"Mel" wrote:

The fish aren't flashing at all, but are breathing very heavily and a lot
are at the surface. They have patches of fungus,mouthrot, and big white
areas on the body, and chunks out of their fins. Some of their scales are
falling away. We have been treating for columnaris (with Interpet anti
fungus and finrot - it claims to treat columnaris/flex on the bottle - we're
in the UK) since yesterday but today even more fish are affected so this
doesn't appear to be working.
It's all happeneed in 2 days and is moving very fast indeed. The way things
are going it seems we're going to lose the whole tank unless
someone here can suggest anything please?

If this were happening in my tank, after the initial panic I'd do all
of the following:

- Raise the temperature to about 85 degrees F.
- Increase water changes to 50% daily (2 x 25%).
- Add a bubbler to get extra oxygen to the fish.
- Maybe add salt (unless you have lots of live plants, scaleless fish,
cordydoras, or tetras, none of which like salt). No more than 1/2
tablespoon per gallon.

I'm no expert in fish diseases and haven't had the bad fortune of
having to deal with any severe ones. The above are just 'general
wisdom' I've picked up from hanging out here, and should be of some
help until the real experts chime in with specific medicine
recommendations and so on.


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