Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] Body fungus

Jill,

As the Maracyn (Erythromycin) -- a mainly gram-positive antibiotic --
appears to be doing nothing to combat what you've diagnosed as Fungus
(Saprolegnia), you may well have misdiagnosed your Angelfish's malady. Fungus often
appears as a secondary infection in open wounds, but if there was no actual
bodily damage having been done to this fish it's quite likely that what this
fish has is Columnaris (Flexibacteria, also known as Flavobacteria). While
this looks very much like Fungus, except for not having the cottony-like
appearance of the Saprolegnia, it's a gram-negative bacterium which needs to be
treated with a mainly gram-negative bacticide such as Maracyn-Two (note; not
Maracyn-Plus), also by Mardell.

I would have first recommended using Furan-2 (by A.P.I.), another mainly
gram-negative broad-spectrum antibiotic, but this also contains some Methylene
Blue wich can stain the silicone sealant. If you have a hospital tank
available, you could then treat this fish with isolating it to this smaller tank
and using this medication, which I find extremely effective in treating
Columnaris. Fungus Clear (by Jungle Labs) is essentially the same thing, but
lacks the Methylene Blue, being replaced by another ingredient. These two
mainly gram-negative antibiotics are very effective also, in treating against
true Fungus, even moreso than Maracyn.

If you still feel that your fish has true Fungus (Saprolegnia), I'd
recommend discontinuing the Maracyn in favor of Furan-2 or Fungus Clear as they're
more effective than Maracyn in treating Fungus. You'd need to do a large
PWC before using a different medication, of add (temporarily) carbon to your
filter to remove the Maracyn; then remove the carbon before adding the new
med.

Ray </HTML>