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Fuzzy Growth on guppies

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Kimnar

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25g tank
12 guppies (4 male 8 female) remaining
Parameters all in check
25% water change every other day+gravel clean
1 tsp salt for every 5 gallons treated (removed plants for the time being)
Temp between 78-80F

I lost a few guppies to internal parasites recently (stringy white poop, lethargy) and I treated with marine land all in one and 1tsp salt per 5 gallon. Guppies seem to be slowly recovering, eating more, poop is thicker. But now, all the females seem to be affected with some sort of skin fungus? I can’t seem to identify it. I treated with ick cure (with meth. blue) and more marineland all in one (recommended dosage for the tank) as well as amoxicillin 400mg for 25 gallons for the past couple of days, but nothing seems to be working. I don’t know what seems to be the cause so I can’t figure out the solution. I need some help, I’m losing my guppies fast :/ Attached a photo of my guppies to show the fuzzy stuff growing on them
 

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Sorry can't make much out in the pictures you have put onto the site.

Does the fuzzy growths looks like cotton wool?
Any red, or pink patches in the middle of the fluffy area or on the outside?
Where are the fuzzy growths on the fish?
Any fuzzy area around the mouth area?

If alot of fish have it it sounds like Columnaris.

https://nippyfish.net/sick-betta/cotton-wool-disease-flex/
 
Last edited:
Amoxicillin is an anti-biotic that should not be used in an aquarium with a filter because it kills filter bacteria. It should also only be used as a last resort to treat genuine bacterial infections that don't respond to Methylene Blue of other more common treatments. Improper use of these type of anti-biotic can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can kill animals, birds and fish.

Methylene Blue also kills filter bacteria so monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels for the next few weeks to see how badly the filters were affected by the treatment.

If you get an ammonia or nitrite reading, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day until the ammonia and nitrite levels are back to 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

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You mention 1 tsp salt. Is that 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon?

To use salt as a treatment you use 1 heaped tablespoon of salt per 20 litres of water. If there are only livebearers in the tank you can double that dose. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you double the dose again so there is 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water.

However, if there are tetras, Corydoras, rasboras, angelfish, etc in the tank, then use 1 heaped tablespoon and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, add another heaped tablespoon of salt so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt levels like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks. You normally see an improvement within 24-48 hours of salt being added.

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If you set your camera to about 2MB, then take a bunch of pictures of the fish and put them on your computer, you can go through them and pick out a few that clearly show the issue and post them on here. Then we will have more to go on :)
 
WILDER said:
Sorry can't make much out in the pictures you have put onto the site.

Does the fuzzy growths looks like cotton wool?
Any red, or pink patches in the middle of the fluffy area or on the outside?
Where are the fuzzy growths on the fish?
Any fuzzy area around the mouth area?

If alot of fish have it it sounds like Columnaris.

https://nippyfish.net/sick-betta/cotton-wool-disease-flex/
Click to expand...

It’s near impossible to get my fish to stand still for the photos, if I zoom out to get all of them, the fuzzy growth is barely noticeable. It’s more of a milky white film on most of the fish in small patches, really hard to see. To compare, it looks like what dried up salt water water patches would look like out of water. No redness as far as I can tell. But only the females seem to be affected from what I see, maybe it’s harder to tell on the males cause of the coloration. I’m hoping if it’s Columnaris it can be controlled with the Amox 400mg. I don’t know if this pic is much better but I lowered the exposure to make the fuzzy patches stand out more.
 

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Colin_T said:
Amoxicillin is an anti-biotic that should not be used in an aquarium with a filter because it kills filter bacteria. It should also only be used as a last resort to treat genuine bacterial infections that don't respond to Methylene Blue of other more common treatments. Improper use of these type of anti-biotic can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can kill animals, birds and fish.

Methylene Blue also kills filter bacteria so monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels for the next few weeks to see how badly the filters were affected by the treatment.

If you get an ammonia or nitrite reading, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day until the ammonia and nitrite levels are back to 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

-------------------------
You mention 1 tsp salt. Is that 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon?

To use salt as a treatment you use 1 heaped tablespoon of salt per 20 litres of water. If there are only livebearers in the tank you can double that dose. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you double the dose again so there is 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water.

However, if there are tetras, Corydoras, rasboras, angelfish, etc in the tank, then use 1 heaped tablespoon and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, add another heaped tablespoon of salt so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt levels like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks. You normally see an improvement within 24-48 hours of salt being added.

-------------------------
If you set your camera to about 2MB, then take a bunch of pictures of the fish and put them on your computer, you can go through them and pick out a few that clearly show the issue and post them on here. Then we will have more to go on :)
Click to expand...

I removed the filter and suspended it a bucket of water when I added the meth. blue to since the carbon from the filter would’ve neutralized the medication. I’ll add it back once this whole mess has been sorted out and add some bacterial supplements too since the Amox will probably wipe out my whole colony. I tried methylene blue for a week before resorting to the amoxicillin.

I added 1 teaspoon for every 5 gallons (5gal is a bit more than 18 litres). I’ll try adding 2 more teaspoons per 5 gallons, that should amount to 1 tablespoon per 5g. I’ll double that concentration if it didn’t improve. Is 4tbsp per 20liters tolerable? I do have some younger ones in the tank, all liverbearers tho.
My 2 mollies weirdly enough have been completely unaffected by any and all ailments that my guppies have come to have over the past 6 months, I’ve hadn’t so many guppies come and go so I almost feel like this is a guppy exclusive ailment going on in my tank.

I uploaded somewhat of a better pic in my last reply ^ it’s impossible to get these guppies in a photo without motion blur. At least most of them seem energetic enough to cause motion blur, I’m thankful for that.
 
You can get a milky appearance with Columnaris.
Just make sure there no signs of flicking and rubbing.
No signs of any tiny white spots., yellow gold dusting on fish.

A severe case of columnaris can cause many deaths so I would use an antibiotic again. But please remove filter keep running in a bucket of tank water adding flakes each day.
Add an airstone to the tank as medications reduce oxygen in the water. Lower temp.

COLUMNARIS
The hospital tank should be heated to approx. 74 degrees. 76 and above is the ideal breeding temperature for columnaris. Though there is some dispute over lowering the temperature, my experience has been that 72 is too low for the medication to work rapidly, 76+ causes the disease to breed more rapidly than the anti-biotic can kill, and 74 is "just right." Remember to keep this temperature stable!
Text © Lauren Weeks
 
The patches on the body are not from Columnaris.
Columnaris starts at the mouth and spreads rapidly through the top of the head and bottom jaw. Fish infected with Columnaris die within 24-48 hours of first showing a white mouth.

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4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water is fine for all livebearers including babies.

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Guppies are riddled with disease and have all sorts of issues these days. Any young you have will usually have less issues. But stuff from Asia is notorious for weird diseases and unexplained deaths.

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Make sure you use a camera flash when photographing fish, and have the tank lights on. The more light you have the easier it is for the camera to focus on the fish, and the faster the shutter speed will be so you get a sharper picture. Don't zoom in too much because the more you zoom in, the harder it is to get a sharp image.
 
Colin_T said:
The patches on the body are not from Columnaris.
Columnaris starts at the mouth and spreads rapidly through the top of the head and bottom jaw. Fish infected with Columnaris die within 24-48 hours of first showing a white mouth.

-------------------
4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water is fine for all livebearers including babies.

-------------------
Guppies are riddled with disease and have all sorts of issues these days. Any young you have will usually have less issues. But stuff from Asia is notorious for weird diseases and unexplained deaths.

-------------------
Make sure you use a camera flash when photographing fish, and have the tank lights on. The more light you have the easier it is for the camera to focus on the fish, and the faster the shutter speed will be so you get a sharper picture. Don't zoom in too much because the more you zoom in, the harder it is to get a sharp image.
Click to expand...

If it’s not Columnaris, and it’s fungal, what would you recommend? Salt and another round of marineland all-in-one? I’m starting to notice some fin rot as well, this is probably as clear of a pic as I can take of this fish, I keep chasing the same pic with the camera cause she’s the most affected but other females have the same white stuff on their skin, as well as some of the males having some fin rot as well if that helps in diagnosing this. Tails seem unaffected for now. Some of the females are just kinda laying low towards the gravel. One has clamped fins (leftover from earlier internal parasites I assume)
 

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I would recommend slowly raising the temperature to 86F over a period of 6 days. Then add aquarium salt (1 tbs per 5G). Slowly add the salt over the time of a week.
 
Finrot is caused by poor water quality. In your case there might be ammonia in the water due to the filters possibly dying from the medication that was used in the tank.

The quickest and easiest way to treat finrot is to do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day for a week. If it is caused by water quality, then the water changes will fix the issue within a few days. If the problem continues to get worse after a few big water changes, then it could be a bacterial infection.

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I don't know what ingredients are in the marineland all-in-one medication.

Fungal infections and minor bacterial infections usually respond well to salt treatment.

If you have salt in the water and do water changes, make sure you add some more salt to the new water before it is added to the tank. That way the fish won't be exposed to sudden changes in salinity. However, before you add salt, do a big water change and gravel clean and wipe the inside of the glass with a clean fish only sponge.
 
When fish have been stressed by illness and medications for a period of time it takes there toll on them so more prone to further problems like parasites, bacterial infections, internal problems.
But I agree with Colin_T keep up with water changes and salt.
 
I lost 5 females and 3 males over the course of treatment and I’ve isolated the remaining fish grouped together by the degree of the progression of whatever they have. The remaining males seem very healthy, but the females still have some growth. I’ll be treating them with metronidazole (orally). I feel like they aren’t able to fight off the fungal/bacterial infection because there’s still some internal parasite weakening their immune system. I disinfected the main tank top to bottom with hydrogen peroxide as a redox agent and vinegar and added some bacterial supplements and I’m going to let it cycle a few days while I treat the fish in isolation. There’s no way I could really disinfect the plants so I rinsed them in RO water, fingers crossed.
 
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