Rainbow fish infected lip??

[Martyn87]

Hi All,

I could use a bit of help identifying what this is! I recently added 3 rainbow fish and 5 guppies to my newly cycled 350l tank. Cycle was fishless ammonia is 0 nitrites 0 ph 7.3 and GH 10 degrees. Tank is heavily planted low tech.

The fish were mail order as covid has shut down my local store. I didn’t notice any issues with the fish getting them out the bags but the next day the lip did look slightly larger and has continued to grow very slowly over the last two weeks.

What is it and what should I do, the fish doesn’t look to be in stress and is eating but is slightly more lethargic that the other two.

I don’t really want to medicate a new tank, Im thinking of just trying stress coat and hoping the healing properties sort it out?

Any guidance would be welcome.

 

[Colin_T]

It's just a bruised lip from swimming into the glass. It happens all the time with rainbowfish because they have soft mouths and panic a bit at night when they are in new tanks.

The best treatment is salt and clean water.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two for a couple of weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt in the tank for 2 weeks.
When you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the new water before it is added to the tank so the salinity (salt level) in the tank remains the same.

--------------------
You need a picture on the back of the tank to make the fish feel more secure.

--------------------
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

 

[Martyn87]

It's just a bruised lip from swimming into the glass. It happens all the time with rainbowfish because they have soft mouths and panic a bit at night when they are in new tanks.

The best treatment is salt and clean water.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two for a couple of weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt in the tank for 2 weeks.
When you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the new water before it is added to the tank so the salinity (salt level) in the tank remains the same.

--------------------
You need a picture on the back of the tank to make the fish feel more secure.

--------------------
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Thanks Colin

Appreciate the second view as I thought it was just bruising but I wasn’t sure.

The back of the tank does have a picture on it but I may also put a black piece on the sides too which may help.

My lights don’t come on until the afternoon and given the tank is in a large room close to a window which does get natural light they shouldn’t be getting spooked from lights on/off as they always have the natural lights out.