roxanne

my daughters molly had white cottony stuff just around his mouth... we treated him with melafix and he looked much better at day 2 hardly any white patches left... however day three he had a couple spots appear on his side kept treating with melafix, spots went away today is day 6 and the spots are back on his side as well as right above his mouth it isn't as bad as it was when we first started treating infact they are not much bigger that a pin head but they really show up against his black body he also has 1 spot on his tail.. should i try treating him with something new after tomorrows water change or just extend his treatment with melafix? perhaps this is ich not mouth fungus?
*** i should also mention that on day 4 he was looking alot like he was suffering almost put him down but decided to add stress coat to water he perked back up began eating and swimming again.

mlinden84

Is there anyway you could load a picture? Could be Ich, or could be the "cotton" fungus (can't remember exactly what the name is). If it is Ich, you could try raising the temp to about 82* and even add a little aquarium salt to the water. If it is the cottony fungus, you could try fungus clear to see if that helps.
Are they fuzzy white patches or just white spots?

mlinden84

This link might help http://www.fishlore.com/Disease.htm

roxanne

it is cottony like around his mouth however his body just looks like white dots not fuzzy... i just did his water change and he looks stressed again( even before i did the water change) his mouth is clear again but the white dots(2) are still on his body.. unfortunately i have tried to take pics but they don't show... i have a feeling he isn't going to make it.. he is near the bottom breathing rapidly poor little fella.... but this it how it has been since i noticed the fungus 1 day he looks good and the next he looks awful....

mlinden84

I would raise the temp up to 82*. If you have an air stone/air pump I would use it.
Have you tested your water? It didn't say how old your tanks are in the tank info, so maybe they aren't cycled? (which might explain why the fish is breathing heavy)
Personally I would continue to do small but frequent water changes. If changing 25% stresses him out, try changing less but doing it more often. Maybe even a few cups at a time.

Richard

Fungus can be a tricky disease to treat because 'mouth fungus' is different to 'body fungus' and doesn't always respond to treatments for that type.. the key to treating either type though is to ensure the treatment contains phenoxyethanol and nirfurpirinol.. however, because the treatments available are not 100% reliable and cause serious water pollution unless frequent waterchanges are done, salt baths in a hospital/quarantine tank come highly recommended as a supportive measure for any fish that are actually showing fungus anywhere on their body.. 4oz aquarium-salt per gallon (3gm/liter) is the measure I've seen in some books, although others say you can go three times that.. unfortunately none of those books say how long the sick fish should be dipped in the salt bath, but I'm thinking an hour everyday with occasional monitoring, might work.

COBettaCouple

I would increase the water temp to 82 or 83F and use Rid-Fungus to help make the molly feel more comfortable and possibly attack that fungus. Stresscoat or Fish Protector could help relax him too.

roxanne

he is up swimming and eating today.. water temp is 81.... my tanks have been up and running since the begining of jan cycle is complete... this was a problem before the molly was added(cycling we lost 3 guppies because of high nitrite and ammonia)i know it's complete as i was monitoring and changing water daily until we finally got it through the cycle the water changes don't stress him the fungus is or the melafix was ... he is in a hospital tank... the spots on his side and mouth are gone but now he has one above his gill.. nitrate=4ppm,nitrite=0, gh=75, kh=80,ph=6.8 i vaccume gravel and do 25% waterchanges 2-3X a week as i have fry in the tank cleaning up what they don't eat from the plain glass bottom with a divider so i doubt ammonia is the problem..i'm going to go get some aquarium salt and a bowl for salt baths,need to get new ammonia test also... perhaps some rid fungus.... air stone is present filter without carbon is present i dunno just doesn't make any sense to me why it keeps clearing up and moving to different parts of his body... should i completely change his water(hos. tank) or just add carbon to filter to neutralize any melafix left if i use rid fungus seeing as there is probley some melafix left in his water? i'm going to try salt baths for a couple days and see what happens*** stresscoat is in water already ..

COBettaCouple

I think it should be ok to add rid fungus without needing to get all the melafix out. You may also want to consider Fungus Eliminator or a stronger anti-fungal med if that fungus is so virulent although I've seen Rid Fungus work really well. This just sounds like a rough case of fungus. The Rid Fungus could deal with the source of it, but Fungus Eliminator may be needed.

roxanne

k thanks co betta our local lfs are not well educated they're suggestion flush him and buy a new fish ugh... i've wrote everthing down so im off to lfs again with list in hand! hope this helps him... this up a down has to be taking a toll on him...