Fish Fungus Medicine

Hello there! I have a question about fish fungus medicine. My 10 gallon tank currently is infected with some kind of fish fungus. I first noticed it on one of my male swordtail fish: small grayish white patches on his left side. I quickly quarantined him, syphoned out the gravel in the tank, changed about 30% of the water, cleaned some fixtures, and a couple days later I was able to get some medicine which I used on the main tank and his quarantine tub. The medicine is Tetra: Lifeguard, All in One Treatment, and they are little tablets. Yesterday was the last day of using them and I changed 25% of the water and put the carbon back in the filter. It seems to be persisting though. I've noticed a very light patch of what I think is the fungus on the side of one of my baby female sword tails. I've kept the tank and quarantine tub at about 70-72 degrees to help keep the fungus from spreading faster, but now that I'm "finished" with the medicine dosage and I still see some of it, should I do another dosage? Should I quarantine the other fish I see with it? If anyone needs any more info please ask. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as I'm very worried about my fishies. Thank you!

Aggie

 

Welcome to FishLore, Aggie!

Sorry to tell you, but that Tetra stuff isn't very good. Its pretty much for very minor cases, if its going to work at all. I've used API Fungus Cure with great results. I believe I payed $12 or $14 for it, at PetSmart.

 

Keep the temp lower, or it will spread faster. This sounds a lot like columnaris, although it usually kills faster than you're describing, unless the medication is sort of working. I would recommend Maracyn and Maracyn 2. You should treat the whole tank if other fish are still getting it. The medication will kill your cycle, but hopefully save your fish. What other kind of fish do you have in that tank?

 

Ohhh. OK, thank you, I'll look into getting that. The thing is I won't be able to get to PetSmart until Wednesday, so should I maybe use the stuff I have right now again to keep the fungus at bay or something?

And thanks for the welcome. It's seems like a really great community here.

EDIT: Besides the swordtails, I have a few small tetras, a hatchet fish, one "sucker" fish, and a small catfish. I know it sounds way over populated, but I actually adopted all the fish from a friend who's house flooded and couldn't keep them anymore. And I haven't been able to afford a larger tank....

 

What do you have? If you have more of what you've been using, you could use it, but you'll want to be careful with adding the Maracyn because I'm not sure if they can mix well.

 

I have used Tetra Lifeguard: All in One Treatment (tablets). I have enough for another dosage so I thought I should use it until I get the stronger stuff.

 

Maybe, but you'll want to be sure that the Maracyn and Maracyn 2 don't mix with that. If it'll delay the other medications, don't use it. Otherwise, go ahead for a day or two.

 

Welcome to Fishlore.

It does sound like you have columnaris in your tank. This disease kills very quickly!!

Just to verify, you have a 10G tank that is stocked with "Besides the swordtails, I have a few small tetras, a hatchet fish, one "sucker" fish, and a small catfish."? That is far too many fish for such a small tank. What are your normal water parameters?

If would be most helpful if you wouldn't mind updating your aquarium information. Just go to the top of this page and click on the My Settings button and select Edit Aquarium Info. Provide as much detail as possible, including parameters, filtration, stocking, etc.