Body fungus on Guppies

louistheloach · 03-21-2009, 11:00 PM

A week ago I brought four guppies home and set them up in a quarantine tank.....good thing I did as several days later they were showing greyish white patches on their body and fins. I started a treatment of maracyn 2. Day one treatment I miscalculated and didnt add quite enough. For three of the four it seemed to do a good job since by day three, treatment 2 the others appeared to have cleared. The fourth one's patch had grown and now looked like he was wearing a saddle. The second treatment was calculated correctly and I put a couple ml extra in due to the low amount of the first treatment. By later that day the patch was starting to fall off.

Today was the third and final treatment. The patch has completely fallen off, but the area underneath is still somewhat whitish. Since this is my first body fungus, I am just not sure what I am looking at. Is the spot just a discoloration due to the attachment of the fungus on the scales and will it eventually return to it's normal color. Or does the whitish patch (there does not appear to be anything fuzzy on it) mean it is still not cleared up.

Thanks for the input.

ltl

Jay · 03-22-2009, 07:47 AM

Keep an eye on it Louis, it may be damage from the fungus which could easily develop a bacterial (secondary infection).

Jay

louistheloach · 03-22-2009, 10:20 AM

So then I should probably extend the quarantine which would have been up in a couple of days for ALL FOUR of the new tank mates.

Also, if something were to develop, would it show up within a week, or could it go longer.

ltl

Jay · 03-22-2009, 11:10 AM

I would go a little longer...Maracyn 2 is an antibotic.

louistheloach · 03-22-2009, 02:58 PM

okay, I'm a little confused. I was asking about the time length in which something (e.g. secondary infection) would turn up if it were going to and extending the length of the general quarantine given to new fish.

When you added that Maracyn 2 is an antibiotic, it almost seemed as if you were saying I should extend the treatment.

Can you clarify for me. I don't want to give unnecessary meds but I don't want to have them get an infection, and I don't want to expose the other little guppies to anything either.

Thank you Jay,

ltl

Jay · 03-22-2009, 03:36 PM

I would think an infection would be a fairly quick onset, but like

I said Maracyn 2 is an antibiotic so there may be no problem, only time to heal. If the antibiotic is still in the water I would give it at least two more days just to be sure.

I do not think you need to worry about infecting your other tank at this point.

Jay