fungus? Please Help (pic. attached)
A few weeks ago one of my ballon mollies had some tearing on the fin. I thought it was a result of aggression. A few days later a couple of other fins showed the same signs and there was a gray film developing on the body. The fish started hiding and being the total opposite of its gregarious self; at one point I saw it hiding vertically in one of the plastic plants. The second molly also developed some 'cloudy' material on its fin, no tearing. I talked to someone at the LFS (my pre-AC days) and they suggested that it was fin rot (or some bacterial infection) and told me to treat both the fish in a QT. They also told me that fin rot or other bacterial infections are not contagious. Since I did not have a QT at that time and I did not want to treat the enire 29G tank, I gave both those fish to the LFS so that they could be treated and have a chance to live longer lives.
Today (3-4 weeks later) I noticed a little nip on one of the clown loach and on the other a very small whitsh grey coloring on one of its black bands. The clown with the fin nip is not being its usual self as well. It tends to remain by the driftwood and not fooling around with its playmate.
My other dilemma is that I was planning on transferring all the fish from my 29G to the new 75G planted with eco-complete substrate. Now I am confused and seek your help.
What should I do, is there cause to be concerned? Should I start a treatment regime? what medication? (I would much rather treat the fish in the 29G then having to worry about treating the entire 75G later down the road) and, is fin rot, or for that matter any other bacterial infection contagious from fish to fish?
Please help!
P.S. Water parmaters are stable, good buffer, pH around 7.1, 0 ammonia and nitrites, nitrates <20ppm, temp at 78-79F, I gravel vac and do a 20-25% water change every week.
A few weeks ago one of my ballon mollies had some tearing on the fin. I thought it was a result of aggression. A few days later a couple of other fins showed the same signs and there was a gray film developing on the body. The fish started hiding and being the total opposite of its gregarious self; at one point I saw it hiding vertically in one of the plastic plants. The second molly also developed some 'cloudy' material on its fin, no tearing. I talked to someone at the LFS (my pre-AC days) and they suggested that it was fin rot (or some bacterial infection) and told me to treat both the fish in a QT. They also told me that fin rot or other bacterial infections are not contagious. Since I did not have a QT at that time and I did not want to treat the enire 29G tank, I gave both those fish to the LFS so that they could be treated and have a chance to live longer lives.
Today (3-4 weeks later) I noticed a little nip on one of the clown loach and on the other a very small whitsh grey coloring on one of its black bands. The clown with the fin nip is not being its usual self as well. It tends to remain by the driftwood and not fooling around with its playmate.
My other dilemma is that I was planning on transferring all the fish from my 29G to the new 75G planted with eco-complete substrate. Now I am confused and seek your help.
What should I do, is there cause to be concerned? Should I start a treatment regime? what medication? (I would much rather treat the fish in the 29G then having to worry about treating the entire 75G later down the road) and, is fin rot, or for that matter any other bacterial infection contagious from fish to fish?
Please help!
P.S. Water parmaters are stable, good buffer, pH around 7.1, 0 ammonia and nitrites, nitrates <20ppm, temp at 78-79F, I gravel vac and do a 20-25% water change every week.
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