Squidlet Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 Hey everyone A few days ago one of my new gouramis (been in the tank about 2 and a half weeks) lost a few scales on his gills on his right side. I thought he may have scraped it on something and as I had just introduced them I started a treatment of melafix. Ive been dosing with melafix the last 3 days now and noticed that it seemed to be getting bigger and spread down his side a little bit. He's still hanging out with the other fish and eating well, hiding a smaller amount but hardly noticeable from his usual behavior. I was quite perplexed as to why he was loosing more scales when last night I caught the culprit - a young black molly had him bailed in the corner and was viciously picking at the scaleless spot :facepalm: Ive noticed her following him around ever since I put him in, but I have never seen her actually attacking him like that before :dunno: Perhaps she has only been doing it since its been open, I don't know but the point of my narrative is that this morning when I got up to check on him I noticed the wound has turned slightly fungal - exactly what I was trying to avoid. Yesterday they had their usual weekly water change, and the pH is sitting at the slightly acidic side of neutral (however this is normal for this tank). I removed all the mollies so now in the tank there are two neon blue gouramis, a honey dwarf gourami, 4 bristlenose, a few albino cats and panda cats and various tetra. I removed the carbon from the filter this morning (can't believe I forgot to do it when I started treatment :facepalm:) and am now wondering what to do. I have pimafix which is safe to use with melafix at the same time but im a little unsure of how good these products actually are anymore. They use to work wonderful on my fish, but not recently. Ive also given up on wunder tonic as I have had absolutely no success with that product. I am tossing up whether to use the direct application of methylene blue while the fungus is still relatively new. I used this technique very successfully on a bristlenose who was near death which developed an intense fungal infection when it lost its front fin. It involved removing the bristlenose from the water and applying one drop of methylene blue to the fungus, waiting 5-10seconds then placing back in the water. That particular fish is now my breeding female, and one and a half years down the track has never been sick again. This really was a last ditch attempt to save the fish however, and am not sure if it is would be too stressful for this gourami than is worth. Please, any suggestions are welcome, particularly on the last technique I described. I have not done any treatments today yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 Fungal infections are usually opportunistic infections following and injury and if that is what it is your treatment with meth blue would probably be worthwhile. However, when you say it is spreading down the body I wonder if it might be mouth fungus which is also known as saddleback and is actually a bacteria and needs to be treated with an antibiotic. The easiest to obtain without prescription would be furan. A picture might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidlet Posted October 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 Thank you for you very fast reply! I would love to post a picture however I accidentally used up all our broad band this month, so for another week we are running on dial up speed -whoopsies. Im in the middle of exams so will be returning to uni tomorrow and I can try upload a pic on the computers there. I googled pictures of the saddleback bacterial infection but I don't think it looks the same as what this fish has. My flat mate has just come home and said while I was away for 3 days she noticed my other gourami chasing him around and also saw the molly "pecking" at his side quite alot. I noticed it because just below his gill was a silver patch instead of blue (like when goldfish get stuck in something and rip their scales off.) I have seen the other gourami chase him away but I think it is more of a dominance thing because he does not hide from him now - they eat together and he has all his fins up despite his war wound. So if what she is saying is true, it could be very possible that the molly has caused this by continuously harassing him, and then like you said an opportunistic fungal infection has set in. Have you ever used a direct methylene blue treatment on a gourami before? Do you reckon I would have to reduce the time that its in contact with the fungus since gourmis can be stressy little fish? (At least everyone tells me they are a bit stressy lol) Do you think its worthwhile continuing the melafix and pimafix together, or maybe just the pimafix? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 I have never used the meds you suggest but have used meth blue, malachite green, acriflavine and others directly without a problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidlet Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Ok thats good to know 8) What kind of diseases would you use acriflavin and malachite green on directly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 I used malachite on goldfish and acriflavine on a wound.Meth blue is good for fungus but wont do much for the wound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 I removed the carbon from the filter this morning (can't believe I forgot to do it when I started treatment :facepalm:) and am now wondering what to do. Perhaps just as well. Melafix is said to be dangerous for fish with a labyrinth organ as it can interfere with its function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidlet Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Wow, I did not know that , thanks Graham. Any suggestion on what I can use to help the wound heal if the fungus goes away then? Does the same go for pimafix? I put pimafix in the tank this morning after I removed the carbon :facepalm: I am off to do a huge water change. I googled it and they seem to think a 90 percent water change is required. But thats an extreme amount. Im going to change 50 percent and put the carbon back in. Thank you for alerting me to this Graham, I just checked on the tank and it turns out that my healthy gourami is swaying a bit and sitting down the bottom. Crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 A quick google seems to say that Pimafix is also an oil, so will sit on the water surface and likely have the same effect as melafix. As said above, a picture would help .. no friends who have internet bandwidth available? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidlet Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 I'll take a picture tonight and try upload it on the uni computers. I also found a thread that said pimafix and melafix have the same effect on gouramis. There is a product called "bettafix" which is the melafix version but for labrynth fishes. But I'll try get the pic up before I do any further treatment. Alanmin: how often do you apply the methylene blue directly when you have a fungal problem? It was such a long time ago, I can't remember if it was once a day or twice a day. Thanks for you advice guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Either, depending how bad it is. You don't seem to have a lot of faith in it but Wunder tonic is a mixture of meth blue, malachite, acriflavine and quinine so would have a pretty broad spectrum treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidlet Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 I havn't tried wunder tonic as a direct application type of treatment, only in the water. Are you suggesting to use it by applying directly? Also just to make sure we are talking about the same product, comes in a bottle with a red label and an angel fish on the front? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Not direct--as per instructions. It is a coctail but I am not sure if the relative strengths are up to the job. Best to aim for the lowest concentraton of the least toxic chemical that actually does the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 imo you would be better off doing a short term bath in another container as it would affect not only the infected area but also the area around it preventing new spread. plus it will help a bit with other possible issues that are not so visible (gill damage etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidlet Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Ok, I can try doing a bath with the fish in a seperate container, I'll have to go down and get some wonder tonic. Ive been doing the methylene blue direct application twice a day, and the fungus seems to have shrunk down a bit, however the skin itself is not really healing. It looks quite jagged and im just imagining how painful it must be to have it methylene blue applyed to a wound like that, so im willing to try the wunder tonic bath. Any recomendations for the concentration for the bath and how long to leave him in it for? If I remember rightly the container has directions for tank administration but not a bath treatment. I tried to upload the photos I took but the uni computers have a block on them preventing us from uploading. I'll try pick the best pic and upload it on the dial up at home. Thanks guys :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I have never used it as a bath. I think it would be a bit risky with that many different meds in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I wouldn't go anyting past 4x dosage thats the highest I've ever tried, but 1-2 x dosage should be more than adequate. your only trying to clean the infected area really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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