Where can i purchase Phenoxethol?

**JudiJetson** · 03-12-2013, 01:12 AM

I've read about this medication to treat a fungus infection and believe I have a female black phantom tetra and a red eye tetra with a fungal infection. The black phantom has a tiny white fuzzy spot near her dorsal fin and tail the red eye tetra has one right on the tip of his nose. It's not ich, I've looked over each fish as best as possible with a magnifying glass and see nothing like ich (I have 10 corys and none showing ich). This happened previously with a male black phantom...he got a white cottony tuft, thought it was ich but it wasn't, treated with Ich Attack then when no change Prazipro but obviously that didn't help and I lost him. I'm seeing this again and putting things together, that spot he had actually had algae grow on it and I've read that can happen with a fungal infection.

I'm doing 50% pwc's twice a week (have always) and just started treating with pimafix & melafix when I saw this yesterday (also mixing food with garlic xtreme). My parameters are 0/0/<10. I can't figure out the cause to the infection, I did add 4 peppered corys to the tank two weeks ago but they were in qt for four weeks and showed no signs of illness and are just fine now also. The only thing I can think is injury from nipping? I do have one male black phantom that is the Alpha of the tank and has a tendency to chase quite a bit and I know he was quite enamoured with the female that is showing the spots.

I will attempt some photos but she is small and quick.

**Berylla** · 03-12-2013, 05:19 AM

I've never heard of that drug but you can try and treat them with a methylene blue bath in a quarantine tank. It's gentle and causes no stress to the fish. It's commonly used to treat fungus on fish eggs so you know it's gentle. Keep them in the quarantine for at least a week with sponge filter, air, and heater. Change the water out 100% every day to keep the water clean and free of ammonia. MB will kill nitrifying bacteria so even a seeded sponge will not eradicate the ammonia from the tank, only daily water changes will do that.

Let us know how its working and also please post photos. I would like to ensure that you don't have a bacterial infection. BTW, MB is also great for bacterial, so either way, its good.

**JudiJetson** · 03-12-2013, 10:56 AM

Thaks Berylla. I'll take some photos after work when it's feeding time. My QT is occupied so I will have to pick up a small hospital tank, sponge filter, heater and methylene blue (I've never seen it at lfs so will have to order online)

From the fish disease section here:

Fungus is fortunately rather easy to treat and there are several different ways to treat it. One is to add methylene blue to the water. Methylene blue are most commonly used to prevent fungi on fish eggs but can be used on adult fish as well even if it isn't necessarily the best option for adult fish. Personally I recommend using methylene blue for treating and prevent fungi on eggs and fry. On adult fish I instead recommend using a phenoxethol solution or commercial antifungal medicine designed to treat fungus in fish. If you choose to use phenoxethol solution you should add 10ml of 1% phenoxethol solution per litre aquarium water. The treatment can be repeated after a few days if needed but should not be done more than twice since repeated use can have damaging side effects. Severely infected fish can be caught and swabbed with a povidone, iodine or mercurochrome soaked cloth to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. Make sure to increase the water quality and fish health in your aquarium once the fungus has been cured to avoid the problem in the future.

**Taurus** · 03-12-2013, 03:53 PM

I've found Pimafix effective against fungal infection and it will not harm the biofilter. Just a thought.

**JudiJetson** · 03-12-2013, 04:23 PM

Taurus, I am treating with Pimafix now and hoping that will work since I think I caught it early. I check the fish daily but it seems these things pop up overnight.

**Berylla** · 03-12-2013, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by JudiJetson

Thaks Berylla. I'll take some photos after work when it's feeding time. My QT is occupied so I will have to pick up a small hospital tank, sponge filter, heater and methylene blue (I've never seen it at lfs so will have to order online)

From the fish disease section here:

Fungus is fortunately rather easy to treat and there are several different ways to treat it. One is to add methylene blue to the water. Methylene blue are most commonly used to prevent fungi on fish eggs but can be used on adult fish as well even if it isn't necessarily the best option for adult fish. Personally I recommend using methylene blue for treating and prevent fungi on eggs and fry. On adult fish I instead recommend using a phenoxethol solution or commercial antifungal medicine designed to treat fungus in fish. If you choose to use phenoxethol solution you should add 10ml of 1% phenoxethol solution per litre aquarium water. The treatment can be repeated after a few days if needed but should not be done more than twice since repeated use can have damaging side effects. Severely infected fish can be caught and swabbed with a povidone, iodine or mercurochrome soaked cloth to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. Make sure to increase the water quality and fish health in your aquarium once the fungus has been cured to avoid the problem in the future.

I just did a search on google and there's lots of articles using phenoxethol in fungal treatements but no links to where to buy.

Also, I am concerned of the "damaging side effects" that are associated with this drug that I've never used. Meth Blue is gentle to fish so you don't have to worry about stress as much.

I use primafix in my main tank sometime when I see a fish's fins a bit rough looking and it seem to clear it up quickly. However, I don't think its effective for a really severe infection.

For a QT tank, you can buy a small see-through storage container at Walmart or Target instead of a glass tank. It's easier to move around and have a small footprint if you buy one that is more tall than wide. They also come with lids.

**JudiJetson** · 03-13-2013, 12:34 AM

Berylla, yes I came up against the same issue..lots of articles but nothing stating where to buy. I picked up a 5.5 gallon glass tank from lfs tonight but had to order some some more sponge filters and the MB online so I'll continue to treat with Pimafix & Melafix until the hospital tank is ready to be occupied.

I'm also gonna post a couple pics but they're not good...small fast fish & cell phone photos :(

**Berylla** · 03-13-2013, 03:56 AM

Originally Posted by JudiJetson

Berylla, yes I came up against the same issue..lots of articles but nothing stating where to buy. I picked up a 5.5 gallon glass tank from lfs tonight but had to order some some more sponge filters and the MB online so I'll continue to treat with Pimafix & Melafix until the hospital tank is ready to be occupied.

I'm also gonna post a couple pics but they're not good...small fast fish & cell phone photos :(

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps9c1c09c0.jpg
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps93375922.jpg
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps214768e8.jpg

Hi Judi,

The photos are a fuzzy, but to me, it doesn't look like fungus but bacterial. Is the white bits on top of the skin or is it eating into the skin? Also, is it very light stringy or dense stringy?

**JudiJetson** · 03-13-2013, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by Berylla

Hi Judi,

The photos are a fuzzy, but to me, it doesn't look like fungus but bacterial. Is the white bits on top of the skin or is it eating into the skin? Also, is it very light stringy or dense stringy?

Y

Yes, they are fuzzy. I even tried with my Nikon but no better. The spots seem to be on top of the skin and I wouldn't say stringy at all, just dense. I would pay for someone to be able to come to the house and take a look. On a positive note, no one else (other than the two mentioned) have any of the same spots and looking at hers today they seem better.

On another good note, I was about to do a pwc and clean up the front of the tank glass (in hopes of a better photo) when I found the following:

It's sooooo tiny I can't figure out if it's a peppered cory fry or maybe oto fry? Either way I'm going to hold off on the pwc

**Berylla** · 03-13-2013, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by JudiJetson

Y

Yes, they are fuzzy. I even tried with my Nikon but no better. The spots seem to be on top of the skin and I wouldn't say stringy at all, just dense. I would pay for someone to be able to come to the house and take a look. On a positive note, no one else (other than the two mentioned) have any of the same spots and looking at hers today they seem better.

On another good note, I was about to do a pwc and clean up the front of the tank glass (in hopes of a better photo) when I found the following:

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/x...psd93015da.jpg

It's sooooo tiny I can't figure out if it's a peppered cory fry or maybe oto fry? Either way I'm going to hold off on the pwc

Wow, that's a very nice surprise to find in a tank!!

Getting back to the disease thing, fungus sits on top of the fish but its very fine hairlike threads that can become large puffy balls on top of the fish. If the balls are dense cotton, it is bacteria and usually columnaris, a very serious infection that is highly contagious and deadly. I would QT immediately with a methylene blue bath, sponge filter and a heater and see if it clear in a couple of days. Change the water 100% to keep clean and the ammonia down.