Fungussy Gourami

Here we go again, my first attempt at posting got lost.

I'm new again to fish keeping after a few years of childhood experience, that was quite a few years ago....... I'm looking for some advice from all you lovely fishy people on here.

I have a 54 litre tank with a stingray 10 filter. Followed the fishless cycle as discussed here. When all seemed stable I introduced plants and left for another week. Initially got three male dwarf gouramis and three male marble mollies. One molly died after four days. He'd been the least assertive of the three but was eating and behaving normally until found dead in the morning. There were no marks or nipped fins or anything to show he was unwell. His body shape was as the others and no raised scales. Nitrites, nitrates and ammonia were all still 0 and PH 7.5

I bought four cardinals a week later and intend to buy another four if all is well. However when I was cleaning the gravel last week I sucked a gourami into the tube and he lost some scales on his head. (sorry wee gourami). A few days later he started to grow fungus on the inury and I took some photos up to Dobbies intending to get some API Fungus Clear. The girl there agreed with me the gourami looked to have fungus growing and as they didn't stock API Fungus Clear she suggested Protozin.

I emptied carbon out of the filter and added 5.5 mls of Protozin on each of the first three days. This is day four and the final dose is due in two days time. I've noticed no improvement so far. Is it too early yet? will the Protozin concentration increase as I add the final dose or does it gradually diminish? Nitrites, nitrates and ammonia are all still reading 0. PH still 7.5. Temp is 24C but I'd rather not raise it as I've seen suggested. I have two airstones going as well as the filter and the plants.

I'm attaching a pic of the first day of treatment and one I took today, nothing has changed as far as I can tell. I didn't isolate the gourami as I believe that the fungus spores are naturally present in the water and although they colonised his injured head they should not pose a problem for the other fish which all appear healthy.

Can members advise if there's anything else I can do and can you tell from the pics if Protozin is an appropriate treatment?

Thanks everyone.

Oh just in case anyone's worried, I read on some reviews that cardinals can be shredded by stingray filters but so far they seem quite happy even when swimming around the filter, so fingers crossed!

.

And also, the gourami is eating and behaving normally as far as I can see.

Personally I think you have been given the wrong treatment. Myxazin would be more effective, you are treating an infected sore rather than a whole tank infection. You could stick with the protozin, but I don't think you will see alot of improvement. Pop the carbon back in to remove it then swap over to the new med after doing a sizeable water change and removal of the carbon again. If you decide to stick with carbon, personally I wouldnlt as I would use the space for extra media, start with fresh again after treatment.

What is your tap nitrate reading?
Do you have live plants in the tank. As is rare to have a nitrate reading of 0.
What the brand name of the test kit you are using?

I agree the LFS has suggested the wrong med. Protozin for whitespot.

Preform a water change and gravel vac.
Run some new black carbon. For over 24 hours.
Water change.
Remove black carbon from filter.
Than add myxazin by waterlife.

Also I would recommend not adding 8 cardinals to your tank. As it will cause the tank to be overstocked.
You need at least six due to cardinals being a shoaling fish.

elmo666 said:

Personally I think you have been given the wrong treatment. Myxazin would be more effective, you are treating an infected sore rather than a whole tank infection. You could stick with the protozin, but I don't think you will see alot of improvement. Pop the carbon back in to remove it then swap over to the new med after doing a sizeable water change and removal of the carbon again. If you decide to stick with carbon, personally I wouldnlt as I would use the space for extra media, start with fresh again after treatment.

Click to expand...

Thanks Elmo, I'll get some Myxazin and run carbon filter as you suggest. I'll do a couple of large water changes too before starting with Myxazin. On the plus side I now have a big bottle of Protozin if required in future. Hadn't thought of using the freed up carbon space for more media but it's pretty sensible now you've suggested. Local shop is closed on Wednesdays so will have to wait a couple of days before getting the Myxazin. I'll update the thread when I have any news.

Good luck, sure it will soon be on the mend will some tlc.

Good Luck.

WILDER said:

What is your tap nitrate reading?
Do you have live plants in the tank. As is rare to have a nitrate reading of 0.
What the brand name of the test kit you are using?

I agree the LFS has suggested the wrong med. Protozin for whitespot.

Preform a water change and gravel vac.
Run some new black carbon. For over 24 hours.
Water change.
Remove black carbon from filter.
Than add myxazin by waterlife.

Also I would recommend not adding 8 cardinals to your tank. As it will cause the tank to be overstocked.
You need at least six due to cardinals being a shoaling fish.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply Wilder. I'll change water and run then remove new carbon as you suggest. Nitrate reading from our tap water is 0. Loads of chlorine here in West Lothian but luckily no nitrates. I also have a good thicket of living plants which must be hoovering up the waste pretty thoroughly and I'm feeding sparingly. I'm using the API freshwater master kit.

Yes I agree about the 8 cardinals in total probably being too many using the fish numbers i gave, I intentionally didn't get them all at once so as to have a more gradual load. Using the "aq advisor" tells me that 8 cardinals plus 3 each of mollies and gouramis would take me to 110% fish capacity, but I forgot to subtract the dead molly when I gave the total. Without him, I'm currently at 87% with 4 cardinals. A total of 8 cardinals would take me to 102%. Is it not the case though that having a well planted tank I'd be able to have a few more fish? I just love the cardinals and sneaking an extra one in is tempting.

Thanks again

That's fine. Just need to check your tap nitrate reading.

Hope the fish is better soon.

WILDER said:

That's fine. Just need to check your tap nitrate reading.

Hope the fish is better soon.

Click to expand...

It's up to you if you add more cardinals. There not very big waste producers so you might get away with it.

WILDER said:

It's up to you if you add more cardinals. There not very big waste producers so you might get away with it.

Click to expand...

Yes, I don't think it's a big risk, also depends how many cardinals they have when I visit. When i left last time there were only two left.

The LFS will probably have more coming in stock. Make sure there healthy.
Vibrant colours, and not acting listless and lethargic.

I've been thinking overnight about the Myxazin and have some questions.

Protozin says on the bottle that it's for white spot AND fungus. What I read here suggests that Myxazin is for bacterial infections. The Gourami seems to have a fungal infection as you can see from my pictures. Would a bacterial infection show in the form that my gourami's infection is showing? I'm tempted to finish the course of Protozin and see if it works. The gourami doesn't seem to be getting worse and if he is staying otherwise healthy as he appears, perhaps the final dose of Protozin will tip the balance and effect a miracle cure.

If not then I could try the Myxazin.