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Old September 27th, 2006, 11:36 AM
RVT092481 RVT092481 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Ontario
Posts: 99
Bertha is fuzzy

Well...after we got the bubbler, Bertha really perked up and was back to her normal self. Was normal colours, not hiding and looking great!! Monday night my hubby calls me at work and tells me that she looks fuzzy with white stuff on her. Luckily the vet that I was working with does fish and the tech went to university and mastered in fish and wildlife. So they talked to him and decided that she had a fungus infection (after searching on the internet as well). So we started treating the water Monday night with Maracyn and see what happens.
How come people that work in the vet field can never have "healthy" animals....
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Old September 27th, 2006, 12:23 PM
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Sneaky Sneaky is offline
Fish Guru - Formerly sneakypete79
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Ladysmith British Columbia
Posts: 536
Hi RVT,
considering Bertha's recent illness, its obvious this
Fungal infection is a secondary illness.
Now, Fungal infection is too simple. Fungus in fish can
actually be 1 of 3 different diseases.

Cotton wool fungus, which looks like a sprouting of cottony
fluff on fins or mouth, is a gram negative bacterial condition,
its not true fungus. If this is what Bertha has, Maracyn wont
do anything for it. Maracyn 1 is a gram positive antibiotic,
and will not treat gram negative infections. You would want
to treat with Maracyn 2, or Furan 2, or Jungle Fungus Eliminator.

The second illness is Columnaris disease. This looks like fungus,
but is actually a gram positive bacterial disease, and results in
tall stems of fluff coming from wounds, or from red marks on the
fishes body. Columnaris is rarely found on fins, mostly on the body.
Maracyn 1 would be the appropriate treatment for columnaris.
However, columnaris is actually relatively rare in fish, and usually
only comes from the passing on of it from an infected fish that has
been recently introduced to your tank. It is highly unlikely for a fish
within a stable tank to develop this disease.

The third disease is true fungus, looking exactly like the cotton wool
bacterial "fungus", but will be untreatable with antibiotics. Treatment
of true fungus is best with aquarium salt dips. This involves taking some
clean, conditioned, same temp water of about 1 litre. Mix in it 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt. Net the fish, and dip the fish in this solution for about 15 minutes, or until the fish displays irritation.
Repeat this up to 3x daily to cure the fungus.
The addition of 1 tablespoon per 10g of water to the tank may also be
beneficial.

My suggestion would be to treat with both Maracyn and Maracyn 2 at the
same time ...dont worry about interactions, these meds were designed to work together.
Add the 1 tablespoon of salt to the tank water, and consider the salt dips.
Remember to predissolve the salt and add in small amounts over 24 hours to allow the fish time to adjust.
Either of these 3 illness can kill a fish very rapidly.
Keep the tank water ultra clean, do a water change after each 4 days of treatment.
This will cover all your basis, and ensure your fish recovers.
Good luck RVT.
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