Cotton wool fungus

[Paulf615]

My koi has gotten cotton wool fungus (as you can see in the picture) after having a bad chlorine experience. This pic is token in a five gal tank right after i gave him a salt bath in a three gal bucket of water with 3 teaspoons of Kosher salt. I have cured a fish in the past using store bought chemicals. But I heard salt baths work well too but there are no clear instructions on the Internet so i came to my favorite place to ask fish related questions. What I was wondering is if i should use a stronger salt bath? So if you can share your amounts for salt baths or dips (including the amount of time) and any other tips on helping my koi heal that would be great.

 

[Dave 54]

First off what is Kosher salt , I've heard of medicated salt and cooking salt both of which can be used to treat fungus, however looking at your koi this fungus is not recent and its not in our view as a result of chlorine .
First of all you need to be telling us all your water perameters because this type of problem is not a problem in a well maiintained system, the fungus will only attack reas of dmaged tissue so the arc of fungus , it is only present on your ki because of a break in the protective mucus coating on your koi , which most probaly came about due to netting damage although it may also be present , because of spawning overcrowding, parasite or bacterial infection , poor water quality or poor diet , infact any stressful factor so the key or sectret to you preventing it in the future is to provide your koi a happy stess free enviroment to life in .
To treat your koi please check the above to see what has allowed for this outbreak and correct it otherwise your fighting a looosing battle against it,
Do you know how to sedate your fish :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/anethatizing-you-koi-goldfish-the-various-stages-of.10493/

Because it is best to sedate your koi and remove the fungus with a cotton wool bud, oce you have removed it then dab malachite green over the area of infection and if you have propolis spray that with propolis spray, if you dont have any you can buy it in spray and liquid form fromany health food store .
Once you have done this you then need to turn your attention to the pond and after correcting any bad practices treat the pond with an anti-fungal treaatment to elliminate any fungal spores

Dave

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Tagging along.

 

[Paulf615]

First off what is Kosher salt , I've heard of medicated salt and cooking salt both of which can be used to treat fungus, however looking at your koi this fungus is not recent and its not in our view as a result of chlorine .
First of all you need to be telling us all your water perameters because this type of problem is not a problem in a well maiintained system, the fungus will only attack reas of dmaged tissue so the arc of fungus , it is only present on your ki because of a break in the protective mucus coating on your koi , which most probaly came about due to netting damage although it may also be present , because of spawning overcrowding, parasite or bacterial infection , poor water quality or poor diet , infact any stressful factor so the key or sectret to you preventing it in the future is to provide your koi a happy stess free enviroment to life in .
To treat your koi please check the above to see what has allowed for this outbreak and correct it otherwise your fighting a looosing battle against it,
Do you know how to sedate your fish :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/anethatizing-you-koi-goldfish-the-various-stages-of.10493/

Because it is best to sedate your koi and remove the fungus with a cotton wool bud, oce you have removed it then dab malachite green over the area of infection and if you have propolis spray that with propolis spray, if you dont have any you can buy it in spray and liquid form fromany health food store .
Once you have done this you then need to turn your attention to the pond and after correcting any bad practices treat the pond with an anti-fungal treaatment to elliminate any fungal spores

Dave

Im sorry i worded it alittle weirdly but I know how the koi ended up with it. It's a long story but ill sum it up real quick. When I had over filled the pond with tap water the koi got into a space where when the water drained out he was trapped so when I got home i found him laying on his side on top of a rock. This along with the stress from the chlorine was what i suspected to have removed the slime coating therefore making him pron to fungus. So thats that.
Now the second thing i wanted to say was that i 100% know that there are treatments you can buy at the store that work but i thought salt baths are just as affective. So i was just wondering about some back up info on salt baths. Also kosher salt is a salt used in cooking and is not iodized and is free of any added flavoring.

 

[Paulf615]

If anyone has a tip on how much salt to water ratio i should use and how long I should put my koi in it that would be good. I need a reply soon because i want to give him another salt bath and i think my last one was too weak

 

[Paulf615]

Since lack of replies i looked it up on google and i found a site saying between .6%and 1% salt percentage for 30 mins. Now for my 3 gal they are suggesting at least 4.5 tablespoons of salt for 30 mins. That's alot more then my original dosage so i put my koi in with 4 tbls of salt for 20mins and hopefully ill see improvement but still feel free to comment what you think a good salt bath is not just for my info but for other beginners too

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Read more about using salt here: http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/disease/treatment/trtmnt.htm#salt

Sorry I don't have time to explain more myself but the link about should be very helpful to you

 

[Dave 54]

Since lack of replies i looked it up on google and i found a site saying between .6%and 1% salt percentage for 30 mins. Now for my 3 gal they are suggesting at least 4.5 tablespoons of salt for 30 mins. That's alot more then my original dosage so i put my koi in with 4 tbls of salt for 20mins and hopefully ill see improvement but still feel free to comment what you think a good salt bath is not just for my info but for other beginners too

Read more about using salt here: http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/disease/treatment/trtmnt.htm#salt

Sorry I don't have time to explain more myself but the link about should be very helpful to you

Sorry cant be on all of the time but as Maria says or as this says its up to you which way ypu go on this :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/short-term-10-min-salt-bath-for-use-with-koi.15732/

Hope this helps you

Dave

 

[Lisaebetten]

How is your fish doing?

 

[Paulf615]

My fish still hasn't gotten better so i ditched the salt idea and went to the store and bought pond care melafix but it doesn't seem to be working so im not sure if i bought the right stuff so i guess im goin back to get spend more money on another type of treatment

 

[Dave 54]

Has the fungus spread to anywhere else ?
Can you buy some oil of cloves and some propolis spray from your local health store and follow this thread closely because your the only person who can do it your end :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/anesthetics-and-the-various-stages-of.11003/

The proceedure if you follow it closely and step by step is a simple one , once the koi is under place it onto a wet towel , always when handling fish have wet hands otherwise your going to take the mucus off again .
Then with a cotton bud genty remove the fungus , next with another cotton bud cover the wound with malachite green finally spraying the area with Propolis , this should kill it all off .
I dont like it when people try one treatment after another because you've succeeded in making it far more complicated , please remember dont do differing treatments directly on top of one another you can end up killing the koi.
Next place the koi in your hand in a flow of oxygenated water cupping it in your hand until the fish recovers from being under .
Last but not least give your pond a water change get rid of the melafix and buy an off the shelf anti fungal treatment for your pond as fungal spores can spread through your pond otherwise which is something you dont want .

Dave

 

[Paulf615]

Has the fungus spread to anywhere else ?
Can you buy some oil of cloves from your local health store and follow this thread :-

The fungus hasn't spread infact its gotten slightly better but then for a month there was no change. Would oregano oil work too?

 

[Dave 54]

The fungus hasn't spread infact its gotten slightly better but then for a month there was no change. Would oregano oil work too?

No I dont think it would but Oil of cloves is used as an aenthetic at 10ml per 2 gallons of water so it needs to be in a large container of water with the oil of cloves mixd in with it , dont be afraid to add more at 5 ml at a time if the koi is slow in going under .
And the spray has top be propolis

Dave

 

[Paulf615]

No I dont think it would but Oil of cloves is used as an aenthetic at 10ml per 2 gallons of water so it needs to be in a large container of water with the oil of cloves mixd in with it , dont be afraid to add more at 5 ml at a time if the koi is slow in going under .
And the spray has top be propolis

Dave

Is this better and cheaper than normal treatments that you could buy at a local pet store because i think I got one for ich instead of fungus so if its cheaper and more effective then that would be cool. Also is this a dip or a bath? And can i have carbon in the filters while doing this?

 

[Dave 54]

Oil of cloves is a way of anethatizing your koi so that you can treat your fish hands on read the thread first and try to understand it if you cant either Turtlemommy or myself will walk you through the proceedure
Malachite green is a seperate chemical from an ich formalation Propolis is a by product of bees and is what keeps their hives healthy
You spray this over the wound after youve cleaned it out first with cotton buds ( one bud for one whipe until the fungus has been removed , another cotton bud to put the malachite onto the wound and propolis spray to kill off anything nasty that could infect.

Dave