Mouth Fungus

[LolaLouie]

Hi,

One of my Pentazona Barbs has a white blob on the frount of it's mouth. It kinda looks fungus like so am worried it may be mouth rot or something.

My reading are Ammonia and Nitrite 0 and Nitrate is around 5.

Just wondering what causes it? Does it spread easily? How do you treat it? Is the treatment effective? And also any ideas of what else a white blob on the mouth could be?

Many thanks

Gemma

 

[LolaLouie]

Anyone have any advice on this??

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Gemma,

Sounds like you might have fungus (not you, your fish, you know what i mean).

What does it look like? Fungus usually looks like cotton wool growing on the fish. It can be caused by many things, but mainly stress or bad water conditions.

You have just about ruled out the latter, so maybe your fish is being bullied or something?

It is easily treatable. I would recommend using Waterlife Protozin. Your LFS should stock it.

It can spread to the other fish if not treated, but if treated it usually will stay contained to one fish.

Good luck, let me know how you get on.

Cheers

BTT

 

[LolaLouie]

Thanks. I have a very peaceful community tank so i'd be suprised if the fish is being bullied but I have only had him for under 2 weeks so possibly something from the shop or stress of moving?

Just wondering.. Does this stuff kill the bacteria in the filter? Can I just treat the one fish or do I need to treat the whole tank?

Thanks again for the advice.

Gemma

 

[backtotropical]

Hi,

It won't kill your filter bacteria. You can treat just the one fish if you have a seperate tank, but if not, just treat the whole tank. It's maybe best to do so anyway in case any the other fish have become infected.

Cheers

BTT

 

[LolaLouie]

Thanks so much, I will try to locate the stuff you recommended tomorrow. Do you know if the medicine is ok with shrimp (as I hear some meds aren't)

Am still confused though as there's so many conflicting things about it online.

Should I remove the infected fish from the tank? (I don't have a spare tank but could put it in a large bucket)

Should I euthanize the affected fish as so many sites recommend?

Some sites say it's really contagious and fatal while others say it's not such a big deal and is easily treated!!

Thanks

 

[LolaLouie]

Any Advice?

 

[backtotropical]

Hi again,

I'm not 100% about using it with shrimp. My understanding is that copper-based medication can be lethal to any invertebrate (including shrimp), so my advice would be not to expose the shrimp to the meds. Someone else may be able to provide better info on this.

If you have a bucket you could remove the fish to the bucket and treat it there, however i don't know if you have a spare mature fiilter to use in the bucket. If not, i'd recommend removing the shrimp to a bucket and treating the tank as shrimp produce hardly any waste at all and probably wouldn't need a filter. If you do this, be sure to cover the bucket as shrimp can be escape artists!!

As for euthanising the fish for a bit of fungus, that sounds absolutely outrageous to me. I have treated fungus several times with no fatalities. Fungus can be fatal if left untreated, it can engulf the whole fish and get pretty messy. However i certainly wouldn't recommend killing the fish for a bit fungus around it's mouth, and i would seriously question anyone who does recommend this practice.

I hope this helps you a bit.

Best regards

BTT

 

[rabbut]

Protozin is copper baced, thus will effect your shrimp. Most of the common antibactirial remadies can also effect shrimp. I personaly, however, don't remove my cherry shrimp when treating. I have found that leaving them in there means that the population of shrimp are resistant to the meds if you have to re-treat. This is resky however, and may result in many losses amongsht your shrimp. If I didn't have hundereds of the things, then mebe I'd pull them before treationg, but for me it's not practicaly possible.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[LolaLouie]

Hi only just got your replies and began treating yesterday. I got Protozin as recomended.

I asked at my LFS (the one that I have found where the guys are pretty helpful and appear knowledgable) and they asked what shrimp I had, when I told them Amano they said it should be fine!

Anyway so I have now added the meds to the whole tank... with shrimp in.. that was yesterday evening. This morning shrimp seem fine, one has just stolen the corys algae disk and swam off with it!

Should I remove shrimp before next dose? The problem is it's 4 doses over 6 days and I don't have another heater so I'm not sure about keeping shrimp in a bucket for 6 days.. and they've already been exposed to the copper or whatever is in it!

Any recommendations?

Thanks as always for advice

 

[WILDER]

In the uk for mouth fungus columnaris you need myxazin by waterlife and pimafix.

 

[LolaLouie]

I've already put protozin (as recommended by another member in), thanks for the advice though! Just keeping this thread open coz I'd like to know what to do about my shrimp!

 

[WILDER]

I would remove the strimp as they can not tolerate parasite meds.
http/www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/protozin.htm

 

[LolaLouie]

The link you posted said not to use with rays and momyrids... didn't mention anything about shrimp?!?

I think i'm just going to take the risk because they've already been in there for over 24 hours with the meds in which case the meds are in their system already. If I had a suitable place to put the shrimp I would definitely remove them.

If the worst happens then at least I know for next time.

Thanks for the advice though!