Mold, HELP!!

[kagome]

I noticed that I suddenly have mold growing in my tank. I think I may have already lost a clown loach. I'm not sure if the mold is growing on a piece of uneaten food that got stuck between the net bag and the pagoda or if it is the body of the clown loach. I am going to pull out everything and do a water change and try and clean up as best I can. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'll update as soon as I can.

[Carl]

Dec 27, 2008 11:15:48 GMT -5 kagome said:

I noticed that I suddenly have mold growing in my tank. I think I may have already lost a clown loach. I'm not sure if the mold is growing on a piece of uneaten food that got stuck between the net bag and the pagoda or if it is the body of the clown loach. I am going to pull out everything and do a water change and try and clean up as best I can. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'll update as soon as I can.

The fact that you found this is good before it became a real problem (which it may not either)

Potassium Permanganate is excellent for treatment if there is wide spread mold outbreak.
Otherwise, the use of a Medicated Wonder Shell along with water changes and salt may be just find.

I would also recommend reading this article since saprolegnia is a form of mold:
Columnaris, Saprolegnia, Fungus, Mold

Carl

[kagome]

I took everything out of the tank and discovered the source of the mold. Apparently my smallest clown loach died and the mold was growing on his carcass. I think he must have died several days ago because all that was left of him was his skeleton which turned pretty much to dust when I sucked it up with the gravel vacuum. I cleaned all the decor and thoroughly vacuumed the gravel. I ended up taking out about 50% of the water and I added Prime as the water conditioner. I am wondering if the decomposing body of the fish accounts for the rapid spike in the ammonia. This particular clown loach had not been growing well. The other two had doubled in size since I bought them and this one had not put on nearly as much mass. I think he was doing poorly from the beginning. I had noticed a few days ago that I was only seeing two of the smaller loaches and I was suspicious but I thought that I was just being paranoid and that he was just being a but shy and hiding since I had introduced Spike the much bigger loach. I am totally kicking myself now for not following my instincts that something was wrong. If I had torn the tank apart earlier I could have found the body earlier and prevented the mold. I can't believe I did something that dumb. I'm still not sure what killed this loach and of course I probably never will be. The last time I saw him he seemed fine, just very small compared to everyone else. None of the remaining fish have any signs of fungal infection. I never saw any kind of aggression among the fish, actually the exact opposite, the loaches seem to genuinely love each other. I break up their pellets so that they are somewhat spread around in the tank so that everyone has a chance to eat in peace and get enough. The ammonia was high while cycling the tank and maybe this little guy just couldn't take it. After my husband has a chance to get some sleep (he works nights) then I will rerun the numbers on that tank and see where I stand.

[murdock6701]

sorry Kagome....good luck w/ your endeavors.....hope it's a simple fix

[goldenpuon]

That is exactly what happens with my tanks only mold grows on any piece of leftover food and with finicky bettas that sometimes spit out a bit of their meal, it can be a problem. That is why i stopped breeding bettas, mold/saprolegnia (whatever it is) growing in tanks I cleaned every day, even on one occasion where there was only 1 fry in there and I was vacumming every day. Now with my bettas, I just have to make sure that they eat everything and I due an almost complete water chnage for them whenever needed.

With the goldfish and guppies I rarely if not ever have that problem since they are pigs and would be old food any day. Anyway, I'm careful to not overfeed.

Also, sorry to hear of your loss Kagome. Hope the rest are doing well.

[Carl]

Since we spoke by phone in depth, there is not much more I can add (although let me state that I am sorry you lost this guy )

As for the Loach that died, this may simply have been a weak fish, which is NOT all that un-common with Loaches. The moderately ammonia earlier may have played some role, but even here knowing the care you gave during this time (with water changes/prime) I have my doubts that this was much of an issue.

I also have my doubts with the care you are giving presently that there will be a problem with the other fish.
Between water changes, Prime and adding some of the Kosher salt we spoke of on the phone and finally when the Medicated Wonder Shells arrive that this should end up not harming the other fish.

Please do not kick yourself over missing this guy, even if your instincts told you something was wrong, I cannot tell you how many time this has happened to me, which was especially hard since most of my clients were seen either weekly or bi-weekly.

Carl

[kagome]

Carl, thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it. I know that you also have a very busy life of your own and yet you took the time out to help me when I needed it. I am so grateful.

Thank you also for everyone's condolences about the lost loach. I am sad that this loach died, although he was puny he had very vibrant color and he ate very well so I thought he was just on the runty side but otherwise OK. The other two little clowns are doing very well and I can't believe how much they have grown. I'm keeping a very close eye on this tank right now. As of this morning all fish are accounted for and everyone has eaten. I love loaches but they can be touchy and delicate fish and I have to take the sours with the sweets.

I will be copying and pasting some of my posts from this thread to my tank blog and putting further updates about this situation there now that my initial questions about how to handle the mold have been answered.

Thanks again guys, ya'll are the best!!