From: Mark Breen Ireland [email protected] ...................snip................. I recently had an angel fish with Cotton Wool disease. I removed it to another small tank and I treated it with some liquid medicine, but to no avail, the fish died within a week or two anyway. I then moved another sick Angel fish to the hospital tank, and although he never exhibited the cotton wool symptoms, he would not eat anything for weeks, eventually he got so weak, I had to kill him. That was the first time I ever had to kill a fish and I am still not the better for it.
*Cotton Wool disease, could have been Saprolegnia fungus and treated with forma green, 5 to 7 days, or fungus guard with ich guard, or fungus eliminator along with an ich med. It is a true fungus which invades the gills causing suffocation. It could also have been Columnaris (flavobacterium) disease. Stress brings this disease on - highly contagious - kills fast with high temps and hard alkaline water. Treated with oxy-tetracycline, or erythromycin, or maracyn, or acriflavine, or kanamycin, or maracyn-two. It sounds like the second fish that died, died from Skinny Disease, or Chronic Wasting. Treated with a 10 day treatment of maracyn and maracyn two. Sounds like you might not be do enough water changing, gravel and filter cleaning. If you were to do a regularly monthly treatment with PP (potassium permanganate) you would avoid having to deal with most of the bacterial and parasite diseases. Yesterday, I drained the hospital tank, and washed it out with cold water. I washed out the small internal filter and heater, and used my regular tank cleaner to wipe the insides of the tank. What I am worrying about now is how to be sure that I am not carrying on the pump, and sponge filter, the heater the tank itself the sponge tank cleaner. I was shocked to see the word bleach mentioned on a fish forum, but if you think it is safe, I could make a 1:20 mix and rinse the filter, heater and sponge tank cleaner in that. I would be very very nervous about allowing some of that mix getting back into my two five foot tanks. To summarise my question, How do I clean my few bits of equipment following use in a hospital tank set up for cotton wool disease. Based on the replies to Kim, I am currently leaning towards hot water only. Mark Breen Ireland *Since you already have it ready to clean, use 3% bleach.......... Frank
