Tuesday, February 2, 2010

How can you tell if a fungus has retreated or diminished?

I had an Angelfish with a white fuzz on its back fin (assuming fungus) when I arrived at my house. Turned up the temperature a little bit, came back to the tank and the fungus was off the fin. What's going to happen now? Will the fungus remain in the tank or die off?How can you tell if a fungus has retreated or diminished?
First I would test your tank water. Make sure ammonia %26amp; nitrites are 0 and nitrates are 20 ppm or less. If not, this is the #1 reason fish get sick. Make sure your tank is not overstocked. Angels prefer tall tanks and stress from overcrowding or not the proper tank can also bring on illness.





I would highly doubt the fungus simply 'fell off'. Keep an eye on the angel and watch what happens. Is he as active as usual, does he still eat, are his eyes clear? Watch that patch of scales where the fuzz was.





You also don't want to confuse fungus with columnaris, a disease that can strike angels and most assume it's fungus because it looks similar but anti-fungals have no effect on the disease since it's bacterial in nature and will kill quickly when left untreated. I bring this up because columnaris usually presents first on the back.





If the fish shows anymore signs of distress or illness, quarantine him in a temp tank and treat asap. The best treatments can be found at www.goldfishinfo.com. Even though the site is devoted to goldfish the treatments are good breed wide.





Good luck : )

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