# Growth on rescued Frontosa....Help me, please!



## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

So here is the situation...

I have 10 Mpimbwe and then this big fella' I rescued from the only other Frontosa keeper in town. He (?she) was being abused in their tank and had horribly nipped fins. He/she has fit in my tank well with no problems interacting with my 10 smaller Mpimbwe, two BN Plecos and two Clown Loach's.

I have intermittently noted a white ?growth from the big Frontosa's head, usually just above the eye. Comes and goes on each side of the head. Doesn't seem sick, doesn't flash/scratch. Whatever it is, if falls off after a few days. Tonight I noticed he/she has two growths on one side (see pics, please).

My daughter noticed a couple of tiny white spots on two of my Mpimbwe...one has two spots on her side, the other has a spot on a fin.

I have never had Ich in any of my tanks. Keep my water pristine and have not introduced any new fish into my tank in over 3 months. The last fish introduced was the big rescue Frontosa. Before that it had been six months or more since a fish intro.

Have I brought in a fungus/disease? Should I send the big Frontosa to that great aquarium in the sky? HELP!!!


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

biglove said:


> 1) Have I brought in a fungus/disease?
> 2) Should I send the big Frontosa to that great aquarium in the sky? 3)
> HELP!!!


1) Yes
2) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
3) You are going to have to treat the entire tank for fungus. Fungus can be hard to get rid of. Get some Mardel Maracyn Plus. Treat as directed and I would even extend the treatments a couple extra days.

Good luck!

Russ


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks so much, Razzo. Hope it goes well.

No good deed goes unpunished...


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## Bertz (Dec 7, 2011)

I've seen this many of times, What follows is *Hole in the Head*.

I don't no for sure if its the true Hole in the head disease, But rest assure Holes will start to form.
Mainly caused by poor conditions, Poor food and being stressed.

The Fronts that i have seen with this, All started with the white spots , Then the cauliflower fluffy growth's start.

What i did, Was treat the water, Do a few 20 % water changes over the next week, I doubled up on regular aquarium salt.
On the first water change, Then on the next 2 i used regular ratio of salt.

REMOVE ANY Carbon in the filters...........Note: Every time there after i ever used carbon, Those white patches came back with in 2-3 days of carbon in the filters, Therefore i never ever use carbon with Fronts. "Never"

Raise your tank temp slowly up to 82-84, Maintain it there for a few weeks, Feed sparingly every other day or every other 2 days.
And keep the tank lights off, Except during water changes and maintenance.

I'm not a pro, But i have battled this with a few Fronts over the past 16 years and every medication i used seem to help, But the above method worked the best.

Bring the temp, back down once you notice the patches gone maintain around 80ish and keep tank on a regular cleaning schedule at least a 20% W/c a week.
I use the regular aquarium salt in this process.

Damndess thing, When ever i used carbon these patches came back within 2 - 3 days, Removed carbon and did a waterchange, They would clear up.
Hence why i never use carbon with fronts.

I've seen this spread to other fish, So treat in the main tank.

If you have live plants you may have to remove them, Do to no lights being on, But thats another point i found with keeping them calmer during curing.

Again, Its just from my own experience with this fish group and this illness.

Good luck.

NOTE::::This also spreads to their fins if untreated!!!!


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks, Bertz. Starting treatment today and will update on their status when all done.


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## Bertz (Dec 7, 2011)

biglove said:


> Thanks, Bertz. Starting treatment today and will update on their status when all done.


Your welcome,
I hope it helps , Again others may have more info for you and more methods to treat, This site is a God send for info.

I for sure have seen this. And that's how i ended up treating to maintain the fishes health for a long while one of them 14 yrs.

I really would like to no what it is myself for sure, But it has caused Gaping holes / Blindness / loss of tales and or fin's, in some fish and it all starts with those whites spots into white patches.

The research i put into findings over the years almost has it as a multi-disease.

You can see the cloudiness in the fishes eyes as well in the pic's, If left untreated and kept in a stressful environment, The fish will become blinded in that eye or eye's over time.


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## Bertz (Dec 7, 2011)

It can be a long process, Sometimes it goes away forever, I have seen it come back after a year.
As long as you keep control of the water, The fish seem to be fine as long as the illness is controlled.


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Bertz said:


> It can be a long process, Sometimes it goes away forever, I have seen it come back after a year.
> As long as you keep control of the water, The fish seem to be fine as long as the illness is controlled.


What I wonder is if I decide in the future to go with another breed for the tank, after removing/trading these fish, would the tank be essentially forever contaminated? Hate that this has happened. Have kept cichlids for years...a couple of years recently and a couple of years when I was in my early 20's and have NEVER had ANY type of disease before.

Have to admit, makes me feel like a bit of a failure...


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

if you take out the fish already in it i would compeletly wash the tank from top to bottem and even use some disinfectant like bleach but if you use bleach MAKE SURE you rinse the tank out VERY well and let it dry and i would even rinse i again to be safe, but this way your sure to kill anything left in the tank.


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## Bertz (Dec 7, 2011)

biglove said:


> Bertz said:
> 
> 
> > It can be a long process, Sometimes it goes away forever, I have seen it come back after a year.
> ...


You are not a failure, We all go through this at one point in our hobby.
The Front you adopted more then likely came from a very stressful environment and became ill there.

Fronts are hardy fish, However their water care, Diet, temp, ph, surroundings and tank mates all must be maintained to their needs, As far as the tank being contaminated, No as long as you clean it out well and the filters and substrate you should be fine.

But give it some time with water changes and the above maintenance i said to try, You may be surprised with the results.


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks for the encouraging words Bertz. Have done a water change with salt, upped my heater temps and the Maracyn Plus arrives from Amazon tomorrow. Nine available locally. Bought a gallon as was best price... OUCH expensive!


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## Yael (Nov 25, 2012)

Many parasites have dormant cysts formations - that might be what you saw that fell off your fish and into the tank. Whatever treatment you use be sure and treat for well beyond when you see the problem on the fish - you have to go through several cycles of the parasite life in order to kill all of it since usually in the dormant form, the cyst isn't killed. That's one reason to increase temps, it speeds up the life cycle so you get to whack it for more generations in a shorter time. Often parasites will have a narrow range of water chemistry tolerances so any change you make to water chemistry that the fish can tolerate can also help to weaken the parasite and make it easier to kill. That's why salt helps - the fish tolerate it more than the parasite does.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Yael said:


> Many parasites have dormant cysts formations - that might be what you saw that fell off your fish and into the tank. Whatever treatment you use be sure and *treat for well beyond* when you see the problem on the fish - you have to go through several cycles of the parasite life in order to kill all of it since usually in the dormant form, the cyst isn't killed. That's one reason to increase temps, it speeds up the life cycle so you get to whack it for more generations in a shorter time. Often parasites will have a narrow range of water chemistry tolerances so any change you make to water chemistry that the fish can tolerate can also help to weaken the parasite and make it easier to kill. That's why salt helps - the fish tolerate it more than the parasite does.


Yes, very good advice.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Bertz said:


> biglove said:
> 
> 
> > Bertz said:
> ...


The bolded statement above is really the most important part. If you are not able to provide consistent, high quality water, and a stress free environment, all the medications and voodoo in the world will not be enough.

Good luck!


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks for tip on parasite life cycle. Oh, my tanks have always been well cared for... I just screwed up rescuing a battered fish with issues. As I said, no good deed goes unpunished...


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## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Treated as described. NO improvement with the growths on the side of the big Front's head. Suggestions are appreciated.


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