White fuzzy spots - please help!

[Chasingthepleco]

I have been having some problems with my tank the past few weeks. I have some electric blue cichlids, electric yellows, a few peacocks, bristlenose catfish, and 2 black & blue striped cichlids. I'll start at the beginning of the problems. I had a heater failure whereby the heater got to above 36 degrees, several fish died. I purchased 4 peacocks from lfs that I did not have previously to replace my deceased electric yellows (all but 3 died). All was going when when roughly 2 weeks later I noticed white spots that were fuzzy on one of the peacocks. The fish died. I treated the tank for ich and raised the temperature to 30 for 5 days. I also realised my adult electric yellow was insanely skinny so posted on here for advice and was advised it could be worms so the tank was treat with kusuri wormer plus.

I noticed one of my female electric blues had some white fuzzy spots and on one of her fins it looked like a small clump of white fluff. I read extensively what to do and decided with a salt dip. This was new to me, I added one tablespoon of salt to one gallon of water in a bucket and added this fish, she was fine in there. When I returned her to the tank after half an hour though she started rolling and died. I feel awful about this, she was carrying her fry too.

A few days later my last remaining female electric blue no longer is carrying her fry (they were due to be released round about now) but she now has white fuzzy spots. And now this morning my electric blue male has a cut on his lip with a white fuzzy growth. No other fish in the tank seem to be affected. I am not sure what is causing this so would really appreciate some advice please.

My tank has ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0, nitrates at usual levels, pH is usually around 8 (I live in northern Western Australia). I have good filtration, good aeration.Temperature around 24.5 degrees. My electric blues did not appreciate their photo being taken so photos not the best sorry. They are acting pretty normally and not rubbing against stuff.

[Adrienne]

I can't tell from your photos but google cottonwool disease - this is bacterial and is when infection enters a cut of some sort.  

I tend to think that if your fish were fine before the heater malfunction - if it got to 36 then you are lucky anything survived - that the stress has weakened their immune systems.  Adding replacement fish will have added to the stress of the existing ones and if you didn't quarantine the new fish for around four weeks on arrival they may have been carrying some sort of infection/illness/parasites.  Added to that we all know that cichlids tend to be aggressive with each other, even on the best of days.

The best thing you can do is keep your tank at optimum conditions for the fish you have, regular water changes to keep the tank clean, really good quality food, and wait to see what happens.  Make sure your nitrates are under 5.  

[Chasingthepleco]

Thanks Adrienne. I think you have found the right diagnosis for me so now I know what I'm dealing with I can try and fix it. I did a 50% water change today and aim to do small water changes daily for a while, perhaps 20%. This cotton wool disease sounds pretty scary and can crop up again months after everyone seems cured from what I've read. I am not sure of the way forward. I think it was brought in by the peacocks or plants I added the same day, the one that got infected and died looked just look the female electric blues. The fish had been nipped and that's how it most likely occurred. The other peacocks are unaffected at present. It's very unfortunate my male electric blue has this cut though as that's what's eating away at his lip. After some research I gave both the fish a salt water swab, better than nothing. I aim to get some meth blue tomorrow and will do meth blue swabs as per the article I read. What do you reckon? Thanks. 

[Shilo]

If its Columnaris & Meth Blue won't touch it (which it probably won't) then try acriflavine.  Both can either be swabbed on the infected areas or as a daily concentrated dip with salt added until cleared up. Furan if you can get hold of it is even better but either the whole tank will have to be treated or the infected fish put into a smaller hospital tank & its not cheap.

Netting and either dipping or swabbing fish can be very stressful for them (which makes matters worse) so if you go this way make sure everything is set up ready to go and you do things as efficiently and smoothly as possible.  The salt dip probably didn't kill your 1st fish because of the time between the dip and it dying but the stress from the procedure may have.  Example for swabbing I have a wet towel laid out by the tank, and a cotton bud loaded with the medicine in a cup ready beside it. Wet your hands first in case you touch the fish, then net the fish (2 nets makes things quick & easy), leaving the fish in the net put it straight onto the towel. Carefully swab the area ( I just use straight acriflavine) then immediately release back into the tank. Dipping is the same, straight from the tank into the dip container (large enough for the fish to swim comfortably) on a wet towel in case it jumps. Watch for the whole soak in the dip then quick net and back into the tank again.  If salt is in the dip as soon as the fish looks like it's starting to lose balance (slow rocking) put it back into the tank. 

Warning, acriflavine will stain everything it touches yellow.  I have never had much luck with Meth Blue for Columnaris so personally if it gets worse I would go directly to acriflavine or Furan treatments.

It will persist in the tank even after the fish has cleared up so following Adrienne's advice for a few weeks after is a must to avoid reinfection and let any sores heal.   

[Chasingthepleco]

Thanks Shilo. I will head to my local nursery tomorrow that has a fish section. I live in a very remote town so I don't hold out much hope but I'll see what's available. Thanks for your advice on minimising the stress with dips etc. I was very quick with my whole procedure but didn't do it at the tank instead a holding bucket with tank water. Crossing my fingers my male electric blue in particular makes it, he's my fav.