Fungus or fin rot? Treatment recommendations please

15 years ago

Please help me identify what is wrong with these fish and treatment suggestions for sick fish and pond. Long story but here goes. Three weeks ago I added 4 small (3") butterfly koi to my pond. They were in quarantine tank for two weeks before going into the pond. A week after being in the pond I got a major algae bloom which was gone in a week. All pond parameters are normal. This week our temps went up to 80F and on Sunday I noticed two of the kois had funny looking white stringy stuff on them. The first one was on its tail which looked completely fuzzy and this fish was staying away from all the other fish in the pond. The other had this same white fuzzy stuff on it's fin on the back. I decided to remove them from the pond the one with the most fuzzy stuff I found in the settling chamber. Put them in a 10 gal aquarium (all I had at the time) with just pond water, an air stone and an aquarium filter. Also added 1 tsp of Melafix as only stuff I had on hand. By the next day the first fish was completly covered in this fuzzy stuff, the tail completly gone and it's belly was all red. Fish was just sitting on the bottom of the tank so we netted it out and euathanized it. I also did a 30% water change and added more melafix. This evening the other koi has this white stuff all over it as well. Is there any thing I can do to save this fish and of greater concern what about my other fish in the pond. None of them have any of this fuzzy stuff showing.

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Comments (4)

ccoombs1
15 years ago
sounds like fungus, but I'd like a picture to know for sure. I sent you an Email.

Cindy
jalal
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Cindy. Second koi was dead this morning covered in that fuzzy stuff. Will try to get picture for future reference. Checked pond fish again. No sign of whatever this was on any of the pond fish and they all come right to the edge for feeding so can get a good look at them. I've never put salt in my pond before have alot of plants so not sure if that's an option. Patti
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You can use filtration without carbon, which might help in keeping the tank really clean. Quite often you can find filters (exterior ones are great) at garage sales for not much, even a box filter might help. Other than that, there are inexpensive ones at Walmart, etc. Will he be fine? Yes. Keeping the tank clean is helpful, but given the size of your fish and the size of the tank, not a biggie. I tend to put filtration in because I usually leave them in the tank either until the fin heals, or until I get around to taking them out...which is longer than 72 hours. I put in a shubunkin back in March and am just now going to put him back in the pond. Good thing I did, or he would be dead by now killed by car washing solution. :/ You can also siphon up the poo while doing your partial water changes so the filtration really is not a big deal. I've had great luck at healing the wounds like this, so I think you did wonderfully well by not returning the fish.
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Thanks for the follow-up! Freckled cellophane, that's a great description. I was kinda wondering cos I know he is part cellophane, but with 'spots'. Freckled sounds infinitely cuter, and also less doggish, not that it's a bad thing ;P hummm, the water is still the main issue. I thought I cleared the cloudy issue by removing the leaching pebbles but the water is cloudy again, and I did a full change yesterday! Well it's more hazy than cloudy, I can really see the difference from today's versus yesterday's water. I should really get the test kit and find out what the problem is. Do uncycled and unfiltered tanks get bacterial bloom? The tank is a 1.5 gallon. In it is just the betta and some hornwart, plus 2 silk plants. And a little aquarium figurine from walmart. I would really like to find the cause of this. When I had him in the 0.5 gallon betta kit there wasn't this problem. The hazy issue has only cropped up with the Faunarium, and has does so overnight immediately after water change. I use Aquaplus, and aquarium salt. Plus the water was left overnight to help adjust the temperature. The water looked sparkly clear after the change. Suddenly overnight it turns hazy. I have a feeling that it is contributing to the splitting fins. Gaaah, this is when inexperience really kicks in....my poor fish. I cleaned the tank with warm water, then rinse it off with cold, if that makes a difference. I didn't use soaps of any kind...Another factor could be the difference in water I'm getting - I was on residence before, but has since moved. I found that the water gets hazy in the new place. Other thing is, the water I have standing by in jars are still clear, so I wonder if its the tank. Sunshine is still acting fine, he's a bit toned down today, not as much zipping around. Hope he's just having a lazier day. He's eating, flaring and curious as ever. Hope I can find a conclusion to this, and many thanks to all who've replied!
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ok, betta fix is just diluted melafix (tee tree oil). It's NOT an antibiotic, though it does have antiseptic properties. How do you know the water was clean, were you testing it for ammonia? The water can look very clear, but still be very toxic for the fish. How often are you changing the water, and how often were you changing it in the 2L tank? Tetracycline used to work great, however in many areas it's almost useless because of resistant bacteria. I've also never found it useful for fin rot. (This can be due to location however, as there are different strains of the bacteria that cause fin rot). I've never found it messy if used in the tablet or powder form, but it is hard to remove from a cycled aquarium. An uncycled bowl shouldn't be a problem though. I personally like Maracyn 2, but that's just what works for me. Anyhow, back to the OP. The melafix may help keep the area of exposed fin clean (think of it a bit like iodine or neosporin)and it helps in rin-regrowth, but if you don't see improvement in 2 days, I'd go and get an actual antibiotic (Again, I personally have the best luck with Maracyn 2, which treats mostly gram-negative bacteria). With the antibiotics, you would usually dose daily w/o water changes to build up a level of the meds (just like for people). Don't add more salt if you're not doing water changes. You also don't need to keep salt in his tank all the time. Just use it for treatment at the rate of 1tsp per gallon. Disolve the salt first in a little tank water, then add it to the tank. After treatment is finished and he's all better, you may want to get an ammonia test kit (the liquid kits work best). Do a water change, then test daily until you get readings (on a 2 gallon bowl with regular feeding, this should take about 5-8 days). If you get readings on day 8, then you know you should do water changes on day 7, so as to never expose your fish to toxic ammonia. By the way, are you using bottled or tap water? If using tap water, what conditioner do you use? I prefer Amquel + or Prime, both are highly concentrated so you won't run out as fast, and both help your water quality. Those are the only 2 brands I'll use. Try the link below, there's a betta board there and lots of articles on bettas and on fin rot. Here is a link that might be useful: petfish.net
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ccoombs1
15 years ago
If the fish was fuzzy all over, it was almost for sure a fungus called Saprolegnia, or SAP for short. It is nasty. It usually attacks skin that is already damaged in some way....parasite bite, sore, scrapes, bacterial skin or fin issues, etc. SAP lives in all ponds. It is the fuzzy stuff you see on uneaten food. Keeping the pond clean goes a long way in reducing the levels of fungus in the pond.

When SAP does get on a fish, it sinks roots into the fish's skin and releases toxins, making the fish feel bad and eventually killing it. Treating it by pouring something in the pond is practically useless and will probably damage the bio-filter, which will cause ammonia problems. The most effective way to deal with SAP is to sedate the fish (8 drops of clove oil in one gallon of water, wait until fish is calm and begins to roll over, then he can be handled). Place the sedated fish on plastic wrap and cover his eyes with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Carefully scrub the SAP from the skin with a Q-tip in peroxide. Be careful not to get peroxide in the eyes or gills!! Then dab a little malachite green directly on the treated area and seal it with denture powder. Place the sleeping fish back in the pond over aeration (I usually hold them in the net for this step, until they are away....takes about 5 minutes). Watch the fish very closely for a recurrence as SAP often comes back.

But before you do this, please make sure you get me a picture first....it may NOT be SAP, and I'd hate for you to take such a drastic step in treatment if the fish does not need it.
jalal
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi Cindy. Didn't get email as filter on unknown senders was set high. Both koi are dead after only three days of being in quarantine tank. Netted them on Sunday. None of the other fish have this stuff but am concerned. I have a 300 gal sc with matala mats, skimmer, and two 50 gal biofalls full of springflo on my 2500 gal pond. I've been doing weekly water changes the sc is my water change so 300 gals a week goes on the flower beds. Some fuzzy algae growing on the sides of the pond in the deep end and along the iris plants but suspended algae is gone now. Pond parameters are good. I always net out any food the fish don't eat within 5 minutes but we have had alot of temperature fluctuations this spring and my plants are only just taking off in the last week. Never had koi before just my wakins, shubunkins and sarassa comets. This is my first pond fish loss (other than the ones I left in the pond last winter as couldn't find them and they didn't make it through our long winter) in 5 years. So ....

Fungus or fin rot? Treatment recommendations please

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Fungus or fin rot? Treatment recommendations please

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ccoombs1

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