Fungus or not?

[emily]

I just bought my little sammy a friend. When i got my new guy home i noticed he had a gill stalk thing bitten off (from other axies in the tank at the petshop-i guess) plus some red marks on his elbow and a red mark on his toe of one foot. Anyway, i gave the poor little guy a salt bath in 1L of water with 2 teaspoons of salt. The next day i noticed a little white thing on the end of the gill stalk that had been bitten off and so i gave him another salt bath with the same concentration of salt. I got the tweezers out and plucked the little white thing off. Now, tonight I came home and his stalk had once again grown a white bit. I wasnt sure if it was fungus cos its only affecting that stalk and it didnt really come off when i tried the tweezers cos i was too scared to accidently pluck his gills underneath, which you couldnt see. I got a cotton bud and wiped the area until it looked like it had mostly gone (meanwhile he was in the salt bath). My question is, am i doing this right or should i have him in the fridge? He is isolated from my other axie. I only have time to do 2 salt baths a day if i need to increase them. I have attached a photo of his white stalk. If its not fungus please let me know so i can stop stressing myself and the axie out. He is only about 10 cm long. The water parameters are fine (the temp is 22 a little high, but its constant)

 

[alex]

might just be regrowth of the gill but im not to sure. i say you wait and if it gets worse then give salt baths.

 

[sharn]

the regrowth does look whitish but you can definatly tell it from fungus, is the fungus fluffy?

 

[emily]

I'm not sure if its fluffy or not. If i touch it with tweezers the whole gill stalk moves and it doesnt come off very easily. When i wipe it with a cotton bud it seems to come off. If i leave it will i know if it is or not? I'm guessing it will get worse so i'll be able to tell or not in a few days if it is fungus. Would more of him be covered in fungus if it was fungus, it seems only the part where he has been bitten has the white part on him. From what i can tell (cos he's new) he is acting normal, like my other axie, he is eating what i give him and moving around on the bottom. I had a look this morning and the white was back again. If it's re-growth, how can i tell? and how long will it take to grow back? I'm guessing the little guy is a few months old, being approx 10cm in length.

(Message edited by Emily_S on March 27, 2006)

 

[sharn]

if its re-growth it will look like the end of a gill only paler. id say if you can remove it its fungus and keep up with those salt baths, does it look white free after you wipe it (not sure how safe that is) or after salt baths?

 

[emily]

well today i got home and his gill stump was red around the bottom and white on the top. I actually think his gill stump may be shrinking if that is possible. It basically looked worse today (I havn't given him a salt bath for a couple of days now). So I gave him a salt bath and picked the white stuff off again. This time he had a fluffy bit hanging off the gill on the other side of his head. I'm thinking about putting him in the fridge and giving him salt baths. would this help? If i put him in the fridge, would his stump grow back quicker? Can i leave him in the fridge until it grows back mostly? Is it bad to give them salt baths if they dont have fungus? My sister is coming over 2mrw night so i'll be able to get her opinion (she's the expert). Also how young is too young to put them in the fridge?

Cheers

 

[sharn]

i put a 6cm baby in the fridge over night once as i didnt think about him when it was 27C outside woops! im not sure how long youngins can stay in though and i was up every 2 hours to check on my boy. how big is yours?

fungus is pretty common so i think it would be, especially if you can pick it off, cant pick off gill stalks easily! putting him in the fridge will certanly help him, keep him nice and cool (depending on size). the general rule for keeping axies in the fridge is around 1 month. giving em salt baths wont hurt them at all if its the right concentration, just stress them a bit.

(Message edited by sharn on March 29, 2006)

 

[emily]

My little guy is about 10cm. i have started giving him 2 salt baths a day now. Hopefully it will help him. I think he may have only developed the fungus due to the stress of being rough handled at the pet shop and also the travel home. If he hasn't improved tonight when i get home, then i'll put him in the fridge (much to mum's dislike

).
Thanks for all your help
Emily

 

[emily]

My sister thinks it is gill tissue that is the white stuff that is coming off. We are taking him to a trusted aquarium shop that knows a fair bit about fish. My sister said it may be a bacterial infection. Is there anything that is suggested for this? His gill stump has completely gone now and its just a red spot where it looks like it is bleeding. I'll let u know what the aquarium shop says.

cheers

 

[emily]

we took him in, they said he had a gill bacteria that was eating his gills. If we had left it any longer he would be much worse. He has already almost lost one whole side of gills. Poor little guy. we were given aquari-cycline tablets. The active ingredient in tetracycline hydrochloride. This is meant to kill all the bacteria after 3 days, then we have to put him in the fridge for a while so he can regenerate his gills back. They said it is caused by bad water condition that were at the petstore where i got him. Thanks everybody for all your help, I hope my little guy will make it through this ordeal.

Emily