Hoping someone can help me solve a problem I'm having with one of my 4" orandas. I've encountered this only once before, with a fish of a similar size from a pet store, who already had the problem and died shortly after having him and attempting to treat it. We've had her since she was very small, along with two other orandas of around the same size. She's in a 180 gallon tank with the other two orandas, a 3" black moor, 3" fantail and a 4" telescope fantail. Plus snails. There's also usually a 6-7" oranda in the tank, but he's in a hospital tank due to a torn wen/headgrowth. All of the tank stats are near perfect, with water changes down weekly. To date we've had no diseases or issues with the tank (running for around six months), despite the larger orandas torn wen which is still a mystery. Other then the weekly water changes, there have been no additions (fish, medication, additives, conditioners, etc.) since the tanks setup. We don't have chlorinated water (straight ground water) so that's never been a problem. It is heavily aerated.

Starting this morning, this oranda has been sitting on the bottom of the tank, not moving. The front of her wen (orange in color) has started to have a greying appearance to it. The best description I can find is like a grey mold is starting to grow on it. Her breathing is even, and seems healthy otherwise. This is the same behaviour exhibited from an oranda we had several years ago. The condition progresed to the point that the grey completely covered his entire headgrowth (but nowhere else) and since he was not eating and resting solely on the bottom of the tank, he died. She'll be moved into a 20 gallon hospital tank and treated with Melafix and Pimafix in addition to a .1%-.3% salt solution. I don't know if this is going to improve her condition, but I figure it can't hurt seeing as I'm not really finding any information about this anywhere else.

I'd love it if anyone can give me any insight into what the 'mold' on her wen is, and also on how to combat it. Also wondering what the cause of it is. Thanks in advance. I'd post a picture if the digital camera was working.. Sorry in advance that I couldn't.

do u think it might be fungus?

Do you have mobile phone cam or can you borrow one? This is most unusual and the best way to diagnose would be with a pic. You could load it up to photobucket and post a link. Photos can't be downloaded directly to this forum until you have 200 posts.

The only thing that comes remotely to mind is costia, a parasite. Treatment is forma-green. There have been no additions to your tank but sometimes the onset of warmer weather can trigger an outbreak of residual eggs. (I'm assuming you are in Aust due to your username) If you don't see any improvement with the melafix/primafix soon I would try some forma-green medication.

How is your oranda doing, Outbackhill?

Bah, sorry for taking so long to reply. x.x There are two of us using this username. The Melafix/Pimafix solution seems to have cleared it up. I think it may have been a secondary problem upon closer inspection. We later noticed a chunk of her wen torn away. Considering an injured wen was what was wrong with our other hospitalized oranda, we investigated the 180 gallon tank. It was pretty difficult to find, but I think they must have torn it on the underside of a piece of driftwood that sticks up. It's surrounded by silk plants, but we did find a part that was left open. It now is fully blocked off from the goldies... So long as the apple snails leave the plants upright. -.-

I'm still not sure what was up with her wen, but the 'molding' went away after a few days of the Melafix/Pimafix/Salt treatment. I've still got her in the hospital tank until I know the wen injury is cleared up. But hopefully sometime next week she and the other Mopani wood victim can be moved back.

Thanks for the help. :)

That's good news and good luck with the other oranda.

Glad to hear she's on the mend. Keep a close eye out for daily changes, of course. You want to be sure you figured out what happened, and it's not something more serious.

There is also a characteristic mold that will appear and disappear during periods of wen growth. My oranda gets this every so often. (Obviously this would not be what killed your other fish) Sometimes I swab it with a Hydrogen Peroxide soaked Q tip, if it looks to be getting too large but usually it subsides on it's own.