Sick Fish-What is this on him?

[cane]

I thought this little guy got bitten by another in the tank so I put him in the hospital tank. Originally it was not too bad and a small area. I have notice that it spreads every day. Now it looks like what my last fish had that died. What is going on here? Both fish were purchased from the same store and tank. Everyone else in the tank is ok

Please Help

 

[Becca]

Neon tetra disease?

Check through the pics of various common ailments on this website -
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification_1.html

 

[Frank Cowherd]

Might be a fungus, at least that is what it looks like to me. Fungus get a hold on a fish if it has a wound, not always but sometimes.

Fungus can be hard to get rid of. Dyes like Malachite green and Methylene blue can be used. Pemifix I think is sold as a fungicide. And to increase the fish's slime coat, up the salt level to a teaspoon or two per gallon. Always dissolve the salt in tank water or tap water before adding to the aquarium.

 

[Frank Cowherd]

Back - a long time ago, we would have taken the fish out of the tank, placed him on a wet towel and covered his eyes with part of the wet towel, and then swabbed his fungus with Mercurochrome tincture. Got to be careful not to get that stuff in the gills as it means instant death. And you want to adsorb any excess med by patting the wound with the damp towel or even a paper towel before placing the fish back in the tank. If you are set up to do this, it can be done in less than a minute. Then examine the fish the next day and if the fungus seems to need another treatment, do it again.

That was back before so many new meds were available.

 

[cane]

Thanks everyone

But what do I do and should I be worried about my other fish?

 

[Acpape0]

Back - a long time ago, we would have taken the fish out of the tank, placed him on a wet towel and covered his eyes with part of the wet towel, and then swabbed his fungus with Mercurochrome tincture. Got to be careful not to get that stuff in the gills as it means instant death. And you want to adsorb any excess med by patting the wound with the damp towel or even a paper towel before placing the fish back in the tank. If you are set up to do this, it can be done in less than a minute. Then examine the fish the next day and if the fungus seems to need another treatment, do it again.

That was back before so many new meds were available.

Do you get pretty quick results with this method?


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[Frank Cowherd]

Yes, but it is aggressive treatment. But easy to do.

If you have Pimafix, or any of the dyes (methylene blue or malichite green) they could be used in a similar fashion and are not as toxic if you get some of them into the aquarium. The little bit of merthiolate that gets transferred into the aquarium with the fish is not a concern if you use that.

If you do nothing, the fish probably will not survive, but there is a chance that the fish will not survive no matter what you do. There are risks with both the aggressive method and with the slower methods. Both have a possibility for success, but both require close observation and possibly farther action. In reality, no one I know has enough experience with this type of problem to know specifically what works. But there are veterinarians who for $50 to $100 will diagnose and prescribe meds. PVAS had a talk by one of these vets about 2 years ago. Vets have an advantage in that they would take a scraping of the problem area and identify the actual problem, so their prescribed med has a good chance of working.