blue grommie

Question
one of my grommies  on the lower part of the fish has a grouth  behind the gills. it was white with alittle red. now looks  sorta golden and growing. i,ve been doctern the tank with melafix. can you help.thanks steve.

Answer
Steve,  I am so sorry that we haven't gotten to your question. The first thing I would do is make sure you are doing your regular water changes. Definitely check the ammonia and nitrite levels in your tank. It sounds like it has turned fungal. I would do a water change remove the carbon from your filter and treat with erythromycin immediately. Treat for a week to ten days depending on the progress of the healing. This will not harm any other fish in your tank and follow the directions on dosage depending on size of your tank. Melafix is a broad spectrum antibiotic and not strong enough for this and more for a bacterial infection. This should take care of your problem. Now if you are noticing him gasping or anything that may look like worms instead of cotton I would go and get coppersafe.....you may have flukes and this can spread to his tank mates. If you have invertebrates in your tank you will want and antiparasitic without COPPER. Now with the copper safe you do not have to remove your carbon at all. After treatment a 50% water change and you should be fine. The flukes will suffocate him hard to recognize get a magnifying glass if you have to. If he is that infested you should see them. Let me know what happens....Good Luck, Tina