White bumps and fluffy growth on pectoral fins

[viejafish]

I have mistated the hardness. It is dGH which is equivalent to about 220 ppm GH. My tap water has a dGH of 6 and pH of 7.2 and both hardness and pH increased in the tank water as I use dolomite substrate. My last test results of the tank water couple years ago were pH 7.5, dGH 14 and conductivity 300 us/cm so I have medium hard water.

I do not want to treat the main tank as all other fish are fine and I don't want to medicate the entire population unless there is evidence of an epidemic.

I think the fish is just getting old and not able to rid itself of infection from minor injury as he used to. I recalled when he was a young fish, one third of his tail was bitten off in fighting but twice he was able to regrow the entire tail which was a miracle to me.

 

[viejafish]

I just finished giving him the first bath. Instead of doubling the dosage, I gave him tripple the malachite green dosage and bathed him for 2 hours before returning him back to the tank. He is tolerant of the high dosage of MG with no intoxication effect. His tankmates accepted him back to the tank and he recovered quickly as if he had never left. I'll give him another bath tomorrow with triple the Melafix dosage and repeat for a week to see how it goes.

 

[viejafish]

I finally finished my 4 day treatment course for the GT. I applied triple the recommended dosage of MG for two hour bath each day in a cooler with an air pump aeration. Transfer the fish in and out of the tank posed minimum stress to the fish as it is easy to catch a big fish, and the tankmates accept him back as if he has never left. This is the advantage of short term bath treatment over hospital tank treatment because the fish will be too stressed to eat in the hospital tank, and it is hard for his tankmates to accept him back after long term absence. However, I have to terminate the treatment because I didn't observe any improvement. But the treatment proved that GT can tolerate 3 times the MG dosage with no toxicity effect, and he recovered quickly each day and resumed his healthy appetite as if nothing happened. MG is strongly anti fungal, anti protozoa, and only mildly anti bacteria but it didn't help. It appears that his symptoms may be age related, as he is unable to repair minor injury. I will let him rest for a week to see if there is any improvement, and if not, I may try Melifix bath next week. I heard that Melifix is more toxic as it is oily and can coat the gills affecting breathing.

 

[Aquanero]

Now that you restated your water perameters. You could use API Triple Sulfa either alone or in combination with MG. You can do this it in a a bath soultion if you don't want to treat the main tank. To this you could also add 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water. I think this will be more effective than Melifix. GL.

 

[petspoiler]

I finally finished my 4 day treatment course for the GT. I applied triple the recommended dosage of MG for two hour bath each day in a cooler with an air pump aeration. Transfer the fish in and out of the tank posed minimum stress to the fish as it is easy to catch a big fish, and the tankmates accept him back as if he has never left. This is the advantage of short term bath treatment over hospital tank treatment because the fish will be too stressed to eat in the hospital tank, and it is hard for his tankmates to accept him back after long term absence. However, I have to terminate the treatment because I didn't observe any improvement. But the treatment proved that GT can tolerate 3 times the MG dosage with no toxicity effect, and he recovered quickly each day and resumed his healthy appetite as if nothing happened. MG is strongly anti fungal, anti protozoa, and only mildly anti bacteria but it didn't help. It appears that his symptoms may be age related, as he is unable to repair minor injury. I will let him rest for a week to see if there is any improvement, and if not, I may try Melifix bath next week. I heard that Melifix is more toxic as it is oily and can coat the gills affecting breathing.

maybe the reason the treatment didn't work is because
1: you waited "months" before addressing it.
2: Then you did not use the recommended medications, but disregarded the proper advice.
3. MB is not MG. Melafix was not recommended, because your fish's problem is not one of the mild things that it might help.
4. old age is neither a bacteria, nor a fungus. Your fish's fins are rotting and there is also an affected spot on his side.

It sounds like you are experimenting, not looking for proven & realistic remedies.
but I could be wrong.
Can you not afford to purchase the meds that Aquanero has recommended? because if so, I could understand that obstacle.

 

[viejafish]

It's been 2 weeks since the last MG bath treatment. I observed some healing in the fins and body, and the fish eats like a pig. I skip the Melifex or any antibiotic treatment as the fish is improving. I think the fin rot was caused by fungal or parasitic infection, not bacteria as bacterial infection tends to be acute and the fish would be much sicker.