# Help identifying disease: fungus? fin rot?



## PictusCommunity (Jan 30, 2010)

I have an established 55gal tank that's been set up and running for about 1.5 years. I'm running an Ehiem 80gal capable canister filter and have one long air stone in the tank as well.

I'm having a problem currently with my Pearl Gouramis. I had two, lost one last night. They are about 3.5-3.75" long. I recently did about a 45% water change because nitrates were getting too high(~130+) based on my API water test kit. It was cold out so during the water adding process the tank temp dropped to maybe 72(from a normal of ~78). So needless to say I'm sure the fish were under some stress. The gouramis were a bit sluggish before the water change and afterward they seemed to be growing something that looked like a burst of fuzz on their bodies. Some other places on them almost looked like large mature Ich break-out but I never really saw the initial Ich infection. I'm attaching some pics of the dead one as well as the one still living which seems to be following the same series of symptoms as the one that died. Any idea on what I could do? I can quarentien the one that's left in an 8gal quarentien tank I have though I'd rather not stress the fish more by moving it unless I have a known medication that might work that can be added to that smaller tank.

Thanks for the help!


Aquarium Gallery - Sick Pearls

Aquarium Gallery - Sick Pearls

Aquarium Gallery - Sick Pearls


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## PictusCommunity (Jan 30, 2010)

Ok, I captured a couple more clear pics of the fuzz on the pearl so hopefully it'll give some more clues.

Aquarium Gallery - Sick pearl

Aquarium Gallery - Sick pearl


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

Well I would think this has been going on for awhile so I dont think you need to quarentine because its probably thru out your tank sorry. I would work on keeping pristine water conditions with daily large WC's and treat with a fungus med but not sure what one to suggest and hopefully someone else can make a better sugestion. Why do you have a 6 degree temp swing during a WC???


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## PictusCommunity (Jan 30, 2010)

Hmm, fungus eh? Well it was fairly cold here that evening and I didn't want to wait any longer on the water change (neglect has goen up a bit since our baby came along) so the water added was pretty cool; I tried to wait a little bit of time as I was adding so help it heat up some. I don't use water heater water because of the heavy metals that can collect in them.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

When the weather has been cold as it has been this past couple of weeks its always best to do smaller water changes more often. Its ok to warm up the water with hot tap water. Just let it run a few minutes to make sure nothing is coming out with it. I do this all the time as I don't want more of a drop than 2 degrees.

You need to pick up some fungus meds quick and treat the entire tank, Jungle fungus tabs do work because of the ingrediants in it. Remove any carbon from your filter, do a small water change add tabs per dosage. Wait required amount of time and do another water change.


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## PictusCommunity (Jan 30, 2010)

Well it's nearly a month later and I'm still having issues. I've had a lot more die-off than just the two pearls. It seems my entire tank is going to slowly dwindle away. I got some fungal treatment, went through a 4oz bottle of kordon Rid-Fungus and observed the results. I still had some sluggish fish and then some fleshy wounds on the angel fish. I got a larger bottle of kordon Ich-Attack which says it's for treating ich, fungus, protozoans, and dinoflagellates and did that for over a week and then followed up with several small water changes. The fleshy wounds on the angel fish cleared up but then they started being pretty sluggish and hanging out near the top. Now one of them is very near dieing as he just lays on the bottom breathing deaply. His color is still very good but he sure isn't behaving well. I put him in quarenteen last night and when I woke up this morning another one of my neon rainbows was dead. I've lost maybe 3 neons rainbows over the past few weeks and it's wierd because they don't really show any signs of being sick...I just wake up in the morning and find another one dead at the bottom.

My 3 pictus catfish don't seen to be othered at all, which is wierd because I thought they were suppost to be very sensitive to water conditions.

Any thoughts on what I should do next? More drastic water changes? I'd think I'd want to avoid further stress on the remaining fish and wouldn't want to change too much water and possible invoke another tank cycle.


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