What do you remove the debris with, an orange stick?
My second toe next to my big toe is slightly longer than the big toe. I wore a pair of hiking boots that were slightly too big so when I went downhill my toe kept hitting the toe of the boot. So my nail had trauma and had a sort of ridge at the top. This stayed like that for a few years, it could be covered with nail polish, it wasn't a problem. I then one day decide to try and file it a bit flatter. Big mistake. It unleashed a fungal tsunami- there must have been fungal material under the nail.
I really regret doing this. It has now damaged the nail further, and what's worse, has spread. On the same foot my big toe and smallest toe have now got it. On the other foot it has also spread to big toe. The big toes are now the worse. I may as well chuck away my nail polishes, tempting as it is to cover up the grimness with polish, it makes it worse and provides a better environment for the spores to thrive.
I tried tea tree, Vicks Vapour rub, other topical blends. Not much luck. I am still using tea tree oil, each toe, twice a day, using a new cotton bud head for each nail. I do a foot Bath every day with tea tree in it. It has not got better, but no worse, and the nails need to grow. I use separate towel and flannel for feet. I even have a separate foot bowl, one that nobody else can use. I wear plastic gloves if I want to have an examination of my feet (paranoid it will spread to fingernails). I try and file using an Emery board to help the oil penetrate, but not having much luck.
My feet were one of the nicest bits of me, it's a short list. Now they are minging.