Fungus On Pleco

[amyandfish]

Hello all!
 
Two weeks ago I noticed that my pleco has fungus around his mouth. I bought the specific treatment and so far I've given 2 doses and it still hasn't cleared. Do I give more treatment after 7 days or can anything else be done?
 
He's eating and pooping okay and no other fish has signs of fungus on them.
 
Thank you.

 

[nic1]

Hiya,
What's the name of the treatment you used?
Also what's your water readings?
Thanks

 

[DerpPH]

what specific species of pleco do you have? some plecos look like they have white fuzz on their lips but its actually normal.
 
Ok I suggest you quarantine him if he is a common plec because they do not look like that.
 
Next you should add in copper based meds every two days and make sure you do a 30% water change every 2 days when treating

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons?
How many fish and which type?
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?
What medication have you been using?
 
White fungus a round the mouth is columnaris. (False name mouth fungus)

 

[amyandfish]

Sorry for late reply!
 
I have a 19ltr, with a common pleco (the infected one), 2 electric blue rams, a rainbow shark, 2 cherry barbs, 2 upside catfish, a cuckoo catfish, a feather fin catfish and an asian bumblebee catfish. (I did have a 60ltr but the stand broke during moving houses causing the tank to break also so I have to use this 19ltr until I can afford a new tank.)
 
I don't know my water readings, how do I check those?
 
I have used the anti-white spot and fungus treatmeant made my NT Labs (www.ntlabs.co.uk). This was suggested to me to use by the owner of the aquatics store.
 
Some of it has cleared and the fungus isn't as big as it first was, but it's still there.
 
Thanks

 

[fm1978]

Those guys are all in a 19ltr tank? Please say you mean 19 Gallons!!!
 
Even your 60ltr tank isn't really ideal, I'm afraid. 
 
You really, really need to get a larger tank or re-home pretty much all of those fish. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but, I'm genuinely surprised that fungus on your plec is the only issue you have. How long have they been in that tank?
 
Without getting too technical, all of the dirt from your fish and left over food will increase the concentration of the very bad stuff that gathers in the water extremely quickly. This means the fish will be poisoned.
 
As for water readings, you really need to get your hands on a testing kit which includes tests for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and ph (minimum). Ammonia is the very bad one which will be killing your fish. I can only suggest you read the post on this forum about cycling your tank as I assume since you don't have a testing kit, you probably didn't cycle correctly. If you really can't get a kit then your local fish shop will test it for you. 
 
Unless you're changing about 95% of the water in that tank daily (perhaps twice) those fish will probably die.  

 

[amyandfish]

I physically don't have the money to buy a bigger tank as I have a 5 month old baby, who obviously comes first in any situation. FIsh tanks are exactly cheap and I didn't have any intentions of my larger tank breaking so unfortunately the smaller tank was the only substitute.
 
They've been in there for 5 weeks and all seem perfectly fine apart from the fungus on the pleco. The only other option I would have is to place them in my partners 120ltr, however he has much larger fish (mine are still pretty small as I haven't had them for too long) so they would either get eaten or bullied to death by the larger fish and I'd rather that not happen. I know the small tank isn't ideal but I don't have much choice. My local aquatics don't take fish back so I am stuck in this situation.
 
We used the water out of my partner's tank to help cycle this tank, he has had his tank for over 2 years so it's been well cycled. I was only looking for a solution to how to remove the fungus, not a lecture.
 
I do 30% daily water changes as well as cleaning the filter out so that all the muck is removed, although the filter is pretty clean when I take it out to clean it.
 
Not everyone can afford a bigger tank as and when needed, as much as I would love to get a bigger tank right now it really isn't in my budget. Sorry if it isn't what you wanted to hear but there physically isn't anything else for me to do. It was either get rid of the fish or keep them alive by housing them in a smaller tank for the time being.
 
I'm pretty sure if there was something terribly wrong with the levels in the water then there would be many other problems as well as dying fish however done of them have died let alone shown any other signs of problems or diseases. The water hasn't even turned cloudy, which I know happens when a tank is over populated or by too much waste.
 
So yeah, I'm not looking for a lecture, I know it isn't ideal but I didn't have any other options. I was only looking for advice as to whether I should apply another dose of the treatment or if there was another way to help remove the fungus.

 

[fm1978]

Amy, my intention wasn't to lecture you. It's difficult to gauge how much a person knows about fish keeping, cycling, fish types, etc after only a few posts. So please accept my apologies for appearing to give you a hard time. You will hap upon some very passionate people on this forum and we really only want what would be best for your fish.
 
It's very hard to tell what exactly could be wrong with your plec without seeing a picture or 2 and without having the benefit of some water parameters (could you borrow your partners?). If it really is a fungus and you have already treated without result so far, perhaps you could try a second course. If it's not a fungus and you treat the whole tank it could be even more detrimental. 
 
All I can suggest is to keep the water as clean as possible, there are a huge amount of fish ailments that are caused just from poor water conditions, so concentrate on that.