Hi, I'm new to this site, and I was just wondering if you could help me at all.
On Sunday, I bought some new mollies. (In the tank already there is 2 opaline gouramis, 2 golden gouramis, 2 little aquatic frogs, 2 diamond tetras, a plec and 7 penguin tetras.)
Anyway, on Monday I woke up and one molly had what I couldn't quite decide whether it was white spot or fungus. Over the day it got worse and i'm pretty sure it's fungus. Anyway, there are now baby mollies in the tank too (as they do!!). When we introduced the new fish to the tank we put in furanol (sp?) to stop the possible spread of infection. So, this is stopping us putting in a fungus treatment. The disease is spreading throughout nearly all of the new mollies but doesn't seem to be affecting any of the other fish.
I've been told it could be because of the preference for salt in mollies water (although I have always been led to believe this is just a preference and not essential for their health)... basically i'm a bit lost and unsure what to do. I can do a water change today which will begin to get the furanol out of the water which will allow me to add fungus treatment soon, but to be honest, I'm not sure it will work.
Any ideas greatly appreciated. I've sought advice from a professional near me and he advised me to paint the poorly fish with the fungus treatment as I was unable to treat the tank (being VERY careful not to let them ingest it). I have done this and up to now it has been fine, but nothing seems to be getting any better.
Sorry for the long post- just trying to give as much info as possible.
Thanks in advance.
Liz

Hello and welcome
Firstly how big is your tank?
How long have you had the tank?
Did you fishless cycle?
Have you got a test kit to test Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate?
Sorry all the questions, just need as much info as possible.
Right im not really good at advice on treating ill fish, have you posted in the emergency section, its usually used for advice on poorly fish.
What filter do you have? If you could get hold of some carbon foam, put that in and that will get rid of the Furanol? I take it, its similar to Melafix.
I would do that, dont leave the carbon in there too long, take it out before you add the fungus treatment, but first do you have a pic of the fish, then we may be able to see what it actually has got.

Hi Liz and welcome to FK

Could you tell us the following also which may help.
Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate levels size of your tank dimensions if you don't know how many litres or gallons. any pictures also.

This is what i would do, but others with more experiance may have other Ideas liz.

I would do a water change.

Do use carbon in your filter?

If so and it currently is in the filter the likely hood is that it may have filtered it out as you shouldn't use carbon when medicating an aquarium purely for that reason.

If not I'd add some carbon to remove any medication that you have put in and then discard after 24hrs that along with a the water change should get the medication out for you.

After that you should be able to add the medication you need but remember to take the carbon out of your filter.

that's what i would do but I'm no expert liz. sorry if i've cross paths with other posters

Mike

The tank is 120 Litres approx. I did all water tests before purchasing the new fish and all was well. I wasn't using a carbon filter when the fuanol was put in. I haven't got a camera of good enough quality to get a decent enough picture of the fish for you to see what it has, but I am pretty sure it's fungus. I've had the tank a couple of years and yes we did a 2 week fishless cycle before introducing anything to it. hope this helps in terms of giving you more info.
Liz

Its good your not using a carbon foam, but if you cant get hold of one then water changes will get rid of the Furanol then I would add the fungus treatment.
How many mollies did you add?
Do you have a test kit?
How often do you water change?
I think you may be overstocked with the size tank you have.
Opaline Gouramis can grow to 12cm
Golden Gouramis can grow to 15cm
What plec do you have? Some plecs can grow very big.
Sorry this has nothing to do with your poorly fish but it doesnt help water conditions when there are too many fish and they also dont have room to grow.
Sorry again for all the questions but again more the more info we have the more we can help

I have test kits for pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and i think one other but i can't remember what off hand. I already have various treatments, including 2 for fungus ( 1 for fungus and finrot combined and one just for fungus). We have only recently purchased the gouramis (maybe a month ish) and they're not big by any means. By the time they are thinking of getting to their potential size we would be thiking of upgrading to a bigger tank anyway. Not sure of specific breed of plec...i think leopard something. he's only around 8cm ish at the moment and I know they're slow growing (sometimes I wish they weren't-i love big plecs! lol) Added 6 mollies- 2 black, 2 white, 2 orange. black ones seem to be siffering most, but one of the white ones is significant. Not understanding why the symptoms are not spreading to other fish in the tank though. :S
We do water changes and filter clean once per fortnight (water change including hoovering of the stones)
I have no problem answering questions....I want to know if i'm doing thigs wrong so i can stop or hopefully put it right...so, ask away! i've followed the books as best i can ut obviously nothing pays like experience!

Hi Liz

Sorry to hear of the problems

Can you post the most recent water results for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH please?

It would help to rule a few things out to begin with.

Hehe its alright, your doing alot right although weekly water changes are better than every other week.
Its good to know you'll be upgrading when the fish get bigger.
Have you done a water change today?
When did you last put the Furanol in?
You should be able to start treatment tomorrow I would have thought.
Im not sure why it hasn't spread to the other fish, but you don't want it to! Where did you get the mollies from, they obviously had it when your bought them
And yes Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate results would be good

Hi Liz

I'm not sure everything is all right tbh We need full water readings first. Water changes should normally be undertaken weekly (usually 25% but this depends on stocking levels and water readings) and the tank is quite overstocked presently, hence the question about water params, first.

Lots of cases of fluff and fungus can be related to poor water, although it does sound that this may have been introduced with new fish, already infected.

Some fish have higher immunity levels, which you may be experiencing. There is also quite a mix in there. Some of the fish needing hard, alkaline water, others needing soft, acidic water FK always recommends a QT for a min of 4 weeks - ideally 2 months, so any illnesses can be spotted and treated before any new stock is added to the main healthy tank.

Post back Liz and lets see if we can pin point the prob for you

Ammonia, nitrite & nitrate were tiny. The water turns pink with levels of N03 & N02. The water was still clear after the alloted period of time. The ammonia was 0 as far as the test showed. The water changes, again, pink with the amount of NH4. Lastly the ph levels were 7. We use a ph balance powder whenever we notice it starting to rise/fall. Yes i've done a 50% water change today. Also, this evening I've noticed mouth rot on a diamond tetra and a penguin tetra. The diamond also swan around like it was on a corkscrew but seems to have calmed down.