Treating fungus on platy with salt

[LauraFrog]

Hi guys... just a quick question.

I have a platy with a torn tail and a patch of fungus on it. None of the other fish in the main tank have anything like this. I only bought her a few days ago so I guess it had no time to spread.

I have her in a 5 gal hospital tank (it's actually a 6 gal but I only put 5 gals of water in it) with around 1 teaspoon or 5 grams of salt per gallon. It has stopped it from getting any worse but it isn't going away.

How much salt can a full-grown, otherwise healthy (eating, active, swimming fine) platy tolerate in the water? I've heard of people keeping them with mollies in a brackish setup and I heard a lot more salt can be added than I have put in.

The only medications I have are whitespot remedy and multi-cure. She doesn't have ich (dots too big, confined to tail and are fuzzy) and the last time I used multi-cure the fish died because the instructions were so vague that I think I might have overdosed the fish. It was sicker than this one.

I can get melafix, but nothing else. I live in a small australian country town and I might not be able to get into town for at least 3 or 4 days. I'm not allowed to mail-order anything. (internet-banking-phobic parents.) I didn't want to leave her that long. I'd rather stick with the salt (since it seems to be working) than mess around with cheap and rather dodgy medication. How much more salt should I add? Should I leave her in the salt solution until her tail is healed or just until all signs of the fungusy stuff are gone? Do I need to slowly reduce the amount of salt like I slowly increased it or can I dump her straight back in the freshwater tank?

[Blackbeard]

I'm sorry I can't help with LOADS of advice, but what I can tell you is this...

When your platy is better and ready to go back in the tank, do progressive water changes before putting her back in the tank. Slowly dillute the salt water she is in already with clean, healthy water from the tank. You might have to treat your tank with a fungicide. (depending on what you're dealing with).

It also might help to determine what type of fungus it is, as some are more lethal than others and different fungi are treated differently. Salt-baths are a recommended short-term treatment, but more stuff is needed. (depending on the type of fungus). Also, most fungi are highly contagious. Watch the other ones, and make sure they don't get sick.


I'm wishing you tons of luck and good wishes, LauraFrog!
-Megan

[LauraFrog]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I could possibly try to get a photo of it... whatever it is it's not ich. I don't think it's finrot because I doubt that finrot would have responded to so little salt so quickly. Most of the white spots are gone now, but the biggest tear still has white, raggy edges with furry fungus on them.

[Kribensis12]

Salt will help with your platy, but you need to pick up Melafix, or Something like Fungus Tab's from Jungle lab's. IM sure they have stuff from jungle lab's where you live as they are EVERYWHERE. Even the really tiny stores! Also, salt only Help's your fish recreate a slim coat and keep stress down, which help's cure it. But the only thing i can think of that salt does for disease wise is using a salt bath for Bloat and Fin+Tail rot, maybe fungus.

[emc7]

Do I need to slowly reduce the amount of salt like I slowly increased it or can I dump her straight back in the freshwater tank?

Yes, if you dump her back in, she will most likely die. 10% water changes with fresh water, once she shows no signs of fungus. What are the ingredients of multi-cure? Maybe we can help you with dosing. Methylene blue and bromthiol green are anti-fungals found in other meds also. For the internet credit phobia, introduce them to "safe" or "virtual" one-time use credit card numbers. Most of the major credit companies will give you one free from their web-site.