Yemminie

Hello! I just set up a 10 gallon aquarium this weekend. I set everything up on Saturday and added 3 gold twin bar platies (1 M and 2 F) last night (Sunday evening), after letting everything run for 24 hours. I have all the test kits and have been obsessively checking the water. No sign of any ammonia yet, but it's only been a day. I am fully prepared to be working for my fish while the tank cycles. The only problem I've had is that I'm having a hard time getting the temperature to stabilize. I've got a heater, but there are no temperature markings on the dial that sets it, so I've been having to adjust it more than is ideal. I admit, I should have sorted this out before adding the platies, and now I feel guilty (I would have plugged in the heater on Saturday, but I didn't have an extension cord long enough...excuses, I know.). They don't seem to be bothered, though, and they've been swimming around energetically, acting normal.

So anyway, the reason that I'm posting after only one day is because when I got home today, I noticed a white spot on the tail of one of the females. It's at the bottom tip of the tail. It's not big, and I can't tell if it's fungus or the beginnings of tail rot, or something else. I don't think it's ick. Actually, on closer inspection, my guess is fungus, but I could be completely wrong. She's pregnant, too - I mention it, because I don't know if that makes a difference. Obviously, I want to nip whatever this ailment is in the bud, and I don't want the other 2 to get it (assuming they haven't already and just aren't displaying symptoms yet). I don't have a hospital tank set up, but I'm absolutely willing to go get one, set it up, and put her in it if that's necessary. I don't want to medicate the whole tank, since I know that wrecks the cycling process. On the other hand, since we're only one day into it, would it make that much of a difference? Maybe I should medicate the whole tank since they've all just come from my LFS and all might have something?

Please advise! I'm already making mistakes, and I want to minimize that as much as possible, because I don't want to cause my fish any harm.

Thank you in advance!

Sarah

COBettaCouple

Do you have a pic that you could post? It could be a fungus, velvet or ICH.. does it look different if you darken the room and look at her under a flashlight? Does she scratch herself on any of the tank decor? Does it look fuzzy if you look at it from the side? Are you sure she didn't have the spot at the store?

I'm not sure the cycle's made much progress in a couple days, so I'd use meds if needed and treat the water with NovAqua+ or Amquel+ before starting meds.

Yemminie

I tried to take a pic, but my camera wouldn't focus on her properly as she zoomed about. It doesn't look different under a flashlight. She hasn't been scratching herself, unless she's been doing it when I wasn't looking. It does look a bit fuzzy from the side. I am 99% sure she didn't have it when I bought her yesterday, because I spent a lot of time last night staring at them, looking for markings that would help me tell them apart, and I didn't notice it then. It doesn't look like any pictures of ich that I've seen. Her tail tissue doesn't look like it's deteriorating. I don't see any signs of anything anywhere else, and the spot she has is small - slightly more than 1/16" long (but def. less than 1/8") and less than 1/16" tall. I bought Pimafix at the LFS to treat it, as it was the only fungus med that they had, but I haven't opened it and can return it if it isn't the correct med. to use. I don't have any NovAqua+ or Amquel+, but I do have both API Stress Coat and TetraAqua AquaSafe - will either of those do the trick? I checked the water levels a little while ago and it's still 0 for ammonia (I used the water sample+drops test kit, not the strips) and nitrites.

Thank you for your help!

COBettaCouple

http://www.klsnet.com/files/fishchart.htm - if you check this page against her symptoms, you might be able to tell exactly what's wrong with her. It could be cotton wool disease, mouth or body fungus OR true fungus - most likely one of the later 2, so a treatment like Fungus Clear (which is relatively cheap at walmart or your LPS) would be the med for her.. be sure to follow the directions on it as it dyes most of what's in the tank blue. Stress Coat would be helpful somewhat, but as long as you've already treated your water with the Aquasafe, more doesn't need added. I was just thinking of NovAqua+, Prime or Amquel+ to help with the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates before starting the meds since you'll have to start the cycle after clearing up this fungus.. just do a partial water change and take the carbon out of your filter before adding the first tablet of fungus clear.

Yemminie

Looks like I'm making another trip to the fish store tomorrow! Based on that chart, it definitely sounds like mouth or body fungus or true fungus. The NovAqua+ etc sounds like a good idea, so I'll be getting some of that as well. Thank you again; I really appreciate all of your help!

COBettaCouple

You're welcome.. that NovAqua+ (or Prime) will be a good water conditioner after you've cycled your tank too.