Fungus Help!

[jbeezee]

Hi! My betta has had fungus (white stringy/fuzzy/cottony growth) a couple of times before and I used Betta Revive and it fell off and he was fine.

Yesterday, he had two spots of fungus - one on each side of his "chin," I changed his whole bowl 100%, added the betta revive, and the fungus just kept growing! I waited a day and bought a fresh betta revive and put him in the new bowl and it's still growing!! Help! Plis he has a new spot on his tail fin now!

Please - how can I kill the fungus and get it OFF of him ASAP? Does anyone know of a product that is similar to Betta Revive? Maybe this fungus is resistant and I need to add a different medicine? Please reply ASAP - it's really fast-growing.

(please note his water is clean and warm and supplemented with the betta micro elements stuff)

Thanks!

[jbeezee]

I absolutely love this fish. I don't know what to do. He's been with me for two years now and I could really use some advice from you guys.

[cmndrJOE]

Post pictures. It sounds like it could be Ich. I believe the treatment for ich has to do with salt. I'm no expert, so hopefully someone will chime in soon that knows more than I do... but post some pics asap so everyone can get a better idea of what's going on.

[jbeezee]

Here are some photos. Please link to the album here:

My camera can't focus that closely, but the stuff that is growing on him used to go away with Betta Fix. Now, it's not working. Do you know any other meds that are relatively safe?

The white puffs you can see in the photos look like white fibers. Spikey ones. He's had it a couple of times before, but I think it's now resistant to this med. Please help!!! (It's grown much bigger over 2 days)

Here's the album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbeezee/BlueManHelp#

[Oldfishlady]

I couldn't really tell anything on the pic...but you could try aquarium salt 1tsp/gal along with daily 100% water changes for 10 days.
How big is his bowl? and is it heated? if so what is the water temp?

If you have IAL or oak leave I would steep them in a 1g jug along with the aquarium salt 1tsp and keep it in the same area as the fish so the water temp will be the same and you want your water temp to be a bit lower than normal to help inhibit bacterial growth 75-76F area.
I like to treat in QT half to 1g container, this make it easier to make the 100% water changes and dose correct amount.
Add fresh garlic juice to his food and feed every other day small amount during treatment.

[JamieTron]

I can't be 100% sure seems like columnaris bacteria to me actually, fungus on the body normally starts in wound, where as colunarnis can occur without a wound. If your fungal meds are not working I would try some meds for bacterial infections like maracyn - 2 I think treats gram negative bacteria. The medication boxes will say which things they treat or you can ask the petstore employees if needed (they MIGHT know...who knows with some petstores though). You should try to treat ASAP since it has already gotten that noticable. I would give aquarium salt baths to him until you can get him the meds.

photo look like your fish's situation? http://www.flippersandfins.net/Images/Flex2.jpg that is columnaris.

my Arctic Charr at school used to have problems with this darn bacteria grrr

[jbeezee]

This is spreading fast and will not last 10 days. Does anyone know of a good medicine? The foggy patches that you see in the photos growing on each side of under his "chin" look like this texture when seen close up: (top photo of teh brown fish with spikey white stuff on his head) http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1

[Oldfishlady]

If it is Flexobacteria, increase the salt to 2tsp/gal up to 3tsp/gal and add an air stone, depending on the type either the fast acting (fish can die within 24h) or slow acting (chance of recovery)
This bacteria is ever present in our tank just waiting for a chance to affect the fish, lower temp (76F), 100% water changes, aeration, salt, garlic are great for natural treatment for the slow moving type,
Using a OTC medication that treats gram neg bacteria can help and if he is still eating use medicated food.

[jbeezee]

JamieTron: thanks! he doesn't look like the red guy b/c he has two well-defined tufts of what's growing on him & the white stuff is radiating out from the base of these two tufts (whereas the red guy in the photo looks like he has a cloud of amorphous/foggy cotton swarming all around his body).

***Please note that sometimes when he misses a food pellet, this same spikey stuff always grows on any food pellets on the bottom of the bowl, within hours, before I change the bowl.***

The stuff in the red guy in the photo looks cloudy and amorphous and like it's swarming all over him, the stuff on my blue guy is spikey and growing from two tufts on his underside (and now one tiny tuft on the tip of his bottom fin).

The problem is that this medicine (Betta Revive) has worked for the same exact thing - it has worked for him twice, actually in the past two years. This time, I think it's become resistant. Does Maracyn work for a similar thing that Betta Revive does?

Thanks again. Oh & he is in a 1.5 gallon warm fresh water bowl. I know you guys recommend 5+ gallons, but he has done great in here for a long time, I can keep it very clean and balanced, and I can manage the plants, snails, etc., so I don't want to switch the whole living quarters after years in this one.

[jbeezee]

By the way, this is day 3 and it is growing longer (the tufts) but not spreading/ covering him or anything. He is eating (hungry as ever!), spunky, happy, I just need to get this stuff off of him before it does spread. I just want to make sure I don't poison him (reading that some meds can be lethal).