Fish fungus??

Question
Hi,

Me and my girlfriend got a new 37 gallon fishtank about a month and a half ago with a variety of different fish.

about 2 weeks ago we noticed a strange white cotton-like substance that was on one of our angelfish's fins and later on his body as well. Being a little inexperienced we decided to let it be and see if it would get better. Unfortunately the angelfish died about four days ago.

I decided to research this to find out what it could be. I thought it might be fish fungus.

Tonight while looking at the fish I noticed little white filaments on the dorsal fin of our other angelfish and on the pectoral fin of our kissing gourami.

Both fish have decreased appetite and the gourami has started lying down.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Martin

p.s Could you also tell me how it could have gotten there? and how we could prevent this from happening?

Answer
Martin,

 Sorry to hear you are having problems with your fish. Lets see if I can help you. But first, some questions of my own. Was your tank fully cycled before you placed the fish in it? Did you quarantine each fish before adding it to the tank? What temp is the heater set at? How often do you do water changes? What are your water perimeters? Do you check test your water?

The Gourami that is laying down most likely has swim bladder disease. This often happens due to over feeding or unhealthy water conditions. Fast him for 2 days. Get a frozen pea and thaw it out in warm water. Then remove the out cover of the pea and toss it. Cut the inside in small pieces and feed it to him on the third day. You can add 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt to one gallon of water. Putting salt in the tank helps prevent some problems.

COTTON WOOL DISEASE / FUNGUS

Cotton wool disease is a general term used for external fungal infections, which are characterized by fluffy, whitish, cotton wool like growths. (A bacterial infection commonly called mouth fungus is also known as cotton wool disease.) Untreated fungal infections attract dirt and algae growths that change the growth to a gray or reddish brown colour in the later stages of the disease. If the fungus is not treated the growth will spread and ultimately be the cause of death. As fungus is highly infectious the disease spreads rapidly from one fish to the other.

The fungal spores that cause cotton wool disease are found in most aquariums and the fungus can be seen feeding on organic matter in the aquarium such as left over food and fish carcasses.

The best way to avoid the prevalence of cotton wool disease is to minimize stress and remove other predisposing factors such as poor aquarium hygiene, chilling, injury and other diseases.

Cotton wool disease is treated either by a salt bath immersion (if salt tolerant), topical application of gentian violet or by the appropriate fungicidal medication.  

These diseases are highly infectious and by the time that the symptoms appear, other fish are also affected. The affected fish are normally treated in a hospital tank due to the fact that most medications destroy the nitrifying bacteria in the filtration systems. The problem with this is that the fish tend to be placed under extreme conditions of stress and they are most often too weak to overcome the additional netting wounds and stress. It is therefore important that the main tank is treated, the nitrifying bacteria remain unaffected and that the affected fish be treated correctly.

http://www.bio-elite.com/fishkillers_faq.htm