Hello all!
I'm currently treating a fungal infection in my 75 gallon native species tank. At the start of the infection, tank had two 9" plecos, two red-spotted sunfish, two bluegill and two red ear sunfish. Filtration is a DIY sump with approximately 250gph turnover. The tank has been established for quite some time with ammonia and nitrites at zero. Nitrates were elevated at 110 ppm when the infection began.
Background: My wife and I came back from a weekend away to find one of our plecos looking a little weak and sluggish. The fish was a rescue with severe scoliosis and had always been skinny. A water test revealed elevated nitrates, so I planned to do a 25% water change in the morning. Next morning, she was dead and one of the red-spotted sunfish in the tank was beginning to show signs of fin rot and sluggishness.
The pleco looked fine externally. I removed her and did the planned 25% water change.
I went to work in the afternoon. By the time my wife was home in the early evening, the red-spotted sunfish had large white fuzzy patches on both sides of her body, she was hanging near the surface and wasn't eating. The other fish all had small white patches on them. My wife dosed the tank with Pimafix as it was the only thing we had on hand. Unfortunately she overdosed the tank by accident, so she did a 55% water change to correct this, thus vastly improving the water quality.
This afternoon (the day after the Pimafix dose), the red-spotted sunfish was looking better as far as activity level, but still wasn't eating and the white patches had become very large and very puffy. We decided to use Fungus Cure fizz tabs by Jungle as this was the only fungal med that any pet stores had in stock. Active ingredients are Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone, and Potassium Dichromate. I've had great luck with these active ingredients in the past.
This is what she looks like right now after one day of Pimafix and about 2 hours of Fungus Clear:
This second shot is not great, but if you look closely you can see just how much of her body is covered with the white fungus. It's about the same on both sides.
Now my water's green and the fungus is hopefully feeling the pain. I'll keep you all updated as this 4-day treatment progresses. Hopefully this will be a success story for my little red-spotted sunfish, St. John.
I'm currently treating a fungal infection in my 75 gallon native species tank. At the start of the infection, tank had two 9" plecos, two red-spotted sunfish, two bluegill and two red ear sunfish. Filtration is a DIY sump with approximately 250gph turnover. The tank has been established for quite some time with ammonia and nitrites at zero. Nitrates were elevated at 110 ppm when the infection began.
Background: My wife and I came back from a weekend away to find one of our plecos looking a little weak and sluggish. The fish was a rescue with severe scoliosis and had always been skinny. A water test revealed elevated nitrates, so I planned to do a 25% water change in the morning. Next morning, she was dead and one of the red-spotted sunfish in the tank was beginning to show signs of fin rot and sluggishness.
The pleco looked fine externally. I removed her and did the planned 25% water change.
I went to work in the afternoon. By the time my wife was home in the early evening, the red-spotted sunfish had large white fuzzy patches on both sides of her body, she was hanging near the surface and wasn't eating. The other fish all had small white patches on them. My wife dosed the tank with Pimafix as it was the only thing we had on hand. Unfortunately she overdosed the tank by accident, so she did a 55% water change to correct this, thus vastly improving the water quality.
This afternoon (the day after the Pimafix dose), the red-spotted sunfish was looking better as far as activity level, but still wasn't eating and the white patches had become very large and very puffy. We decided to use Fungus Cure fizz tabs by Jungle as this was the only fungal med that any pet stores had in stock. Active ingredients are Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone, and Potassium Dichromate. I've had great luck with these active ingredients in the past.
This is what she looks like right now after one day of Pimafix and about 2 hours of Fungus Clear:
This second shot is not great, but if you look closely you can see just how much of her body is covered with the white fungus. It's about the same on both sides.
Now my water's green and the fungus is hopefully feeling the pain. I'll keep you all updated as this 4-day treatment progresses. Hopefully this will be a success story for my little red-spotted sunfish, St. John.
