dorsal fin) and the mouth rot. The same medication will cure it if it is an antibiotic, probably tetracycline or erythromycin as they are the most common antibiotics used in aquariums. But any antibiotic will work and so will a lot of Anti Internal Bacteria meds.
 
it's a 36 litre tank and there's 6 platys 2 little silver angel fish look-a-likes (havent a clue what theyre called!) and two catfish-shark things. oh and 2 bristlenoses.

yeah i was only wondering whether i needed an anti bacterial med instead of the anti fungus med, as some websites were inferring that. but if the medication i have says its for cotton mouth then i guess it should be good, i was just confused as it has cured my fin rot fish but not the other one.
 
Your tanks severely overstocked.
Angels shouldn't be kept in less than 20 gallons tanks.
What colour are the sharks.
Can you post your water stats please as bad water quality leads to illness and desease.

Get you some info it sounds bacterial to me.

Wounds that are white on the edges and red in the center are most typically Aeromonas. Those that are red on the edges and white in the center are generally Columnaris. Both are gram negative bacteria. The best treatment for this is any sulfa antibiotic with trimetheprim. This can be put in the water and mixed with food -- if you can find Romet B use it.
 
theyre not really angels they just look a bit like them in shape, theyre only small and theyre silver, i'd upload pictrues but my internets too slow and won't let me!

the water stats are fine ive checked them, everything seems to be in order except for the fungusy platy! im going to make a trip to the petstore today anyway see if they have something suitable there, i jsut wasn't really sure of what the fish had and what i should be looking for.

one shark is albino the other is black. theyre the ones with the orange tails and catfish faces.
 
lol theyre both red tails, ones an albino and one is black. there are only two sharks.

ok i'll go and check the petstore today
 
The tanks way to small for the sharks they will just kill one another, and start on your other fish.
 
but the redtails are the sharks, there's no real shark sharks. and they get along fine, and there's lots of places for them to hide and swim through so theyre not getting on each others nerves
 
The links not works so here the info.

Red-Tailed Black Shark (Epalzeorhynchos bicolor)
Common Name:
Red-Tailed Black Shark.
Scientific Name:
Epalzeorhynchos bicolor.
Other Names:
Red-Tailed Shark, Red-Tailed Sharkminnow, Red-Tailed Black Sharkminnow.
Family:
Cyprinidae.
Distribution:
This used to be found throughout Thailand, especially in the Chao Phraya and Mekong Basins, but they no longer exist in the wild.
Size:
Approx 6 inches or 15cm .
Diet:
They are omnivorous, so they should be fed greens along with the standard aquarium fare. They have underslung mouths, so sinking tablets and pellets will be appreciated, as will blanched greens.
Water Temperature:
72 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (22 to 26 degrees Celsius).
Water Chemistry:
They can deal well with medium to hard water and will take well to somewhat soft water, too.
pH:
Slightly alkaline water (7-7.4) is best for these fish, but they can deal well with a wider ranger.
Life Span:
6-10 years.
Description:
These are moderately large fish with streamlined bodies that indicate their former presence in fast-flowing rivers (along the bottom, natch). They have underslung mouths as well. The fish should be a deep black with red fins, but they are often found in a faded state. Good water quality and a few hiding places will color them happy, and a happy-colored Epalzeorhynchos bicolor is beautiful!
Species Behaviour:
These can be nasty fish, and probably should not be kept with conspecifics in any aquarium smaller than 55-75 gallons. They will keep to themselves (mostly) when they are given many hiding spaces. They often swim up and down in front of the aquarium glass and are valued members of the community tank because of that behavior. Less-tough bottom-dwellers are at risk. The RTBS may pester shy fish to the point where they succumb to the stress.

Happy E. bicolors tend to have the coloration that make these so valued within the hobby.
Sexing:
They are essentially isomorphic. Some differences in ventral coloration (black for males, lighter for females) and fin shape (rounded tips for the females) have been cited, but these are standard guesses for Cyprinidae, and have not been verified over a large sample. These may be proven to be correct in the future, but they should be regarded as unproven and taken with a grain of aquarium-ready salt.
Breeding:
Very, very rarely will E. bicolor breed in aquaria. It has not been well-documented if it has, in fact, occurred. Those specimens that are found in the hobby are usually bred in ponds in Thailand. Often, hormonal treatments are used to induce spawning.
Water Quality:
They need soft water, but might be able to adjust to hard water through drip acclimation. Smith recommends dH levels under 5. A pH 5.5 to 8.5 is all right for long term maintenance, but anything outside of 6-7 also requires drip acclimation.
Natural Conditions:
These aren't found in the wild, but they used to be found in fast-flowing rivers.
Minimum recommended tank size:
40 gallons.
Tank levels:
Bottom feeder.
Miscellaneous:
These are now extinct in the wild and no intensive program to restock the Chao Phrayo (and possibly the Mekong) with them are currently underway.

They are often bred by hormonal treatment. Hormone injections are rarely given to fish destined for the fish tank, though, because even these will not color up a less-than-happy E. bicolor.

It was only recently that E. bicolor became the preferred name for the Red-Tailed Black Shark. Many aquarium books and resources will refer to the RTBS as Labeo bicolor.
Photo Credit:
Photo supplied courtesy and ©BlueLagoon.
 
but the sharks are fine, its the platy thats not. he's being forgotten :( lol
 
Red finned shark are aggressive too and they also needs same tank size as the red tailed black shark.
The sharks won't be fine in that tank size, you need to rehome them.
They will stress all your other fish and even eat them.
 
The platy needs an antibacterial med, an antifungal will do very little for him... what do you have?

Please listen to Wilder. I made the same mistake when I first started fishkeeping (I got a small tank and put far too many fish in it) and I had problem after problem until I was able to upgrade to a tank more than four times the size to keep all the fish I had bought to start with. Your tank contains at least double the number of fish it can comfortably support. We're not trying to be mean, we're just trying to stop more problems like this from happening.

There is nothing that looks like an angelfish but is smaller. The fish you have are baby angelfish, and in a large enough tank (20 gallons minimum, that's about 80 litres) would grow into big, graceful fish with bodies the size of a woman's hand. In a small tank, they will grow until they can't grow any more and then will be stunted and continually sick.

All species of 'sharks' that are kept in aquariums have gotten that name for a reason. They are aggressive and will not tolerate another member of their own species in their tank unless it is enormous. They will also grow very large and need a much bigger tank. The fish you have now are juveniles - when they start getting a little larger, they will wreak havoc in your tank as they shred each other and possibly the other fish in the tank.

The bristlenoses are peaceful, but also get too large for your tank (15cm or six inches). That's if they are correctly identified as bristlenoses - there is a look-alike species sometimes sold as a bristlenose that reaches one to two FEET in length. Fortunately there have been fewer such misnomers lately. You can keep the bristlenoses for a few months as they are slow growing but they will eventually need to be rehomed, either in a larger tank or with somebody else.

Please don't think we are flaming you or in any way blaming you for what's happened. This sounds like the typical bad advice from pet stores, which don't care about anything except their profit margins generally. If they convince a customer that the tank can support 20 fish when it can support 8, when 12 fish die because of overstocking-related health issues, the aquarist comes back and buys another 12. And so on and so forth. It's not your fault, but as the person responsible now for the welfare of those fish, please take our advice and fix it.
 
the 'angels' actually looked more like tiger barbs, but without the orange :S theyre definatly not angels, i was only trying to think of what shape they look like but in reality they are pretty unangelish

i am going to take the advice, i am fortunate enough to get my hands on another tank from my boyfriends mum who used to have tropicals but no longer does.

and im going to get some antibacterial medication
 

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