black mould on bubble eye gold fish

Question
Our 'heavenly bubble eye' fantail has been sat on the bottom a lot for a few days. He came out to feed today and semms to have black mildew or mould along his the side of his body, but seems to be swimmimg quite happily - and not showing any signs of swim bladder. His fantail friend suffered a bout of internal bacterial problems a month or 2 ago (with symptoms of a large 'angry red swelling'on his belly) which we successfully cured using interpets no.9 treatment.
We give them a rotation of bloodworm/daphnia/flake food, a 105 waterchenge and flter clean (using tank water)every few weeks, followed by some aquarian salt.

Answer
Hi Roger,
Heres some info.

Name of disease:Fungus

Other names:: Cotton Wool Disease

Type of disease:Fungal (various species of aquatic fungi)

Occurrence:Very common, affects all types of freshwater fish.

Symptoms include:White, grey or brown cotton-wool like patches on fish's body and/or fins (can easily be confused with Columnaris disease). Goldfish eggs are also prone to fungus.

Caused by:

1. Damage to the slime coat on fish due to rough handling, wounds or other physical damage which allows free-floating fungal spores access to skin.

2. Secondary infection following attack by other diseases such as Ich, Finrot or Ulcers.

3. Sudden change of temperature, unhygenic tank conditions or poor water quality may increase likelihood of fish contracting fungus. Pond fish are more prone to fungal attack in spring following a sudden rise in temperature.

4. High quantities of decaying organic matter in the tank will increase number of fungal spores and make infection more likely.

Treatment:Remove affected fish to hospital tank if possible. Swabbing fungus patch with iodine may be sufficient to cure problem. If not, EITHER treat with fungicidal medication (e.g Jungle Fungus Eliminator in US, Anti-Fungus Remedy in UK) OR a .3% salt solution.

Precautions:Salt and medications affect the cycle so monitoring water quality during treatment is essential. If left untreated, fungus can spread very quickly and kill the fish.

Sorry its so much but I hope it helped,
                                Samantha


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From one of my favorite websites - http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Fungus.html