Rainbow Fish With Bruised Mouths

[gerrykleier]

I have some new Rainbow fish. They were placed in a ceramic bowl while mixing water from my tank with water from their old home so as to enable them to adjust to the new PH etc. A couple of them seem to have bruised their mouth on the surface of the bowl, and a slight case of mouth rot (I guess) has developed on them. There is no sign of 'fluff' on the mouth, but the some of the tissue seems to be missing, and there is a white or faded appearance to the end of the lips. It has gotten worse over the past day. There are no other signs of disease and all are active and eating. The tank is newish, but has gone through the Nitrogen cycle just fine and the PH, hardness, temp etc are in the good zone (6.8 PH). There is no ammonia present nor Nitrites or Nitrates showing up on the tests. About 10 gallons was changed the day they were put in. It is a planted 55 Aquarium with a Cylinder CO2 injection system. The plants are thriving. None of the other fish seem to have any problems with the exception of 1 Cory Cat which developed a small whitish spot on its tail fin just today. Not an ich spot, and it's tail is unfrayed. There are a number of other fish, but the Aquarium is not overstocked. Nothing in the tank is aggressive.

What do I do? Dip the fish in some medication? (If so what, how long etc.) Feed them medicated food? Quarantine? Use Antibiotics? Don't worry? What would you recommend?

Thanks,

GK

 

[WILDER]

Sound like columnaris false name mouth fungus.
Once the mouth start rotting away bad news best to destroy the fish.
The white spot on the cory does it have a circling of red on the outside of the spot or a red centre.

For columnaris in the uk myxazin and pimafix.
United states maracyn one and two.
http/www.articledepot.co.uk/article-29320.htm

 

[gerrykleier]

The cory's spot has grown larger. Not red, white puffy or cottony patch. His barbels may have been eroded some. The rainbow fish look the same. Will the Maricyn 1 & 2 kill the 'good bacteria' in the filter?

Thanks for your reply!

GK

 

[WILDER]

Yes maracyn one and two might knock your water stats abit, but I would still medicate the whole tank.
Good luck.

 

[gerrykleier]

I'll do it today.

Thank you for your time!

The link to the article didn't work, BTW.

Thanks again,

GK

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.
http/www.flippersandfins.net/flexibacter.htm

 

[gerrykleier]

The photo with in the article below (Rainbow Fish with Issues) is pretty close to what I'm seeing, so I assume that's the COLUMNARIS bug. The catfish has a cottony spot on the tail and his barbels are degraded and have a slightly whitish tinge look to them. Presumably M1 & 2 will also work on him? Should I also use something like FUNGUS CLEAR (contains Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone and Pot. Dichromate) in case it is a Fungus infection and not bacterial? Will either Fungus Clear or Maracyn 1 & 2 harm shrimp? How long until I see signs of improvement?

You've been very helpful. I've bookmarked the site!

Thanks again,

GK

 

[WILDER]

Columnaris is bacterial.
What substrate to do you have as sharp gravel can wear the barbels down.

 

[gerrykleier]

A dark colored substrate that is good for plants-sorry but I don't remember the name. It is larger and not smooth. The Rainbowfish seem to be coming along. The white strips along the top of their mouths/front of their mouths have not really changed. I'm beginning to wonder if they actually had an infection, or that the whiteness was just from rubbing against the ceramic bowl they were in. I'll keep the Maracyn regime going.

The cottony growth on the Cory's tail has not decreased in size. I segregated him in a small tank and am treating him with Fungus Clear. I'll also continue to use antibiotics. Since there's no change in 2 days, what should I do?

Thanks.

 

[WILDER]

For columnaris in the united states maracyn one and two.

 

[CarbonDreams]

Almost all rainbow fish are carriers of columnaris, and it really isnt anything to worry about. many rainbow fish keepers have this problem and it is basically impossible to get rid of. After a largish water change it should go away. Rainbow fish are considered good indicator species for water quality. if one of your bows start to show this, it is time to do a water change.

I wouldnt worry too much, and definitly would not start medicating your whole tank. just keep up on the water changes, and they will heal themselves.

 

[WILDER]

No nothing about rainbows carries of columnaris, but a bad strain of columnaris can wipe a tank out in a day.
I would still medicate the tank if other fish are showing symtoms.

 

[CarbonDreams]

Ive been keeping rainbows for years, and I have had this come up, but if you google say, boesmani+columnaris you will see a number of comments about this. www.bowheads.org, the website dedicated to rainbow fish, has a number of threads about it.

heres just one link I found for reference

http/www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/forum/...php?t-2968.html

 

[WILDER]

Thats fine carbondream never heard of it before.

 

[gerrykleier]

I'll read the link later today. Thanks.

I'll keep medicating through the Maracyn 1 & 2 cycle of 5 days then stop. I've already starte, might as well see it through to the end! They are Boesman's Rainbows BTW....

The cotton fluff on the Corys tail has dropped off (maybe due to being netted?), and I can see that he has lost a small amount of fin. There is also a red streak in the tail, which seems to be definitive for bacteria. I'll keep on with the M 1 & 2 with him and see what happens. There is also Fungus Clear in his recovery tank in case it's fungus, but I won't bother to put any more in.

That seem like the plan?

Thanks again to all!

GK