First of all here is the necessary background info:
pH 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrate 25
Salinity: freshwater
Tank: 200L
Inhabitants: 3 clown loach
2 golden rams
2 German blue rams
1 nanacara anomala
3 L340 mega clown pleco (only grow to 3" each, currently 2")
10 rummy nose tetra
2 colomesus asellus
Last water change: Sunday (25%) on a weekly basis. Strictly
New inhabitants: 2x colomesus asellus
My tank has been set up for about 6 months and prior to this was in use for about 5 years (bought from
A friend) and as such had mature filter media. I took things slowly anyway and used fish-in cycling with 3 guppies to begin with.
I use tap water treated with API stress coat. Water temp: 27C
So, the problem is, I bought 2 SAPs from my lfs and they were owned by one of the employees previously for a couple of years. Unfortunately, she had to o to university so gave them to the shop to sell on. These individuals came from a community tank and so I thought would be fine in this tank. They have lived within 2 miles of my current location for the past 2 years so the water should be very similar. Anyway, they were at the shop for 3 days before I picked them up and within 18 hours one was showing signs of cotton wool disease and so I immediately started treatment with half doses of protozin (so as to Not damage the clown loach). I am now on day 5 (treatments were added to the tank on days 1,2 and 3) and unfortunately it looks as though the skin is peeling in the infected puffer. I am
Now very worried because the puffer is less active and less hungry. I am sort of making the assumption that the treatment is to blame for this but I am not sure. I was thinking of doing a large water change and treating the tank with a wound healing reagent. Please let me know what you think.
I will try and post photos later but currently am at work on iPhone
Kind regards
Will
Colomesus asellus - cotton wool now skin peeling
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
-
bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: Colomesus asellus - cotton wool now skin peeling
First off welcome to the forum. Half doses of meds don't tend to work, you need to get those meds out of your tank to start and use the salt and heat method to treat it. I will try to find the thread for you and will bump it up for you to see. Melafix will help the skin heal.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
Re: Colomesus asellus - cotton wool now skin peeling
Many thanks for the welcome and prompt reply Bertie, I will bump the temperature up and gradually throw in some aquarium salt as well. I need to buy melafix though. I will be glad to stop the treatment, even half doses tend to make my clown loaches shy and lethargic.bertie 83 wrote:First off welcome to the forum. Half doses of meds don't tend to work, you need to get those meds out of your tank to start and use the salt and heat method to treat it. I will try to find the thread for you and will bump it up for you to see. Melafix will help the skin heal.
I will search around for the heating and adding salt method of fungal treatment as well
All the best,
Will
Re: Colomesus asellus - cotton wool now skin peeling
Also, you're just up the road from me, I am in Horsham
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bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: Colomesus asellus - cotton wool now skin peeling
Ah someone close by at last, do not use aquarium salt. Use marine mix or table salt.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
-
bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: Colomesus asellus - cotton wool now skin peeling
Bumped the topic for you, hope it's useful. If you believe it is fungal add pimafix alongside melafix to combat it. Keep an eye on his breathing as there will be less oxygen in the warmer water, you may be wise to add an airstone or create some additional surface agitation.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly