Fungus in Tropical Fish

When dealing with tropical fish illness and disease, it's always a good idea to have a good guidebook at your side. We recommend this book as a handy desktop reference.

Fungus is actually a plant organism whose spores enter the aquarium from the air, so there is little way to prevent its access to the tank. What you can prevent, is the pre-existing conditions which allow fungus to attack weak and injured fish. By ensuring you have optimal conditions in your tank, and that the social balance of different fish is one where there will be no aggressive attackers to cause damage to others, you are halfway to keeping fungus at bay.

However, even the most careful hobbyist will experience it sooner or later, usually in the form of saprolegnia or achyla, which are the types of fungi that flourish on a fish whose health is already compromised.

Spores enter the fish's body through open wounds, scrapes and sores, and develop a thread-like structure that grows along underneath the skin. At some point, it will break through the skin and produce what appears to be a tuft of gray or whitish fluff on the fish's scales. The first signs of fungus may also develop around the edges of the wound or injury. When a fish does display external hyphae, it's essential to get them out of the aquarium and into a hospital tank, as mature spores will then be shed into the environment, to affect other fish.

There are a variety of medications and methods for treating fungus, including direct application to the fungus with a Q-tip, short baths in concentrated levels of the medication, or environmental treatment in the segregation tank. Most hobbyists will also use an antibiotic, since fungus is a secondary condition, and the primary cause may have been a bacterial eruption on the fish. Other favorite tricks are salt baths, using aquarium salt, as these are excellent at killing off fungus and act as an antiseptic for the wounds.

Recommended! A-Z of Tropical Fish Diseases and Health Problems: The aim of this book is to help aquarists recognize signs of illness so they can identify and resolve problems. Divided into three sections, the first focuses on health and husbandry, describing the signs of a healthy fish, anatomy and general care; the second provides signs of diseases and health problems and is cross-referenced to section three, which covers the treatment of diseases and health problems. Illustrated throughout with top-quality color photos, the book is an invaluable reference for novice to experienced fishkeepers. Click here for your copy.

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