Mouth Slowly Disappearing?

[kuruptedseed]

One of my 2 /12 year old golden pristella tetras is developing something.. I have noticed his mouth is like literally disappearing over the last couple months! He still eats and swims normal. But it looks like his lips have disappeared and a small opening is now noticable! Anyone know what this is and can it spread to my other fish? Thx

 

[dnn3]

post this with pics in the trop emergencies and i'm sure wilder can help.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like columnaris once the mouth starts to rot away need to end there suffering.
Any other fish showing symtoms of white mouths.
http/www.articledepot.co.uk/article-29320.htm
Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, niitrite, nitrate, and ph.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm

 

[kuruptedseed]

Sounds like columnaris once the mouth starts to rot away need to end there suffering.
Any other fish showing symtoms of white mouths.
[URL="http/www.articledepot.co.uk/article-29320.htm"]http/www.articledepot.co.uk/article-29320.htm[/URL]
Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, niitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Just one of my golden pristella tetras has it.. None of the other fish in my 55gal have it.. I had a red eye tetra develop this last year in another tank and he lived several months after I first noticed it and began watching him.. No other fish from that tank ever developed it.

My Fish are: 17 black neon tetras-16 cardinal tetras-12 golden pristella tetras-9 vonrio tetras-4 albino cories-2 spotted silver dollars-sailfin pleco-striped raphael catfish

My stats are:
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 40 Reads 25-30 out of faucet
Ph 7.6 Reads 7.4 out of faucet
Temp 78 F
I have had these consistent readings for over a year now

Doesn't look as thou this fish has anything wrong with him..No white growths or anything out of the ordinary except like I said mouth seems to be slowly disappearing!

 

[WILDER]

If his mouths gone I would put him down bless him.

 

[kuruptedseed]

If his mouths gone I would put him down bless him.

A couple of more weeks and i'm sure it would have spread to his eyes... Thats how much of his mouth was gone... Strange how well he was eating and swimming! So, I went ahead and put him down this morning.. Took me 30 minutes to net him!! What a fighter down to the last second! I dropped him in a bowl full of icecubes and water while he was still in the net.. He splashed a few times and was history in just a couple of minutes maybe less... Thanks for the advice Wilder. I wanna keep a good eye on the rest of inhabitants.. What should I be looking for inperticular? I am slightly afraid of the other fish picking it up.. Thx again

Mikey

 

[WILDER]

Bless him but if his mouth has nearly disappeared did the right thing.
R.I.P.
Over the next few days plenty of water changes if you are worried add a bacterial med,.

United states maracyn one and two for mouth fungus columnaris to cover all bases.

 

[kuruptedseed]

Bless him but if his mouth has nearly disappeared did the right thing.
R.I.P.
Over the next few days plenty of water changes if you are worried add a bacterial med,.

United states maracyn one and two for mouth fungus columnaris to cover all bases.

Do you really feel the meds are necessary? I hate to medicate my tanks.. I had a fish come down with same thing last year in a different tank and all inhabitants were ok! What are some ways it could be spread? Is it in my water, plants, substrate or filters? Or would that infected fish need to have been in direct contact with others? If medication can be avoided that would be great! thx Wilder

 

[WILDER]

You don't have to add the med if the other fish are fine it's when fish are stressed they will be more prone to getting columnaris.
Columnaris lives in the background in a tank that why it's so important to keep up with maintance on a tank.
I would just do some water changes.
http/www.flippersandfins.net/flexibacter.htm