Fungus Like Growth

[fjh]

Hey folks! Thanks for reading.
So quick overview... I have a cory with what I though was fungus. I treated with API fungus cure which didn't help at all. It is supposed to work on fungus and columnaris, so this leaves me wondering if the medicine lost its potency (expires in 2020 so I doubt it), this disease isn't fungus nor columnaris (also doubt it), or if its just a resistant strain (probable). So what course of action should I take?


Tank

What is the water volume of the tank? 55g
How long has the tank been running? 2 years ish?
Does it have a filter? yes
Does it have a heater? yes
What is the water temperature? 78F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
2 blue gourami
4 angel fish
9 sterbaI cories
1 peppered cory
3 nerite snails
4 mystery snails
unknown number of MTS

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? weekly
How much of the water do you change? 50%-ish
What do you use to treat your water? API or Seachem
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? I'll stir the sand with a stick but don't stick the siphon in it

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? yes
What do you use to test the water? apI liquid test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 15
pH: 7.8

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? daily
How much do you feed your fish? depends on the foods
What brand of food do you feed your fish? omega one, tetra, hikari, wardley, api, aqueon, etc etc...
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? yes - frozen bloodworms, frozen BBS, live mosquito larvae

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? about a year
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? about a week
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? White, fuzzy/slimey patches growing around the body
Have you started any treatment for the illness? yes, completed treatment of apI fungus cure
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? scratched himself on a rock initially and got infected. cured the infection and wound was healing when this happened.

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
No changes in behavior, though he does not spook as easily as he did a few weeks ago. He scraped his side on a rock (my fault) and the scrape got infected. It since has started to heal and was almost gone when he got this fungus-like growth. Now he has white patches all over and ragged fins. I treated the whole tank (I couldn't catch him and one of the other cories was showing the beginnings of fungus) with API fungus cure (from their website: "API® Fungus Cure powder effectively treats fungus (Saprolegnia spp. & Achlya spp.), mouth fungus (Cotton Mouth Disease), Body Slime & Eye cloud and Fin & Tail Rot infections. Quickly controls contagious fungus and secondary bacterial infections.") and now I just feel like I am repeating myself so... My questions:
1) Is it fungus, columnaris, or another disease?
2) What should I treat with?
3) Should I do a stronger dose, assuming this is a resistant strain, or use different medication?

 

[fjh]

Forgot to add the pictures

 

[fjh]

anyone?

 

[fjh]

Hey guys!

Quick stats:
55g tank
0/0/20
7.8ph & 78F
angels, gouramis, cories, snails, plants

So one of my sterbaI cories has a translucent white, fuzzy/slimey, patchy growth on him. I originally thought it was a fungus and treated the entire tank with API Fungus Cure. Completed treatment and he looks a little better, but not even close to cured. The Fungus Cure "treats fungus... mouth fungus (Cotton Mouth Disease), Body Slime & Eye cloud and Fin & Tail Rot infections..." etc etc (this is from the API website), so this also rules out my second guess of columnaris.
This leaves me with 3 guesses: either the medicine had lost its effectiveness (expires in 2020 though), the strain I am treating is resistant (I doubt it though), or its is a different disease (in which case, what is it? and how should I treat it?).

Any help or opinions would be helpful!!

 

[WTFish?]

Did you do a second dose? If he looks a bit better, maybe that would help?

 

[fjh]

Did you do a second dose? If he looks a bit better, maybe that would help?

Yes. Following the med instructions, I removed the carbon, did the first dose, waited 48hrs, did a second dose, waited 72hrs, did a WC and added the carbon back.

I took this pic just now.

 

[WTFish?]

Yes. Following the med instructions, I removed the carbon, did the first dose, waited 48hrs, did a second dose, waited 72hrs, did a WC and added the carbon back.

I took this pic just now.

Ok. Thought I’d check, so many people miss that. I do believe the directions say you can treat again after some time (a week or so? I have to look)
Also maybe DoubleDutch can help diagnose.

 

[A201]

I think your Cory Cat just got scratched up. The white fungus is just feeding on the dead or damaged tissue. Clean water is usually all that is needed to heal it up, but the anti-fungal med you're using might speed things up.

 

[fjh]

Ok. Thought I’d check, so many people miss that. I do believe the directions say you can treat again after some time (a week or so? I have to look)
Also maybe DoubleDutch can help diagnose.

I can't find anything on the API website about it, but I have a few other fungal meds I can try. (I think one has the same active ingredients, but the 3rd should be different.) I'll dose that this weekend and hope it works!

I think your Cory Cat just got scratched up. The white fungus is just feeding on the dead or damaged tissue. Clean water is usually all that is needed to heal it up, but the anti-fungal med you're using might speed things up.

He did indeed get scratched, but only in one spot. I feel like even if it was just eating the dead tissue, by now that flesh would all be gone and it is now affecting the live tissue.
I try to keep the water very clean (I used to keep discus in this tank too but moved them to a separate setup) but I guess he needs more help here. I'm going to try a different fungal medication and see if that helps at all...

 

[DoubleDutch]

I think it isn't a fungus.

Strangely this is almost only seen in C.sterbaI (there is another thread running right now).

I expect this to be an irritation of the skin and an "allergic" reaction / extra production of mucus.

What is triggering I am not exactly sure about. Sometimes it shows when they are kept to cold (they are warmwater Corys), sometimes a high Ph, but there could be other causes.

Seems strange but I'd first try Melafix which has proven to help with skinissues in Corys.

 

[fjh]

I think it isn't a fungus.

Strangely this is almost only seen in C.sterbaI (there is another thread running right now).

I expect this to be an irritation of the skin and an "allergic" reaction / extra production of mucus.

What is triggering I am not exactly sure about. Sometimes it shows when they are kept to cold (they are warmwater Corys), sometimes a high Ph, but there could be other causes.

Seems strange but I'd first try Melafix which has proven to help with skinissues in Corys.

Thanks DoubleDutch!

I actually saw the other thread and am watching it to see if there are any good responses its just like what I have.

Unfortunately temperature and ph could both be causing it - I recently lowered the temp from 83F to 78F, but I would think that is still warm enough? and my ph has traditionally been between 7.8 and 8.2 in this tank.

Ill try raising the temperature back to 80F and use RO water to soften it. I am really glad you think its just excess mucus and not a disease though. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[DoubleDutch]

Thanks DoubleDutch!

I actually saw the other thread and am watching it to see if there are any good responses its just like what I have.

Unfortunately temperature and ph could both be causing it - I recently lowered the temp from 83F to 78F, but I would think that is still warm enough? and my ph has traditionally been between 7.8 and 8.2 in this tank.

Ill try raising the temperature back to 80F and use RO water to soften it. I am really glad you think its just excess mucus and not a disease though. Thank you so much for your help!

Soften water and Ph are a different thing.
You could try to add some Indian Almond / leaflitter to get a bit of tanins.

 

[fjh]

Soften water and Ph are a different thing.
You could try to add some Indian Almond / leaflitter to get a bit of tanins.

oh, duh! sorry I know that, don't know why I wrote about softer water. although that's true, I meant to say the RO water has ph closer to neutral (around 7.2-7.4).
I have several large driftwood pieces that are still tinting the water yellow so I think that will be fine.