Cottonmouth on my rainbow fish?

[Chiguy]

I recently out in 3 rainbow fish and then three more a week later. After a few days I noticed their lips were white so I’m wondering if this is cottonmouth and I need to medicate the tank? No other fish seem to have it, and I’m wondering if I have mostly males and they’re just fighting?

Pictures of a couple attached. It’s more noticeable on some than others but 5/6 have some form of it.

Please help!

 

[Tacocat]

I personally have no experience with cottonmouth so I can't speak on that, but it looks to me that your rainbows have ich. I do want backup on this opinion as I've only had ich once, but even if it isn't there does seem to appear to be white spots.

 

[Fishfunn]

Looks like tail rot too? The one fish coming toward the camera looks like its got Ich as well.

 

[fishorama]

I agree with both tacocat & Fishfunn, your rainbows have more than 1 issue. I'm sorry. It looks to me like both ich & columnaris. Rainbows are prone to columnaris in my limited experience.

Since you're in the US, I think malachite green might be the best bet. I'm old school, so there may be other meds that can treat both.

What other fish do you have with them? Inverts you want to keep will not be happy w/malachite. It's copper based & will likely kill inverts (snails & shrimp) & stay in your tank forever or at least a really long time...

My first advice is to do large water changes before treating with any med. But treat every other day if that's the medication instruction. Vacuum well to remove both parasites & bacteria as best you can, then redose. It'll likely take 2 weeks at best. Good luck!

 

[Fishfunn]

Use Seachem Paraguard medication for the Ich and fin rot.

ParaGuard™ is a fish and filter safe medication that eradicates ectoparasites and fungal, bacterial, and viral lesions. It is suitable for treating ich, velvet, fin rot, flukes, and other infections of exotic fish.

 

[Chiguy]

I agree with both tacocat & Fishfunn, your rainbows have more than 1 issue. I'm sorry. It looks to me like both ich & columnaris. Rainbows are prone to columnaris in my limited experience.

Since you're in the US, I think malachite green might be the best bet. I'm old school, so there may be other meds that can treat both.

What other fish do you have with them? Inverts you want to keep will not be happy w/malachite. It's copper based & will likely kill inverts (snails & shrimp) & stay in your tank forever or at least a really long time...

My first advice is to do large water changes before treating with any med. But treat every other day if that's the medication instruction. Vacuum well to remove both parasites & bacteria as best you can, then redose. It'll likely take 2 weeks at best. Good luck!

Thanks for the thorough answer. Should I get these fish out of the tank to a hospital tank, and if I do will it prevent the other fish from getting it possibly? Or do I need to treat the tank no matter what now?

 

[fishorama]

I haven't used Paraguard but it sounds like a good med to try first! I haven't had both those issues in many years, separately, so I bow to more up to date info, as Fishfunn said! I hope it works well for you, Chiguy. Let us know how it works for your fish. Good luck!

 

[Chiguy]

I recently out in 3 rainbow fish and then three more a week later. After a few days I noticed their lips were white so I’m wondering if this is cottonmouth and I need to medicate the tank? No other fish seem to have it, and I’m wondering if I have mostly males and they’re just fighting?

Pictures of a couple attached. It’s more noticeable on some than others but 5/6 have some form of it.

Please help!View attachment 361473View attachment 361472View attachment 361471

Quick update for the community here:

I removed the six rainbow fish and quickly put together a hospital tank and a 10 gallon in my basement. No other fish in the main tank show any signs of contamination so hopefully we dodged a bullet there. I went and picked up the ParaGard and have begun treatment in the hospital tank, which also has two white tetras in it.

If anyone has any other recommendations for how to save these fish, or advice on potentially what to look for that might indicate they’re ready to be added back into the main tank, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

 

[fishorama]

The ich is in your tank, so is columnaris so you should treat the tank not just the rainbows

 

[Chiguy]

The ich is in your tank, so is columnaris so you should treat the tank not just the rainbows

You think that’s true even if nothing else in the tank is showing signs of any issues, and all of my water parameters are great? My nitrates are about 15 ppm but everything else is zeros. Can I wait a day or two to see if anything reveals itself? Or if you were in this situation, would you just start treating the main tank anyway just to be safe?

 

[CassCats]

Ich is a parasite, it affects the water column with its life cycle. You do need to treat the main tank. Often ich can hide in the gills and go unnoticed and you'll find yourself needing to do another treatment again.

For parasites, the main tank must always be treated because if one fish has it, they're all exposed.

 

[Chiguy]

Ich is a parasite, it affects the water column with its life cycle. You do need to treat the main tank. Often ich can hide in the gills and go unnoticed and you'll find yourself needing to do another treatment again.

For parasites, the main tank must always be treated because if one fish has it, they're all exposed.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t inch always present and It’s only able to infect the fish when they get stressed or their immune systems become compromised? And doesn’t it spread rapidly, so if other fish were going to be infected, and it was going to spread through the whole tank, that process would already be underway?

 

[CassCats]

It can be dormant and fine in normal healthy fish, but if you have it presenting itself, then it must be treated.

The problem is, can you look inside the gills for the parasite of a seemingly normal looking fish or are you wanting to risk reinfecting the compromised fish all over again?

Better safe than sorry and eradicate it with treatment.

 

[Chiguy]

How long should I t

It can be dormant and fine in normal healthy fish, but if you have it presenting itself, then it must be treated.

The problem is, can you look inside the gills for the parasite of a seemingly normal looking fish or are you wanting to risk reinfecting the compromised fish all over again?

Better safe than sorry and eradicate it with treatment

It can be dormant and fine in normal healthy fish, but if you have it presenting itself, then it must be treated.

The problem is, can you look inside the gills for the parasite of a seemingly normal looking fish or are you wanting to risk reinfecting the compromised fish all over again?

Better safe than sorry and eradicate it with treatment.

How long should I treat the tank then if it appears to be fine?

 

[Fishfunn]

Usually I treat fin rot and columnaris with Seachem Kanaplex antibiotic and Ich-X for Ich. But you should not mix the two treatments together for the safety of the fish.

Paraguard was the only medication I found that will treat both at the same time. Please read its instructions carefully and know what fish and invertebrates are safe with it.