Pop eye? ich? fungus? help!

[emilysc79]

Hello,
I have a 20 gallon tank with 4 diamond tetras, 4 neon tetras, 4 black neons and a pleco. According to my test strips my water is good. The tank has been running for 5 or so years.

A week ago I noticed that two of my black tetras had white spots on their head. They looked a little fuzzier than ich so I thought it was a fungus. I had some Pimafix on hand (antifungal fish remedy) so I started treating the tank with that. The white spots have not changed and today, I noticed that one of my diamond tetras is suddenly swimming upside down and his eyes are popped out. I'm really panicking because I have no idea what to do.

Plus, in 3 days I leave on vacation for a couple of weeks and will a house sitter with no fish experience. What should I do?

Please, please help. I'm tempted to go to the petstore and buy anything and everything but I don't want to make anything worse.

Any, all advice would be helpful.

I've had this fish tank for a while but by no means am I very experienced in the fish world.
Thanks you

[emilysc79]

:( The diamond tetra passed away. I'm so bummed. I've never seen a fish go so quickly.

I guess my question now is about the white spot/fuzzles on my black tetras with the time constraints. Would it be better to try and do something for 4 days or deal with it when I get back?

[emilysc79]

Here are some not so great pictures. I hope they are helpful.
Thanks again.

[Anna Robinson]

Hmm, a bacterial infection perhaps. It would help the regular advisers on here if you can give details of your tank maintenance and exact water test results. In the meantime perhaps vacuum the tank and do a partial water change each day until you go away, to make the conditions as good as possible.

[emilysc79]

After obsessively watching my fish all day yesterday, I do think it's a fungus of some sort. Not ich. The spots blend together which I don't think Ich does.

Anna, thank you. I'll do as you say and do water changes until I leave. I really don't want to start a treatment if I'm not here to oversee any changes.
Thanks!

[KarlTh]

I can assure you it's not fungus. Fungus is grey and by now would be an inch long. It's almost certainly bacterial.

[WeedCali]

you could start dosing table salt. go with 1tbsp per 5g of water. make sure you dissolve it in some tank/dechlorinated water first. i use a mason jar when doing WCs. just put it in the jar and shake it like crazy. i also did daily PWCs.

[emilysc79]

Thanks for the suggestions and info! I have been doing daily water changes and that alone seems to be helping. My fear is that once we leave on our trip it will come back with a vengeance. We are having a house sitter but leaving instructions about doing anything more than feeding them worries me (actually leaving directions for feeding worries me since it's so easy to overfeed). My hope is that they are all still alive when I get back. Thanks again!

[mel_20_20]

I'm seriously afraid... in fact I'm sure that your fish, if not all then most, will be dead by the time you get back. They need antibiotic treatment and daily monitoring of water and daily water changes for that matter. Please see the thread discussing Columnaris in this forum at this link: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228358

KarlTH is right, this is not fungus.. I am 95% sure that this is Columnaris and it is deadly. I wish I could offer better news. You are in a difficult situation, that's for sure.