Quick Onset of Fungus on A.bitaeniata

[parkap]

Hi All,

I got home last night from work to find my usually very healthy male A.biaeniata laying in a bunch of wisteria near the surface of the tank struggling for breath. When I looked closer he had a really big fungus outbreak coming out of one of his gills and a little patch on his dorsal fin.

There was no way he was going to survive much longer so I had to euthanise him.

But I've never seen anything come on so quick like that. My wife and I are both pretty sure he was totally fine the previous day.

I'm guessing the fungal growth was a secondary sympton of whatever had hit him, but I can't figure out what could effect him so quick and lethal.

Any ideas? No other fish are looking sick or bad at all.

Regards,
Peter.

[Th0mas]

Perhaps he got tangled with some other male (cac), got badly beaten up and followed by fungus. Have seen fungus develops rapidly on badly stressed/sick fish with open wound.

Other than that, I really don't have any ideas. Sorry to hear about your loss.

Thomas.

[KillieOrCory]

Sorry to hear this Peter. Like Thomas says he could have had a disaggrement with another fish and got injured. I would check all the other fish in the tank to make sure they do not have any injuries.

I know Killifish and SA dwarfs are different kettle of fish but;

A while ago I had a badly fungused male Aphyosemion marmaratum (a west african killifish) which had cottony growths in the mouth and gills. I could have sworn he could not breath! (that was the impression I got but obviously it wasn't suffocating). Anyway I isolated him in a small tank (ice cream container will do) and dropped in quite a bit of salt (meaning a lot) into the tank. 4-5 hours later when I checked on him, the cottony fungus growth had dislodged and fallen to the bottom of the tank with parts of the fish's lip But the fish recovered over the next few weeks and after about two months you couldn't tell he was half lipped for a while.

Obviously this treatment might or might not work on SA dwarf, but a salt bath for fish that you give hope on might (just might) save the fish, assuming the secondary fungal infection is what is causing the fishes decline in health.

[Th0mas]

Although I'm no expert with salt bath, but I believe salt and apisto don't mix too well (as they prefers soft water).

So adding high concentration of salt could do more harm than good - especially for bitaeniata. Probably worth trying after all options have failed to be effective (and the fish is still alive).

Thomas.

[Robdog]

Would metro be of any benefit in this situation?
If not, what is it best for treating?

[fishgeek]

fungal infections
can i be pedantic again we dont know they are without proper magnification to look at the cotton wool type growth's
also fungal colony's if removed will continue to grow over the next day or two
flexi/flavibacteria are also known to cause cotton wool growths

if fungal then saproleginia is most likely

both this fungal and also flavibacter are opportunistic pathogens usually requiring some other intiator to take hold on a host fish

in the case of saprolegenia this could be
a skin wound
a drop in temperature lowering immune function
stress, any form
sexual maturity seems to increase chances of saprolegenia infection

aswell as pathogenic forms of these fungal family's there are many spphrophytic members which will colonise any dead host tissue, or old egg's food or dead fish left in the tank

in your case i would have been inclined to remove, with tweezers, the mass and then directly swab medication onto the site
effective options may include zinc free malachite green,formalin,salt,potassium permanganate,meth blue

long term control is most easily acheived buy controlling stress within the enviroment, ensuring good water quality and avoiding over feeding

uv sterilisation will reduce sapphrohytic fungal numbers aswelll as pathogenic and may be noted to be effective by reduced fungal colonisation of food particles left on a tank bottom

hope this is of some help
andrew

[parkap]

Thanks everyone.

Andrew, some great info, as always. Cheers.

p.