He has a white coat all over his body, and I treated it with Melafix, but It just seems to be getting worse. It looks life a fungus to me, but it does'nt have that cotton-like growth on it. He is starting to do really bad. Had him for 2 years!
2007-02-13 05:47:32 · 5 answers · asked by Nicole S 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
That could be from any one of several things, but in my opinion he has a parasite infestation, probably Velvet. Get a bottle of any parasite medication that has Malachite Green as an active ingredient and treat as the direction recommend. Remember to remove the carbon from your filter while you treat the tank.
MM
2007-02-13 06:03:21 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Might be excess slime coat/mucus, is that what it looks like? Is he hanging at the top? Are his eyes turning white? Could be a problem with the ph fluctuating/dropping. Could be from ammonia burns, could be a parasite. Try using some aquarium salt. Dose at 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons. I was just reading a bit on MelaFix, I love the stuff. But it's mostly for general well being, and for gram positive bacterias. Most diseases are gram negative. So, you're usually going to be better off using PimaFix, and it helps with some fungus infections as well as the neg bacteria. try adding that as well as the salt. Start doing regular water changes, and get a test kit to check your ph and ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate levels.
Velvet is more of a yellowish spotty kind of looking parasite.
2007-02-13 16:45:22 · answer #2 · answered by tikitiki 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are more than one type of disease that can make a fish look this way. Since you say it doesn't look "fuzzy", I'd suspect that maybe he has velvet. See the websites below for more info on treatment.
I've had success treating this with the "Jungle" medication for velvet - I don't know the active ingredient offhand, but malachite green is also supposed to work for this. I also raised the tank temperature and put dark paper aroung the tank to cut off light. Some consider this a parasite, other sources consider it a parasitic algae.
Hope these help!
http://www.mn-aquarium.org/masart43.htm
http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/stressdisease.shtml
2007-02-13 14:02:37 · answer #3 · answered by copperhead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to your local Pet store and pick up a box of Life Guard. The stuff works great and treats everything.
Just follow the directions on the box.
2007-02-13 13:53:56 · answer #4 · answered by x0xsimplyirresistiblexox 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
this fish has ick and your other fish will get it to you need to by ich remover it is one teaspoon for every five gallons and you need to clean absolutely everything out take your rocks and boil them if you bought him from a petstore that has one big filter running all tanks and you have bought other fish there chances are they have it to and if not they will get it now getting this in asap may give your fish a chance
2007-02-13 14:45:43 · answer #5 · answered by acstevey1 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋