Missing patches of scales and white cotton fungus

J

jmowbray

New member
I'm in need of some serious help!

On saturday I recieved an order of black axial chromis from LA. They came and I acclimated them and placed them in their QT. Yesterday when the lights came on I inspected them for the first time real good. What I found was not good. All 6 of them have large missing patches of their colorful scales (and no it's not otics with the light). I'm talking patches larger than a quarter and the fish are only 1.5-2 inches long. It looks as though they were ripping eachother apart in their old tank. I went to feed them some mysis soaked in garlic and all but one ate. The one that is not eating is the wose though he is still hanging with the others. He has the largest patch and last night it appeared to have white fungus growing on it. Therefore, I dosed Triple Sulfa and stree guard. This morning I got up and did a bref look before runing to school. Now getting home the worse one seems to have gotten rid of the cottony looking fuzz but still has some issues. I dosed the tnk again ith triple sulfa and this time also added a packet of E.M. Erythromycin. I feed again some cyclopeze soaked in selcon. The same fish didn't eat again. I will try again in 3 hours with some mysis. The pectoral fish on the side with the sore seems almost paralysied with only slight movements. It also apears to have some damage to it though it doesn't seems to impare it's swiming ability.

Please help with any sugestions you may have. Tomorrow I will be doing a WC and dosing more meds.

Please I'm looking for any answers as I have emailed LA and of course they have yet to get back with me. Also the last shipment of fish I got from another retailer all passed with valvet. The tank has been sterlized along with anything that touched it and has been void of fish and water for over a month.
 
Could be fin rot, if not that a lot of fighting they have been doing. I'm sure LA will make it right but it sounds as though the fish should of never been shipped out to you in the first place. The cotton look sounds like fungus but without pictures it really hard for those of us to guess from your description
 
Change of plans. I'm doing a 25%WC tonight as soon as teh water get's to temp. and replacing the meds with the approx. % i removed with the WC. Pics. Coming I'll try my best.
 
need pictures, cotton could mean many things. Could be a secondary infection on top of something. There is a fungus that attacks the body and paralyzes it. I do not remember what its called but I can look it up tomorrow at work for you
 
Still looking for help.

I turned the lights on this morning and all were still alive. I feed a small portion of cyclops and all ate but the one. It still has very rapid breathing. I'm not sure why as none of the others do and the affected area does not extend to the gills.
 
Malachite green or formalin maybe the only options you have or a combo of both. Monitor water quality. Or if you have some antibiotics that is also a good choice
 
Ok So I'll be ordering them however they wont be here for a few days to a week. What would you recomend? I have meth. blue and also have a pack of safety stop. Is it worth it to pull them out and dip them or should I just add it to the tank? Keep in mind that the safety stop it's a pack per 1 gallon. The QT is ~22 gallons. So it's going to be VERY dilute but it does have formalin.
 
I would just wait for the stuff you ordered. If you use something not at the recommended dosage it will have little to no effect and then you will be adding more/different meds to the already diluted ones. Get a ammonia alert badge, anything you use to treat this will negatively effect nitrifying bacteria
 
Well I don't want to screw things up but things might be turning positive for once. I came home to find them still in prety bad shape however the worse ones fin is now moving and he's using it to swim around a little.
 
Well I guess I may have spoke to soon. I went to feed them a little more and his fin is almost totally gone. I can't aford to loose him so I dose Erythromycin again at the full dose. The actual sore on the side looks better but NOT the fin. :(
 
The fin will take wks to heal and may never fully heal depending on the damage that has been done. Chromis are notoriously bad for fungal problems and uronema for the past 4 yrs or so not sure why but Snorich had a theory that made sense. I would avoid them like the plague in the future. I had 25 and gave back 12, 8 months later. Also lost 5 within the first 24 hrs so the LFS gave me5 more so technically I had 30 and have back 12... Not a good ratio
 
well what do ya know? They help me order last night bc they wanted to wait until one thing was back in stock. Do we not think that there was a reason I paid $30 more to have this shipped overnight. Not overnight in 5 days.... GRRR!!! So mad right now. I guess I'll do a partial WC tonight run some carbon and be ready for it tomorrow.
 
Well guess what?!?! I just called bc I never recieved an email about shipment. Guess who's order didn't go out today AGAIN!!! The guy said he would be a note into customer service and get it out tomorrow. WOW I paid for next day air and it took 4 days to get here.

FYI the pakage is coming for Ohio and I live in michigan. I could have drove and picked it up myself in 6 hours. F
 
jmowbray said:
Well guess what?!?! I just called bc I never recieved an email about shipment. Guess who's order didn't go out today AGAIN!!! The guy said he would be a note into customer service and get it out tomorrow. WOW I paid for next day air and it took 4 days to get here.

FYI the pakage is coming for Ohio and I live in michigan. I could have drove and picked it up myself in 6 hours. F
Click to expand...

That's just sad, I would share your experience in the vendor experience sub forum
 
Well callede this morning and the lady tells me it was out for delivery. I guess it's only a day late. I ran home and dosed the tank with both Malachite green and formalin. I'm telling ya. This fish is a fighter! Hasn't ate yet but still staying strong and swimming.
 
BTW: what your fish have is most likely an Uronema marinum infection on bite wounds. It is an opportunistic ciliate, normally living of bacteria and dead fish and often present in fish tanks, living of the bacteria on detritus and leftover food without doing harm. But if water conditions get bad - low pH, high ammonia and too cold, conditions like you have often during shipment, it can infect the fish's gills and skin. An infection becomes even more likely if the fish has also fresh wounds from fighting or handling.

Formalin & malachite green is the right medication for the treatment tank but you may also want to get some Methylene blue for additional dips if it doesn't get better. You also may need to treat secondary bacterial infections with antibiotics.

As for feeding him I would try some live brine shrimp nauplii. Not the most nutritious food but usually something even picky or sick fish go after.
 
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