Help! White Fuzz On Fish! Pic Attached

HI guys!

We started our aquarium a month ago by adding 3 balloon mollies and 5 neon tetras. We added tetra fresh start and water conditioner. The fish seemed to be doing great. Our balloon molly had babies which we now have in a side tank attached to the main tank.

We added 3 more tetras and 3 armano shrimp a few days ago. It was then that we noticed some white fuzz on the one of the tetra's mouths. We started using Artemis Microbe-Lift hoping that would stop the fuzz from spreading. We're on the 3rd or 4th day of using that product and now my poor balloon mollies have fuzz on their eye and lip.

We feed them according to the directions (tetra color plus) 2 or 3 times a day. They always eat all their food within minutes.

We have a 20 gallon tank. We've only done a 30% water change once because we weren't sure how often to do that.

Our last attempt at an aquarium went horribly wrong. We lost almost all of our fish and had to start over so we're really upset this is happening again. I'm especially concerned about the baby balloon mollies although they don't seem to have any fuzz on them.

I attached a picture. The balloon molly on the bottom has the white fuzz on her eye and the one on top has it on her lip and she's pregnant!

Any advice would be deeply appreciated! We don't want to lose out fish again!

Thank you!!!

 

So I would be doing 25-50% changes every week. Could you possibly get another picture? I can’t see anything

 

Thanks for your reply! I attached another picture but my camera isn't great so I don't know if it will help. The balloon molly with the fuzzy white eye is on the right.

Makes sense that we should've been doing a water change every week. Thanks for that advice.

We just added the Artemis microbe-lift. Should we do the water change now or wait another few hours?

So I would be doing 25-50% changes every week. Could you possibly get another picture? I can’t see anything

I'm thinking now that we have this white fuzz problem we should do water changes twice a week?

 

Yeah try that before medication. Ditch the microbe lift.

Keep me updated!

 

May I ask why you think I shouldn't use the microbe lift? Are weekly water changes really going to be enough to get rid of the white fuzz? I have no idea what it is

We're doing the water change now

Any other thoughts???

We're really worried about losing our fish and have no idea what to do besides a water change

 

Do you have a water test kit to test water parameters? Poor water quality can stress fish and make them more susceptible to disease. You said you added Tetra fresh start, was this a typo? I'll assume for now it was tetra safe start. You also mentioned you added conditioner. Did you add conditioner and then wait 24 hours before adding tetra safe start?

 

Do you have a water test kit to test water parameters? Poor water quality can stress fish and make them more susceptible to disease. You said you added Tetra fresh start, was this a typo? I'll assume for now it was tetra safe start. You also mentioned you added conditioner. Did you add conditioner and then wait 24 hours before adding tetra safe start?

Thanks for your reply! No we added the tetra safe start and the water conditioner at the same time then waited 14 days to out the fish in. We were given that advice by someone who we trusted.

Our water quality is good here. Plus we use filtered water with our Pur filter in the sink.

We have test strips but not the liquid test kit. We'll do that now.

There's so much conflicting advice at pet stores and on forums about how to properly set up and run an aquarium. I understand there's strategy involved but it can't be rocket science so it's incredibly frustrating that we can't seem to get it right despite following the advice we were given. It's so frustrating this is happening again. We just want clear answers and advice on what to do. Sorry for the rant. I appreciate your help.

 

Unfortunately TSS is a fish IN cycling process and meant to be added along with your fish. Sorry to be the one to give you the bad news, but it doesn't sound like you have a cycled tank.

3 things you will want to pick up asap: API master test kit (test strips are frowned upon for giving wrong readings), Seachem Prime ( this is very good water conditioner that will render Ammonia/nitrite non toxic to your fish for 24hrs and remove metals from your water source) and lastly a new bottle of TSS.

Do a large water change and dose the water with prime BEFORE adding it back into the tank (2 drops per gallon). The new water needs to match the temp of your tank water as close as you can.

Wait at least 24 hours AFTER dosing with prime during your water change (if you don't wait the prime will cause the TSS to fail and you will be in the same situation)

Once you have waited the 24 hours add a well shaken bottle of TSS directly into the tank.

Do not do any water changes, do not test the water, do not add Prime for 14 days.

This should cycle your tank properly in 14 days.

 

Unfortunately TSS is a fish IN cycling process and meant to be added along with your fish. Sorry to be the one to give you the bad news, but it doesn't sound like you have a cycled tank.

3 things you will want to pick up asap: API master test kit (test strips are frowned upon for giving wrong readings), Seachem Prime ( this is very good water conditioner that will render Ammonia/nitrite non toxic to your fish for 24hrs and remove metals from your water source) and lastly a new bottle of TSS.

Do a large water change and dose the water with prime BEFORE adding it back into the tank (2 drops per gallon). The new water needs to match the temp of your tank water as close as you can.

Wait at least 24 hours AFTER dosing with prime during your water change (if you don't wait the prime will cause the TSS to fail and you will be in the same situation)

Once you have waited the 24 hours add a well shaken bottle of TSS directly into the tank.

Do not do any water changes, do not test the water, do not add Prime for 14 days.

This should cycle your tank properly in 14 days.

Wow great advice! Thank you SO much!

We'll get those products first thing tomorrow and follow your directions.

Do you think the fish will survive this?

 

I really hope so! I don't have any advice for the fuzz/fungus issue because Ive never dealt with that before, but cycling your tank properly is a very important aspect in fish keeping.

Bad advice is something that us fishkeepers get way too often, but this should hopefully end with you finding these forums

One final note, don't ever rinse your filter off in tap water. It is the one thing in our tanks we don't want to to have "clean" as this is what holds all the beneficial bacteria that controlls our cycle. If your filter media looks like brown sludge then give it a good swish in some old tank water after doing a water change. Don't forget to keep us posted and if you have any more questions just ask

 

Geez, that person wasted 2 weeks of your time time lol! Don’t overthink this cycling process, I know people like to go all over with it, but it’s really really simple. Fish poop breaks down into ammonia (bad for fish), a group of bacteria eats that ammonia, and they poop nitrite (bad for fish). So now a second group of bacteria come and eat that nitrite and poop out nitrate. Nitrate is the end product and only harmful to fish in amounts over 40 ppm, though it’s recommended to keep it at 20 or below. The bacteria aren’t pooping actually, but that’s what I like to say lol. These bacteria take, on average, about a month to colonize fully. It could take less, it could take more.

So has it been two weeks since you added the first fish?

Microbe lift just isn’t a good product. Most of the time the natural cure all diseases products don’t work, and they’re expensive. If you want to go the natural route, try salt baths. Furthermore, if the bacteria are trying to establish themselves in your tank, that stuff is just going to slow it down.