The Dreaded Aurnati Fungus

[bottles]

I've heard many similar reports of Aurantis having fungus.
When I got my 5 I preemptively treated the tank with Pimafix and Melafix. After 2 weeks I stopped treating. They were all fine, but after I stopped the treatment it started up a couple of days later. Now all but one are showing signs. Some have flesh eaten away around the tail and body, while others have fuzzy patches on their heads and bodies.
I really don't know what to do. I have gone back to the Pimafix and Melafix combo, but I'm hoping someone might have some better ideas.
After my pair formed, I moved the others and was waiting for my friend to pick them up. Now I've moved them all back together so that I only have to treat one tank.
Please help.
Thanks

 

[Mount_Prion]

IMO pima/melafix are basically placebos. I don't think they do that much other than make you feel like you're doing something. At least I've never had more positive results from using them than I have with just salt and heat, which I do not think are the solutions to fungus. I'm sorry this isn't very positively helpful, but I wouldn't rely on those "medicines" as they're basically herbal cures.

 

[bottles]

IMO pima/melafix are basically placebos. I don't think they do that much other than make you feel like you're doing something. At least I've never had more positive results from using them than I have with just salt and heat, which I do not think are the solutions to fungus. I'm sorry this isn't very positively helpful, but I wouldn't rely on those "medicines" as they're basically herbal cures.

Ya, they seemed to hold off the fungus for a period, but certainly didn't kill off the fungus.
Thanks for the response.

 

[-DC-]

I disagree, I have had good success with Pimafix and Melifax combo, In fact it is the only thing that has been successfully for me against this auranti "eroding disease" , Channa are sensitive to medications salt and in this case High heat, The "herbal remedy" is one of the few i could safely use , and ever since it's the only thing i use any time something pops up and always with great success.

To treat mine I used dosage as per the bottle , both at the same time, I did 15%-20% water changes every day before administer the dosage, At first it just seemed to stall the infection , but after a few day's it died back, I continued treatment for a week after the last spots were gone.

Any other medications i have tried seemed to do more harm then good and the channa died within a day and had absolutely no effect on the fungus it spread just as rapidly. Also i hate to say this, but I've never seen it successfully treated after the initial spots begin to spread. It seems once it starts to spread it's unstoppable.

Sorry to hear your having issue, Good luck with them Hopefully they will pull though.

 

[bottles]

Thanks, DC. I'll continue the treatment since there aren't really any other options. Should I raise the temp? I'm still around 70F.

 

[Aquanero]

If you post your water perameters I might be able to help. I often see medacations used incorrectly ie wrong water chemestry and combinations of meds used that cause more harm than good. Some meds need to be buffered for certain fish species or are completly ineffective in the wrong Ph and or hardness. Can you post ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, Ph and hardness?

 

[bottles]

If you post your water perameters I might be able to help. I often see medacations used incorrectly ie wrong water chemestry and combinations of meds used that cause more harm than good. Some meds need to be buffered for certain fish species or are completly ineffective in the wrong Ph and or hardness. Can you post ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, Ph and hardness?

Thanks, Aquanero; any help is appreciated.
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate > 20, PH 6.7, KH 3, and I don't have a GH test kit, but it's probably fairly low. These fish like softer water and everything seems on point. I took these measurements after I stopped the treatment, about 3-4 days ago.

Edit: Just thought I'd add that I checked all of these test kits and none are expired.

 

[petspoiler]

bottles, Just tossing this 'shot in the dark' out: I killed & stopped fuzzy fungus patches which had begun spreading on the side of a carpintis/texas's body by netting & laying it flat out, and pressing hydrogen peroxide directly on the fuzz with Qtip swabs.

the fish's slime coat around there kind of sloughed off, but the tissue didn't seem harmed or raw.
as soon as that ended, tissue renewed to health fast. (before med pkg arrived)
I have no idea whether something like this is a good or bad idea for snakehead fungus, as that sounds bad.
hopefully Tom knows.

Good luck.

 

[-DC-]

Temperature wise i did keep mine warmer during treatment, like any fish warmer temps helps with recovery but keeping in mind that they are not tropical so only go to the warmer end of the sub topical range.

I kept them around 74f until after treatment then once they were going strong i turned the heater down to 70, then removed it all together.

 

[-DC-]

bottles, Just tossing this 'shot in the dark' out: I killed & stopped fuzzy fungus patches which had begun spreading on the side of a carpintis/texas's body by netting & laying it flat out, and pressing hydrogen peroxide directly on the fuzz with Qtip swabs.

the fish's slime coat around there kind of sloughed off, but the tissue didn't seem harmed or raw.
as soon as that ended, tissue renewed to health fast. (before med pkg arrived)
I have no idea whether something like this is a good or bad idea for snakehead fungus, as that sounds bad.
hopefully Tom knows.

Good luck.

I've done these sort's of Manual cleanings before on other species of fish, Snakeheads however do VERY poorly with handling/moving when sick, I find the best thing to do is not bother them at all. Also unlike other fungal/bacterial infections i've seen that remain fairly central to the original source, so you can clean out and swap that one spot to physicaly kill the infection. However with this infection on auranti starts to pop up all over the body, so spot treating one part doesn't do much good because it'll crop up elsewhere.

I no longer even separate them into QT tanks because any time I've handled a Channa when it's sick or injured it they seem to just shut down and die shortly after, while the ones left in tank and undisturbed always do much better , unless it's a matter of one very sick fir and 2 who still have a chance in which case i do but i do so assuming the one i move has very slim chances of survival and my main concern is the ones who still have a chance.

it is odd because i've seen healthy Channa spend a night out of the tank and still squirm across the floor ike a snake and even bite at me out of water , they get put away and are absolutely fine after . They are tough as nails when healthy but if ill any stress seems to do them in quickly.