# Body Fungus



## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Ok, I had a whole tank of lake fish die from body fungus, save a few that never got it. I treated them with melafix, but it was too late. I have since restocked the tank, and have reloaded the tank with melafix and aquarium salt. How soon after the fish have been in the tank can I do a water change? Is the fungus dead as soon as the melafix has been in the tank the required 5-7 days? I'd like to start changing the water again to adjust the parameters, but don't want to reintroduce this fungus to my new fish.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

If I experience a massive die off in my tank, I would sanitize the tank and equipment before adding any other fish in there. You will have to cycle the tank all over again, but you will experience some type of cycle any way if your nitrifiers do not have a food source for 5-7 days. The life cycle for parasites, bacteria, and fungi is dependent on temperature so if your tank temp is kept low for your native fish, their life cycle may extend beyond 5-7 days and the pathogen might still be present in the tank. That being said, all aquarium systems have opportunistic bacteria and parasites. The fish's immune system usually fights them off without a problem if you keep them healthy and stress free. Problems arise when you introduce a new fish that is infected or something stresses the fish and brings down their immune system.

There's nothing harmful about doing a water change. So if you test your water and there is a high level of ammonia/nitrite or the fish seem stressed, do a water change. Even if it slows down the cycle, I feel that cycling time is secondary to fish health.

Finally, I don't know if MelaFix kills bacteria or not (never used it), but salt at low levels will do nothing to kill bacteria except to make them more resistant to it.


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Thanks Don, I have a very low tank temp, below 60 degrees, my nitrites and ammonia are at 0, so I don't know exactly what that means, in terms of bacteria or fungus. I am going to plan on doing a water change then and see if it helps. Should I leave out salt for now then? I was under the impression that salt would help cure wounds, thus making the fish less susceptible to getting infected with a bacteria or fungus. Thanks again for your help.


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Don, also, I didnt' recycle my tank because I live in North Dakota, and can only feasably catch these fish to put in my tank and transport them safely during the summer months, after that I'm back in school, then the water freezes up, so I'm going to give it a shot with doing water changes, hopefully it'll work itself out of the tank.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

scrapedogg said:


> Should I leave out salt for now then? I was under the impression that salt would help cure wounds, thus making the fish less susceptible to getting infected with a bacteria or fungus.


 If your fish are currently healthy, then there is no need to add salt to the tank. Clean water alone will make your fish less susceptible to bacterial/fungal infection.


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Well, they're starting to get it again. It's starting on all of the bass's chins, a white fungus ball. I just did another 20% water change, will doing more frequent water changes, say 2 25% changes a week help get rid of the fungus? I checked all of the water parameters. Ammonia, and Nitrites are at 0, and the PH is at 7. Clue me in on what to do. I'll do whatever it takes, my panfish aren't getting the fungus, and so if I'm supposed to recycle the tank, it's gonna be tough to find a place to put all of these sunnies, they're pretty big. Gimme some help!


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

any ideas at all??


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