percula with weird growth at tail
- Thread starter CTaylor
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Small Heavens
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Get the Pimafix, the cotton fungus is no match for human ingenuity.
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Small Heavens
New member
I love picking those weak fish that ain't doing well in the LFS tanks and help them, Pimafix is enough to clear out cotton fungus and can actually be tolerated by anemones as well (nems retract slightly when the mix touches their surface but they inflate again after 10-15 minutes).
Small Heavens
New member
I keep one Polymnus clown male that was very weak when it first arrived and it had the biggest cotton fungus ball I had ever seen on its one pectoral fin (about the same proportion of fungus to fish as yours although Polymnus fishes are bigger) and some fin-tearing or -rot on both ventral fins.
After a week of Pimafix/Melafix, the fungus was gone and the fins regrown. The fungus first got slightly smaller and on day6 it just vanished. I proceeded with dosing Melafix 1day more, then there were no futher signs of damage to the fish.
Remember that any stress gives fishes a full 12hour period of diminished natural immunity and hurry slow as they say. Do not be too worried, cotton fungus is fortunately something that humans can help fishes with.
After a week of Pimafix/Melafix, the fungus was gone and the fins regrown. The fungus first got slightly smaller and on day6 it just vanished. I proceeded with dosing Melafix 1day more, then there were no futher signs of damage to the fish.
Remember that any stress gives fishes a full 12hour period of diminished natural immunity and hurry slow as they say. Do not be too worried, cotton fungus is fortunately something that humans can help fishes with.
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Small Heavens
New member
(ps. Btw. it is reported that clownfish that are treated with copper never reproduce again, so that might be worth mentioning on a side note)
Small H.. TY!!.. I'm going asap to get that.. it's at petsmart down street from me.
This is a wild caught clown which I always wanted but I know their sensitivity (now) lol.
Small Heavens
New member
Yw CTaylor My favorite experts really dislike the Pimafix solution because it comes from plants but everytime I got a new fish with cotton on it, I tired leaving it to go away naturally and nothing happened and when I dosed Pimafix, it disappear right away. With smaller patches, 1-2day doses seems enough, with a ball of this sized, you probably need to give the full dose (dose for 7 days, then make water change)
Oh, congratulations and good luck!
Wild caught family fishes die easily before becoming used to living in a clear container without all the fishes they had bonded with in nature. I would prefer to keep wild caught clowns in species specific tanks with their own nem, and then treat the entire water column with Pima/Mela as needed to minimise the psychological stress on the fish.
I hope your fish makes a fast recovery, keep us updated if you please.
My favorite experts really dislike the Pimafix solution because it comes from plants but everytime I got a new fish with cotton on it, I tired leaving it to go away naturally and nothing happened and when I dosed Pimafix, it disappear right away. With smaller patches, 1-2day doses seems enough, with a ball of this sized, you probably need to give the full dose (dose for 7 days, then make water change)Oh, congratulations and good luck!
Wild caught family fishes die easily before becoming used to living in a clear container without all the fishes they had bonded with in nature. I would prefer to keep wild caught clowns in species specific tanks with their own nem, and then treat the entire water column with Pima/Mela as needed to minimise the psychological stress on the fish.
I hope your fish makes a fast recovery, keep us updated if you please.
Just finished 2 1/2 days of pimafix... The fungus is jsut getting worse. I just tripled the recommended dose. At this point nothign to lose. I dont know what else to do. She doesnt have time for me to receive and then try each of the other 'recommended' treatments on that page. If there's one to try , then which? It's about 2x as big of a thick fuzzy spot now.
ThRoewer
New member
Try iodine solution (the one for human wounds) applied with a Q-tip.
And if you have the guts for it, try to trim it back as much as possible.
From all I've seen so far, if it gets this big, it's pretty much a losing battle.
I've had fish that had the "goat-beard" like looking version at the bottom of their lower jaw and that one, once stopped in growth, seemed to be benign and the fish lived with it for years.
But the infections that hit primarily soft tissue seem to be life-threatening and difficult to get under control.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
And if you have the guts for it, try to trim it back as much as possible.
From all I've seen so far, if it gets this big, it's pretty much a losing battle.
I've had fish that had the "goat-beard" like looking version at the bottom of their lower jaw and that one, once stopped in growth, seemed to be benign and the fish lived with it for years.
But the infections that hit primarily soft tissue seem to be life-threatening and difficult to get under control.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
I reposted here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25596203#post25596203
in disease forum.
you mean trim the thickness of it, right, not trim into her skin?
And what about maybe spotting it with the pimafix a few times a day? Or the iodine or both a few times a day? I really dont want this thing to remain. It makes sense that somethign must be able to beat this.
TY!
Late update. That fish did not make it 
. **I did get another wc perc. She(?) developed similar condition. I know how to recognize the start of it (I think). Both the new one and the previous had a tiny dot on their chin. I guess it could have been anywhere on the body, but both times it was on the chin. Both times it went away. But that might have indicated what was coming. The new one also developed what looked like flukes, but this time was near the gills. But looked exactly the same as the previous sick perc. I treated her, but this time with pinnafix at the very start. After 2 days that area looked much better!. After a week she's back in tank, looks cured. I'm thinking the first time that perc got the correct treatment too late, when the fungus took hold too much. IF, in fact, it was fungus (which it very likely was from previous posts here). I had little hope for this new one at the start given my luck with treating the last one and treating sick 'nems. So I'm extremely happy I was able (so far!) to save her. So, it looks like, fungus can be treated if caught early enough (at least this type).
. **I did get another wc perc. She(?) developed similar condition. I know how to recognize the start of it (I think). Both the new one and the previous had a tiny dot on their chin. I guess it could have been anywhere on the body, but both times it was on the chin. Both times it went away. But that might have indicated what was coming. The new one also developed what looked like flukes, but this time was near the gills. But looked exactly the same as the previous sick perc. I treated her, but this time with pinnafix at the very start. After 2 days that area looked much better!. After a week she's back in tank, looks cured. I'm thinking the first time that perc got the correct treatment too late, when the fungus took hold too much. IF, in fact, it was fungus (which it very likely was from previous posts here). I had little hope for this new one at the start given my luck with treating the last one and treating sick 'nems. So I'm extremely happy I was able (so far!) to save her. So, it looks like, fungus can be treated if caught early enough (at least this type).
MarinaP
Active member
It is absolutely not true. Many of my spawning pairs were treated with copper, and reproduced just fine. In fact, these chin "œdots" usually respond to copper best. They are often fatal.
Small Heavens
New member
Super good info, thanks for sharing.
This chin dot was there before it become something that looked very much like a fungal infection as mentioned earlier in the thread. This was sucessfully treated not with copper, but with that pimafix. Perhaps it has Cu in it, though. But early treatment here was probably key. She's doing great still btw.. She has a great perc soon to be boy friend lol and they are super happy in their new ritteri that I also am having success with so far.
Small Heavens
New member
Ah, perfect, I had several fishes come in with cotton fungus of some considerable sizes. The cotton fungus always melted away like butter on a hot stove when treating with Pimafix, it just contains Myrtle extract.
No wonder your Percs are happy with such a lovely waterbed! Congratulations on saving the fish and successfully keeping Ritteri *cheers*
No wonder your Percs are happy with such a lovely waterbed! Congratulations on saving the fish and successfully keeping Ritteri *cheers*
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