Injured fish

AquaDummy

AquaDummy

AC Members
Sep 26, 2004
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Kamloops, BC
I think one of my Harlequins was injured and is now getting some white fuzz on him. On his top fin he has what looks like a small white ball at the end and then on his sides it is white and it almost looks like fuzz but not sure, I'm having a hard time following him around. He was flipping upside down a bit the other day and I thought maybe he had just gulped some air or something.

So, I need to medicate him with something but as yet, do not have a q-tank and not sure what to medicate with. I've been looking on sites but it is very hard to diagnose something - at least for me it is. I think it's cotton fin fungus but not sure..
 
It seems that way doesn't it. A lot has to do with my inexperience plus not having much choice for a LFS. We have 3 in town and every one of them has dead fish all the time - and not just a few. So my stock is maybe not the best to begin with.

Anyway, do I medicate the whole tank since I do not have a q-tank?
 
Sorry to hear AD.

I know that I know the answer to this question, but how big is your tank again?

My jade eye in the 18g injured himself last week while I was cleaning, I guess he was hiding in the plants close to where I was working and got startled. I added 3 drops of tea tree oil, same stuff as Melafix, just about 20x more concentrated.

I treated a female swordtail (who I've since euthanized for non-related senility) for cotton mouth and fin. I had a 10g tank and used 1 drop tea tree oil per gallon. Worked like a charm.

Leave the lights off for the week (I'm assuming that treatment should only take a week). The natural light of the room will be plenty for them. Daily or bi-daily water changes (around 30%) will help to keep the water clean, it should go without saying, but be especially careful to match temperature. Remember to dose the new water.

If you've got activated carbon in your filter, remove it and replace it with a sponge or other bio-media. If you don't have any, get a packet of fresh carbon for your filter. After your fish has returned to health and there are no signs of disease, do a 50% change or 2 back to back 50%'s and add the carbon to your filter, leave it there for a week then return the bio-media and toss the carbon.

Leave the lights off for another week following treatment to ensure that all the fish are healthy and not stressed. Take special note of eating habits and behaviour.
 
Lights stress the fish, or so goes the claim, I wouldn't argue this point very strongly, since the details have never been explained to me. I suspect that it has more to do with the abrupt manner in which lights are turned on and off. If there were some way to slowly turn lights on, I doubt it would make a difference.
 
A little off topic, but here's one way you can avoid that stress (at least I hope so):
I've got a 20w under-counter type fluorescent fixture attached to the wall behind my tank, just above surface level (from the front it's hidden by the PC fixture). It's on a timer from 7am to 9pm, and the tank lights are on a timer from 8am - 8pm - the small light gives the fish a chance to wake up and settle down so they're not shocked by a quick transition from darkness to bright light.
AD - hope your fish gets better. I've used MelaFix in the past with success, I hope it works for you.
 
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