Fungus on my Bala Shark

[pcon]

Hey Everyone,

My bala shark had a recent outbreak of popeye and body fungus. So I went to the store and bought some Maracyn to treat the tank.

Well today is day 5 of the treatment, and his popeye went away almost instantanious...But the fungus is still there. IN FACT it kind of looks like the fungus has eaten through his skin, made a dip into his back. He isn't showing like bone, or anything creepy like that, but I've never seen this on a fish like this?

I was thinking of doing another cycle of Maracyn, along with Maroxy to help him out. Is this a good idea? Any sugguestions?

Also, since I have taken out the carbon/ammonia rocks from my tank to medicate the tank, the ammonia level has risen. I but some ammonia-rid chemicals in there, and will check it today. Is that pretty common for the ammonia levels to rise while giving medicine?

Let me know. Thanks

-Philippe

 

[cindywindy]

Philippe,

Yes. The Maracyn antibiotic that you have administered is an agent of erythromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. What this means, is that it will eliminate the "good" bacteria as well as the "bad", which will include the nitrifying bacteria in your filter, causing a mini-cycle. When using these types of medications, it is generally adviseable to treat the fish in a hospital tank whenever possible, to preserve the colonization of the main tank. Not to worry, your bacteria should start to reproduce again and build up to healthy levels.

However, during this time, keep in mind that your fish is immunosupressed, which is how it contracted the fungal infection to begin with. The antibiotic that you have used, Maracyn, is used mainly on columnaris infections and I'm not convinced that's what your fish is suffering from, and any further stress placed on its immune system from repeated courses of inappropriate treatment in addition to ammonia exposure, could make it worse.

At this point, I would stop the use of Maracyn and not begin a fresh course of it. Because the Pop-eye has responded to Maracyn and the fungus hasn't, tells me that this fungus was not bacterial in nature. True fungal infections are very responsive to salt therapy, so as long as all other fish in the tank are salt-tolerant, I would recommend removing 50% of the water, adding 1 TBSP/gallon of dissolved salt to the replacement water, and adding it slowly over the next 24 hours to allow the fish to adjust to the new osmotic gradient. Salt will not damage your biological colonization, and can work wonders on fungal infections without the use of medications.