# Treating an infected fish in same tank as other healthy fish



## ashtricks (Feb 15, 2012)

Hello all,

Looks like I stressed out my fish tank after so many changes. I have a red wagtail platy born in my 10 gal (lone survivor of his family) who has got cotton/fungal infection. He is about 2 years old. I added a snail an oto and 4 corys over a period of a week in place of 3 fan tail gold fish, and since yesterday he has been hiding a lot more. I saw him scratch his side on the edge of a decor piece. That's when I noticed some kind of fungal growth on his fins. 
I will try to get a good picture if he stays out when I go near the tank. I just ordered a water test kit and will update the parameters once I do the test. 
My question is, I have other healthy fish in the tank along with this sick guy. If I add Pimafix or Melafix to the water, will they be affected by that? 
The medicines sticky says


> Pimafix
> Ingredients: Pimenta racemosa
> Diseases: wounds, fungus, other stubborn diseases
> Comments: This tonic has been known to be quite effective when combined with Melafix. It is safe for use in reef tanks and scaleless fish.
> ...


What should be the deciding factor whether to treat with both Pimafix and Melafix?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
-Ashish


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## Goose (Feb 19, 2012)

From what im hearing sounds like you got ich, I would double check since im not really sure it's ok to do so with your kind of fish but treating ich generally calls for raising the temp to around 85 and more aggressive water changes. And just to add, if one fish shows signs of being sick, the water is already bad, moving your fish to another tank is not gonna help, the virus is already in the water. There are stages of ich, from my knowledge you cant kill it ( get rid of it) in the first stage, ( when it attaches it to the fish, gills especially) some fish show signs earlier then other. as i just learned, be carefull using salt.


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## ashtricks (Feb 15, 2012)

@Goose: Thanks for your reply. I am 90% sure it is not ich. The growth is not in spots, as I have seen in most images of fish infected with ich, but looks fluffy. 
-Ashish


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## Goose (Feb 19, 2012)

Just to let you know, my tank got ich recently, the first sign was that the bala shark was getting white "growth" on his nose, not spots. I'm not an experienced hobbyist but just went through a rough time with my tank. I researched and the answeres brought me right here. thanks to a member of this site, my fish are doing much better. Im sorry that i can't help much more then this, but i dont want to give you incorrect info. Goog luck Ashtricks, hope all goes well with your fish.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

white cotton growth on nose is not ich. Its either mouth rot or columnaris. The rubbing/flashing does however suggest their is either a external pathogen present or a water quality issue.


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## ashtricks (Feb 15, 2012)

Is there anything that will get rid of the pathogens? 

I did a 40% water change today. Something changed the water after I removed my 3 goldfish and I had a sudden spurt of brown algae in the tank. I am surprised even though the gold fish produced so much waste, my water was fine, and now its brown algae! I am going to do 40% water changes every other day for a week and hope everything settles down.
On the brighter side, my platy seems to be doing better today. The growths on his fin have gone down a bit, and he is not hiding as much. He still feels the urge to rub though.


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