I Can't Tell If My Tank's Got Mouth Rot

[onidrase]

I picked up 10 australian rainbowfish and 1 jack dempsey cichlid for my 75 gallon tank, and the JD seems to have an odd white growth on the side of the lip. I've got not a clue what it is, and I've had mouth rot issues among tiger barbs in the past, and this doesn't look like mouth rot to me. I'll try to get some pictures in the morning, but right now they're all in their hidey holes and stuff for the night (it's 2 am, I'm awake cause I'm busy worrying my #17##### off. mostly cause I was pretty unsuccessful in treating mouth rot with the tiger barbs. most of them didn't make it.)

I also think I see a couple ich spots amongst the rainbows (like 6 spots total among all of them) but that's not a big issue.

I'm honestly thinking of just going with the melafix/pimafix route picking some up after work, getting rid of anything now and the like.

But first off, I've got a bichir that breaths surface water a lot, and I've heard that fishes with labyrinth lungs don't like melafix. Should I move him into another tank while I treat these guys?

Second off, would melafix or melafix extra strength or whatever be useful against beginning stage mouth rot? My GT has some battered fins from the LFS as well, would this stuff actually help him recover the fin damage? Basically, does it do what it says it'll do?

Thanks in advance

 

[FishBlast]

I picked up 10 australian rainbowfish and 1 jack dempsey cichlid for my 75 gallon tank, and the JD seems to have an odd white growth on the side of the lip. I've got not a clue what it is, and I've had mouth rot issues among tiger barbs in the past, and this doesn't look like mouth rot to me. I'll try to get some pictures in the morning, but right now they're all in their hidey holes and stuff for the night (it's 2 am, I'm awake cause I'm busy worrying my #17##### off. mostly cause I was pretty unsuccessful in treating mouth rot with the tiger barbs. most of them didn't make it.)

I also think I see a couple ich spots amongst the rainbows (like 6 spots total among all of them) but that's not a big issue.

I'm honestly thinking of just going with the melafix/pimafix route picking some up after work, getting rid of anything now and the like.

But first off, I've got a bichir that breaths surface water a lot, and I've heard that fishes with labyrinth lungs don't like melafix. Should I move him into another tank while I treat these guys?

Second off, would melafix or melafix extra strength or whatever be useful against beginning stage mouth rot? My GT has some battered fins from the LFS as well, would this stuff actually help him recover the fin damage? Basically, does it do what it says it'll do?

Thanks in advance

Then how come people use melafix on Bettas?

 

[afremont]

Then how come people use melafix on Bettas?

Because they don't know any better. They make a product called bettafix that is a diluted (20%?) form of melafix meleuca oil. I don't know myself, but I've heard that product causes problems too, it just takes longer. I do know that the labyrinth organ needs to function and oiling it down can't be helping it allot in my opinion.

If the OP has seen this before on other fish that died with similar symptoms, it might be columnaris. The OP should read up on it and look at some pictures and decide if that sounds like what he has. If it is, then he/she needs to treat with antibiotics (gram negative). Columnaris looks like fungus and is often misdiagnosed as such, the bacteria like to pile up on the surface making it look like a fungus. Columnaris (flexibacter) is aggressive and will multiply faster at higher temps so decreasing tank temps is usually advised.

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columnaris

 

[FishBlast]

Then how come people use melafix on Bettas?

Because they don't know any better. They make a product called bettafix that is a diluted (20%?) form of melafix meleuca oil. I don't know myself, but I've heard that product causes problems too, it just takes longer. I do know that the labyrinth organ needs to function and oiling it down can't be helping it allot in my opinion.

If the OP has seen this before on other fish that died with similar symptoms, it might be columnaris. The OP should read up on it and look at some pictures and decide if that sounds like what he has. If it is, then he/she needs to treat with antibiotics (gram negative). Columnaris looks like fungus and is often misdiagnosed as such, the bacteria like to pile up on the surface making it look like a fungus. Columnaris (flexibacter) is aggressive and will multiply faster at higher temps so decreasing tank temps is usually advised.

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columnaris

So they still use it / recommend it even though it hurts the fish? pff then I guess in case someone's betta gets finrot for example, best thing to do is frequent water changes, right?

Also, does melafix have any bad side effects on normal fish? In example, guppies.

 

[afremont]

Then how come people use melafix on Bettas?

Because they don't know any better. They make a product called bettafix that is a diluted (20%?) form of melafix meleuca oil. I don't know myself, but I've heard that product causes problems too, it just takes longer. I do know that the labyrinth organ needs to function and oiling it down can't be helping it allot in my opinion.

If the OP has seen this before on other fish that died with similar symptoms, it might be columnaris. The OP should read up on it and look at some pictures and decide if that sounds like what he has. If it is, then he/she needs to treat with antibiotics (gram negative). Columnaris looks like fungus and is often misdiagnosed as such, the bacteria like to pile up on the surface making it look like a fungus. Columnaris (flexibacter) is aggressive and will multiply faster at higher temps so decreasing tank temps is usually advised.

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columnaris

So they still use it / recommend it even though it hurts the fish? pff then I guess in case someone's betta gets finrot for example, best thing to do is frequent water changes, right?

Also, does melafix have any bad side effects on normal fish? In example, guppies.

Well, so many people have success with melafix that they are quick to recommend it, it's not like they put a warning on the bottle to tell people not to use it.

I don't recall ever seeing anything negative about melafix (from peoples personal experiences, not hearsay) when used with non labyrinth organ fish (anabantids). I have it and would not hesitate to use it on any of my fish other than my gourami. I don't really consider it to be in the same category as other meds. I put it in with methylene blue, salt and heat, good stuff that can often work wonders without much potential for harm.

 

[FishBlast]

Then how come people use melafix on Bettas?

Because they don't know any better. They make a product called bettafix that is a diluted (20%?) form of melafix meleuca oil. I don't know myself, but I've heard that product causes problems too, it just takes longer. I do know that the labyrinth organ needs to function and oiling it down can't be helping it allot in my opinion.

If the OP has seen this before on other fish that died with similar symptoms, it might be columnaris. The OP should read up on it and look at some pictures and decide if that sounds like what he has. If it is, then he/she needs to treat with antibiotics (gram negative). Columnaris looks like fungus and is often misdiagnosed as such, the bacteria like to pile up on the surface making it look like a fungus. Columnaris (flexibacter) is aggressive and will multiply faster at higher temps so decreasing tank temps is usually advised.

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columnaris

So they still use it / recommend it even though it hurts the fish? pff then I guess in case someone's betta gets finrot for example, best thing to do is frequent water changes, right?

Also, does melafix have any bad side effects on normal fish? In example, guppies.

Well, so many people have success with melafix that they are quick to recommend it, it's not like they put a warning on the bottle to tell people not to use it.

I don't recall ever seeing anything negative about melafix (from peoples personal experiences, not hearsay) when used with non labyrinth organ fish (anabantids). I have it and would not hesitate to use it on any of my fish other than my gourami. I don't really consider it to be in the same category as other meds. I put it in with methylene blue, salt and heat, good stuff that can often work wonders without much potential for harm.

In case I'll ever have finrot, I'll probably try that out. But from what I remember, my guppies that got their tails chomped off (betta incident) re-grew them in less than a week. In fact, it looked as if they grew half of the tail back overnight.
So if I ever get that problem, changing water should fix it if it's not bad, right?

 

[afremont]

In case I'll ever have finrot, I'll probably try that out. But from what I remember, my guppies that got their tails chomped off (betta incident) re-grew them in less than a week. In fact, it looked as if they grew half of the tail back overnight.
So if I ever get that problem, changing water should fix it if it's not bad, right?

Lots of water changing is pretty much the best thing you can do. Given the chance, and good water and stress-free living conditions, the fish's immune system will often take care of many problems. For fin rot, in my opinion, you should change water, add some salt and wait to see what happens. If it doesn't start to heal, then you can start considering meds like antibiotics.

 

[FishBlast]

In case I'll ever have finrot, I'll probably try that out. But from what I remember, my guppies that got their tails chomped off (betta incident) re-grew them in less than a week. In fact, it looked as if they grew half of the tail back overnight.
So if I ever get that problem, changing water should fix it if it's not bad, right?

Lots of water changing is pretty much the best thing you can do. Given the chance, and good water and stress-free living conditions, the fish's immune system will often take care of many problems. For fin rot, in my opinion, you should change water, add some salt and wait to see what happens. If it doesn't start to heal, then you can start considering meds like antibiotics.

I never saw finrot in my life on my fish, but have had fish biting off each other's tails and such while I had bettas in the tank, they even picked on my poor catfish and made his back fin look like some ripped cloth. That's when I had to separate those fish from the tank and put them in some big bowl (I know, bad idea but I didn't know anything about bettas then). Odd that those fish (2 males and 2 females) never fought each other but would act as a pack to kill every tiny fish they could in the aquarium by removing their eyes / fins.
While they were alone in the bowl they usually sat each to their side of the bowl and didn't even touch each other's fins and rarely there was a flaring between a pair, same pair that spawned some eggs later on.

 

[onidrase]

it looks like whatever was there has gotten smaller, and it still doesn't have the fuzzy texture that it had when my tiger barbs had it. I'm kinda stumped, but I'll give it a day or two to see how it progresses.

I already lowered the tank temp and stuff, I know plenty about common diseases such as this. My biggest issue is that I've tried other medications to heal mouth rot that were really medications, and they didn't do anything. I wanted to try this stuff, since my fish are generally healthy and my water is always pretty close to tip top shape (not to mention I hate wasting away on my beneficial bacteria with serious meds) and see if they'd take care of themselves.