# White cottony fuzz on pectoral fins of A. bicolor



## misty588 (Feb 28, 2007)

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to provide as much info as possible.

My display tank is a 92 gallon corner that houses 16 Aulonocara/Haplochromis fish. The tank has been set up since September 2007. I change 40 gallons of water from this tank weekly. I determine the water parameters ~ every week using API liquid test kits. The nitrate on the tank usually ranges from ~10-40.

01/23/09 â€" 92 gallon water conditions taken right before weekly water change - Ammonia:0, Nitrate:30, ph:8.2, GH:9, KH:10, Temperature:77

01/24/09 â€" Noticed Aulonocara bicolor with small white cottony fuzz on pectoral fins

01/26/09 â€" Moved A. bicolor to 10g quarantine â€" 50% water change on 10g and removed carbon - Started Pimafix treatment â€" treated for 6 days

02/01/09 â€" 50% water change â€" Started 2nd round of Pimafix treatment â€" Treated for 6 days

02/09/09 â€" 50% water change â€" Bicolor looks healthy moved back to 92g

02/25/09 - Noticed Aulonocara bicolor with small white cottony fuzz on pectoral fins (again) â€" Moved to 10g quarantine â€" 50% water change and removed carbon - Started treatment with Maracyn I, Maroxy, and Maracide â€" Treated for 5 days

03/02/09 â€" 50% water change â€" Started 2nd round of Maracyn I, Maroxy, and Maracide â€" Treated for 5 days

03/07/09 â€" 50% water change â€" Added carbon - Bicolor looks better, but wanted to leave in quarantine for a few weeks before moving back to display tank.

03/08/09 - Went to fish auction and bought some awesome fish. Oopsâ€¦. Started quarantining new fish with bicolor.

03/15/09 â€" 50% water change

03/22/09 â€" **** new fish have ick! - 50% water change and removed Carbon - Started treatment with Quickcure â€" Treated for 3 days

3/25/09 â€" 50% water change â€" Treated with quickcure for 4 more days

3/28/09 â€" 50% water change and added carbon - All quarantine fish look good☺

4/05/09 â€" Well **** - Noticed Aulonocara bicolor with small white cottony fuzz on pectoral fins (AGAIN!) â€" 50% water change and removed carbon - Started treatment with Junglecure Fungus Cure

04/11/09 â€" Bicolor has not improved â€" All the other fish in the tank look fine. Everybody is active and eating. â€" 50% water change

The fuzz has gotten slightly worse since I took these pictures on 04/03/09. It now appears to be on other parts of the body, but still in very small patches.


















Ok now what should I do?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Thank you for being so informative...It really helps when you're trying to help someone...

First thing, that's not a bi-colour unless your camera is throwing the colouring way off. They have a very intense blue to their body and a yellow "collar" (for lack of a better word). It's really yellow, non in the least orange as I'm seeing in your pics.

He's a beauty, none the less!

Is he appearing stressed? Flashing against objects in the tank?

None of the other fish have ever caught this from him? Ever?

To be really honest, I'm not seeing anything. His finnage looks great, he doesn't look stressed at all in these pics. All I see is a couple of white dots on the lower fins, and I am not sure there is anything to that at all.

Your tank maintenace sounds great, and you've tried the meds I would have tried.

Is he back in the main tank? Do you have other peacocks that look similar to him?


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## misty588 (Feb 28, 2007)

Hmmm... He is a very blue fish with a color collar, but you are correct that his collar is more orange than yellow. I got him from a breeder/hobbyist in NC and was told that he was a Maulana. Oh well, he is a pretty fish. He also has a great temperament, and likes to "show-off" often  My tank is an all male setup. So I obviously do not breed fish. Thus, I am not worried about diluting the species pool with hybrids.

No, he does not appear stressed at all or flashing. He is as hungry as ever. Constantly showing off to get my attention/food.

None of the other fish in the display tank or in the quarantine tank with him have ever caught this.

At first I thought that maybe he had a slight infection or fungus from fin nips. So I separated him in the quarantine tank by dividers so that his fins could heal. His finnage now looks great, he is still separated from any other fish, but the white fuzz is slowly getting worse.

It is weird! It always presents in the same locations on both of his pectoral fins. However, now it has spread to his bottom rear fin, a couple of spots on his flank, and one spot near his gill. All the spots are small and hard to get images off. The spots are bigger than ick, and fluffy. It almost looks as if he swam through a cotton swab and some of it stuck to him.

He is still divided off in the quarantine tank. His other tank mates in the 92g are:
Aulonocara baenschi â€œyellow regalâ€


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