Possible Fungus Infection - Pleco dead already and Texas cichlid not doing well

Good Day All,

I need assistance please! I already lost my Pleco and my Texas Cichlid is not doing well...

Here is the story:

Last week Wednesday I noticed that my Pleco has white cotton-like bits coming off of this entire body and behavior seemed irregular. This was in the morning before work and I wanted to do a water change the evening with the hope of eliminating the illness. I do admit I was behind schedule on my regular water changes so the water quality was not great.

Upon my return home the after noon I was welcomed to a terrible smell in the house, my Pleco was dead. It was covered in this white cotton like fungus and lost most of its colour. It looked like the Texas Cichlid may have nipped at the dead Pleco as there were patches of the cotton-like fungus missing in two areas that seemed out of place.

The water quality at this stage was terrible and I did a 75% water change and removed the Pleco and all the cotton-like fungus I could find that floated in the tank. By this stage my Texas was breathing irregular and his behavior changed to just resting in low flow areas of the tank. I also added a dose of Myxazin as I believed it may be a bacterial/fungal infection that caused the first death. The water tested perfect after this.

I carried out a daily water change of between 40-50% as the Myxazin is killing the good (and hopefully the bad) bacteria in my Sump and I was getting a N03 spike after a few hours. My Texas' health improved over the next day but took a dive again over the last few days. I have not added Myxazin after the last few water changes up until last night when I added a light dose as I believed it may have helped after day 1.

My Texas seems to have some cotton-like fungus inside its mouth, so I am wondering if he also has a Bacterial/fungal infection or if the few nibs he took off the Pleco is causing this. I am not sure what to do going forward.

Some advice would be appreciated...

 

Hi I Had the same problem 2 weeks ago and i used sega omnipour and Funipour to get rid of the problem. its been 3weeks now and no deaths from the cotton fungi or any other. except for my Pleg attacking other fish.

 

@Spaul Thanks for the advice. I will need to see if my local shops stock that. But I think I may wait on some more input, I don't really want to dose too many meds as I have already started Myxazin treatment.

@Reedfish Please see the completed questionnaire below, hope this helps.

General
Where do you stay? Richards Bay, Kzn
How long have you been keeping tropical fishes? 4 years
How long has the tank been running before you added fish/this fish? 4 years, relocated (stripped and re-setup 6 months ago)
What fish do you have in your Tank (type, number and size)? 1x Plecostomus (Deceased) + 1x Texas Cichlid
When did you last buy any new fish? 4 years ago
Which food are you feeding and how often do you feed? Tetra Cichlid Sticks - Large & Tetra Pleco Tablets. Feed once a day, 3 tablets for the pleco and a pinch of food for the Texas.


Disease
Describe the problem that the fish is having (behaviour, breathing, excretion (droppings), food intake, colour)? Pleco - had white cotton-like bits coming off of this entire body and behavior seemed irregular before death. Texas - breathing irregular and his behavior changed to just resting in low flow areas of the tank with cotton-like fungus in mouth.
Is the fish eating? No
Has the problem occurred before?: No
Have you treated the problem and how? Daily Water Changes and light dose of Myxazin
Have you had any other problems in the past? Ick when the tank was setup
What were they? Ick when the tank was setup
Did you treat for these problems? Yes
How? Cant recall

Your aquarium & Maintenance
How big is the tank. (L x b x h)? 1220x450x450
How many litres of water? 250lt (Incl Sump, Excl Sand and Rock)
What type of filter do you run? Sump, 30lt
What is IN the filter? 2 layers Filter Pad -> Wet/Dry Bio Balls -> Plastic Scouring Balls
How many litres per hour is the filter rated for? 700ltph (pump is old, may have decreased)
How often do you clean your tank? Once a Month
How do you clean your tank? Clean Glass, Clean Substrate with vacuum.
How much water do you take out for Water change? 50%
Do you prepare your water for water changes? How and what do you add? Declorinator only
What water do you use. (Tap, bore hole, RO)? Tap Water
What substrate do you have? Pool Sand
What else is in the tank (Rocks, plants, fake plants, shells, anything else)? Fake Plants, Rocks, Clay pots

Water parameters in your aquarium
Describe the water (smell and colour)? Smelly, Clear but a bit cloudy
Temperature of the water? 26 degrees
General hardness (GH)? Will update tonight
Carbonate hardness (KH)? Will update tonight
Ammonia:Will update tonight
Nitrite (No2-)? 0ppm
Nitrate (No3-)? Will update tonight
pH? Will update tonight
How did you test these? Have you checked the expiry date on the test kits? Will update tonight

Lights
What light do you have? 1x T8 3FT
How long is the light on for? 4 years, just replaced fitting 6 months ago.
Do you have lots of plants in the tank (real or fake)? Fake, maybe 6.
How do you fertilize the plants? No

 

Thanks for the response. I started using the Myxazin as it noted something similar on the bottle: "Myxazin P is a broad spectrum bactericide effective against most bacterial infections including :- Fin Rot, Body Rot, Ulcers, Sores, Pop eye, Cloudy eye, Mouth Fungus." note the last part.

On day one I dosed per the bottle after water change on Wednesday. There after only water changes daily as the Texas seemed in a better condition for a day or two afterwards. From Saturday my Texas' health deteriorated and half dosing commenced again, half as I don't want to kill die bacteria in my sump further.

Would you recommend I rather dose with a fungal specific med?

 

Water parameters in your aquarium
Describe the water (smell and colour)? Smelly, Clear but a bit cloudy
Temperature of the water? 26 degrees
General hardness (GH)? 16^2d
Carbonate hardness (KH)? 6^2d
Ammonia: 0.5ppm
Nitrite (No2-)? 0mg/l
Nitrate (No3-)? 50mg/l
pH? 7.2
How did you test these? Have you checked the expiry date on the test kits? Tetra 6 in 1 for everything except ammonia with is a Red Sea Test kit. None are expired

 

Thanks Reedfish! I will carry on with water changes, I posted the current conditions above. I see there is ammonia present, worries me.

The only fungal medication the pet shot had is
Aquadene No 4 - gill, fungus and parasite special. It looks a bit cheap...

 

I had a look at the colour of the medication if that helps at all, it seems to have a purple colour and stained my finger brown. Is it safe to assume its Potassium permanganate based?

I am considering cleaning out my sump after work just to make sure there is no "organic matter" that is causing the ammonia. Come to think of it, I should have done this on Day 1 :worried: I will definitely need to step up my maintenance regime going forward, I am aware that a lack of maintenance is the root cause for almost all problems in our hobby.

I have been wondering if it would be beneficial to do a salt bath to remove his slime coating? I read that it may help in the absorption of medications. But actually not sure he is strong enough to handle that at this stage.

 

I managed to snap a photo tonight... This don't seem to have improved over the last few days. I am concerned that the infection is too far and I may need to consider helping him out of his misery, any thoughts?

 

In the photo taken last night you can see that his scales just started lifting and from last night to this morning is more so. The infection did spread internally

I need to get antibiotics! Can I have some recommendations that I may find locally?

 

@Reedfish You cant recall the forum by any chance? I unfortunately do not have enough Myxazin to do a double dose anyway, plus the LFS doesn't stock it.

After some more research I believe the illness this guy has is what's called columnaris disease (cotton mouth) that is caused by infection of gram-negative bacteria and may not be a fungal infection?

I am considering starting treatment in a smaller hospital tank of Terramycin (said to aid in bloat plus kill gram-negative bacteria, two birds one stone) according to these instructions found on another forum;

 

Thanks Reedfish,

I have just gone home and started treatment with Terramycin (purchased from a local pharmacy) in a separate container without any filtration, just a heater and a pump for circulation. I will replace the pump with a air stone after work to reduce the flow since the fish is rather weak. I will need to keep the water within parameter by doing water changes every few hours till Sunday :coffee:

Holding thumbs this works!

 

I unfortunately lost my fish yesterday after being on the treatment for almost 24 hours. The bloating did not subside during the treatment, but his mouth cleared completely and his gills was full of colour at death. I think if I tried this treatment before the bloating started things may not have ended the way it did.

I guess its time to start fresh!

PS Thanks Reedfish for the assistance, really appreciate it!