I am glad I didn't put her in the main tank, she had a small swollen cut when I got her, and I put her in a qt and she is fine, excpet for the cut now has white stringy stuff coming out, some white stringy poop is at the bottom of the tank, but it could be white stringy stuff from the cut. She has a cellophane body, and around the cut there is a red area and lost scales. The scales stick out ONLY AROUND THE CUT so don't call it dropsy. I think if it Is colmunaris it is not the acute form because I have had her for a month. She is eating normally, body swollen, but could be eggy.
If you’ve ever left a bit of food in the tank uneaten, the fuzzies that grown on it are most likely saprolegnia
everything on the bottom of her old jars (I just put her in a new, identical jar daily) gets all fuzzy, more than other jarred fish, so I'm leaning toward that, but it has been a month
Sapro is a common water mould. The spores are pretty much everywhere, and cause the white fuzzies on old food and other detritus in the tank.
Healthy fish can usually resist being infected (infection of healthy fish is more rare than not and tends to happen in cooler temps, possibly due to lowered immune response). But where there's dead skin from a bacterial infection or wound, it will feed on the subsequent necrotised flesh until that's gone -- and then it will start on the healthy flesh.
What it is actually doing is slowly digesting the fish, and can actually kill if left untreated.
It can be salt tolerant, and will often vanish after salt treatment only to come right back again, especially if the underlying wound or infection isn't treated.
It hates malachite green. Here's some treatment advice from a site I trust, having used thier advice to good effect so far:
Quote:
Saprolegnia will often get started if there is a large amount of decomposition of nitrogenous organic material such as dead fish left in the aquarium or large amounts of high protein fish food such as krill/shrimp. Injured fish with open sores will amplify this potential problem. This is why I generally recommend against using raw shrimp cycling method recently re-popularized on the internet by a few websites and some forums such as Yahoo answers and that is to use raw shrimp to seed the nitrogen cycle as this can result (as per my own studies) in Saprolegnia getting to strong a hold in a new aquarium (please read further about the lifecycle of Saprolegnia zoospores to also explain the risks, as well as the references).
Treatment
Luckily treatment is somewhat related to Columnaris (which Saprolegnia is often confused with unless view microscopically then the difference is clear), although Saprolegnia responds well to these chemical (as well as a few antibiotic/organic remedies):
*Acriflavin (found in API Fungus Cure) for mild to moderate Saprolegnia infections
*Oxidizers such as Potassium Permanganate or stabilized oxygen chlorine (Maroxy).
*I recommend in most moderate to severe Saprolegnia/fungus infections a Medicated Bath using Methylene Blue OR Potassium Permanganate.
Potassium Permanganate can also be used as a swab in mild isolated cases of Saprolegnia/Fungus then as a bath for serious cases.
See: Fish Baths, Swabs, Dips
*Malachite Green based treatments such as Medicated Wonder Shells, ParaGuard or Quick Cure .
*Organic Remedies such as Pimafix (AUSNOTE: I would not use this for anabantoids like bettas...)
*Antimicrobials such as Triple Sulfa also works quite well for Saprolegnia (fish fungus).
*For very difficult cases of Saprolegnia (especially when parasites are also suspected/involved), a strong cocktail of SeaChem ParaGuard (or Quick Cure) and Furan 2 AND Triple Sulfa may prove successful
Please note that many of the above remedies can be combined for more strength, however others cannot, such as the oxidizers (Potassium Permanganate or stabilized oxygen chlorine).
As for the infected cut -- I'd use a broad spectrum antibiotic if she's not responding well to simple 100% clean water, and also getting raised scales and sapro. No telling if it's gram neg or pos, so a broad spectrum is better, might hit up a bit of both. If something like Furan2 or Kanaplex (or Myxazin) isn't working, I'd go for gram pos medications like erythromycin. But I'm betting it's gram neg, it usually is.
Topical applications is something I'd probably try for an open wound - thankfully I haven't had to yet. But from what I read, they can be very effective. Might pay to do a bit of research//ask questions on that.
Ok, thanks, I will try, my mom doesn't want me to go to petco because she hasn't sen any o fher favorite meds, because she kept fish fifty years ago.... yeah. I will try! I trist API, so I will try the fungus cure.
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