Body fungus or bacteria?

[Orchid]

This past month I haven't had the time to do all the regular water changes on my discus tank as I normally do, I did maybe a quarter of them. Well, one of my chocolate gouramis got this infection above its eye. I almost thought it was a fungus, but there are some literatures that say what looks like a fungus is actually a bacteria. I treated it with penicillan and Melafix but it just got worse and the fish died. I figured this was the end of that and have stepped up my water changes, but now one of my discus has a weird thing on its side. At first I thought it was a little peice of poly floss stuck to a scale, but after thinking about it I noticed a small injury to that same scale a day earlier. I've dosed the tank with tetracycline for a mouth fungus on my rainbow, but the small spot on the side of the discus is only getting bigger, now it is a white patch.

Now I know to always, always keep up on my water changes in this tank, but what med should I use to get rid of this pathogen? Any ideas and help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Randall]

Discus Woes

Dear Chris,

If there is an ornamental fish on the planet that absolutely must have the benefit of good water quality, it is the Discus...but we already know that.

I don't keep Discus but know that they respond well to frequent partial water changes. Jack Wattley tells me that often treating Discus bacterial infections with antibiotics is of little value. He recommends bringing the pH down over a period of time (below 6.0), to interrupt bacterial life cycles, and stepping up the water change regime.

The white patch that you describe sounds to be bacterial, especially since there was a mechanical injury preceding it. Some Discus hobbyists recommend treating bacterial infections with Nitrofurizone, but I've never known it to work. Should you opt to medicate, Oxylic Acid or Neomycin Sulfate might be preferable to Tetracycline. The later is light sensitive, while the former are not.

Whatever you decide to do, please bring the pH down and perform partial water changes, daily if necessary. I don't know if adding aquarium salt would be of value here, but perhaps others here in the Forum might.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn