Very Strange

[Just_Another_One]

i was checkin out all the fish in the tank to make sure everyone was alright and i noticed some white fuzz cotton stuff around the tip of one of my bosemani rainbows mouth...... i rushed to the basement and quickly set up a lil spare tank for him for a salt treatment to see if that would help(its all i have on hand) just till morning time.... tank was set up with filter, heater , wc, salt....when i came back to scoop mr cottoney out of the tank i couldnt figure out which one it was because there was NO MORE WHITE STUFF ON ANY OF THE RAINBOWS MOUTHS............ i was gone about 30 minutes to set up the tank. just trying to figure out what happened to the white stuff?? ill be keeping the isolation tank going and moniter all the fish for a week or so very closely to make sure it didnt just fall off and grow back. ive never really had a desiese in my tank since i started the hobby almost 2 years ago so im a little bit worried...

 

[LauraFrog]

Keep a very close eye on them. I don't know what it was or where it might have gone, but white fuzz on the mouth is usually columnaris. It's bacterial and often rapidly fatal. It responds to tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chloromphenicol, maracyn, just about any available antibiotic actually. I have cured a mild strain with salt, but I have also had a strain that kills in 18 hours, before even antibiotics could save the fish.

If it is tetracycline, isolate the affected fish, decrease the temperature and treat with antibiotics. DO NOT put antibiotics in the main tank, they will kill the bacteria and you will have to try to cycle the tank around all of those fish.

 

[Colin_T]

white fluff is fungus, whereas a white mouth or red inflamed mouth with white is columnaris.
rainbowfish have soft mouths and often bump into the glass, especially new fish. The end of their nose goes white but it is not columnaris and is simply bruising. Sometimes they will get a bit of fungus on the site but if the tank is in good conditions that won't happen. If they do get fungus then increase the water movement, add a powerhead or couple of airstones, and add some salt if there aren't any corydoras or discus in the tank. Use 1 heaped tablespoon per 20litres of tank water.

 

[Just_Another_One]

Keep a very close eye on them. I don't know what it was or where it might have gone, but white fuzz on the mouth is usually columnaris. It's bacterial and often rapidly fatal. It responds to tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chloromphenicol, maracyn, just about any available antibiotic actually. I have cured a mild strain with salt, but I have also had a strain that kills in 18 hours, before even antibiotics could save the fish.

If it is tetracycline, isolate the affected fish, decrease the temperature and treat with antibiotics. DO NOT put antibiotics in the main tank, they will kill the bacteria and you will have to try to cycle the tank around all of those fish.

i just pray that in the morning there is no white fuzz or i dont know what im going to do....

i know you listed the names of the medicine up there but is that the chemical name or the common name?? ill be going to big als tomarrow anyways to pick up some more plants so maybe i can grab some medince for the fuzz as well. ive never really had a deisese before in my tank so its a bit scarey. my betta in a septerate 6 gallon tank had a white fuzz on his cheek the other day but i gave him a tablespoon of salt and it was gone the next day...

the fuzz isnt back yet so hopefully it will all be alright.

 

[Just_Another_One]

i no you said no salt if ive got corys in the tank but what about a pleco would it be able to handle a salt treatment...

 

[Colin_T]

Common plecostomus can tolerate some salt but smaller species like Peckoltias aren't happy with salt.

The chemicals/ medications listed above by LauraFrog are the common and medical names. Most will be prescription medications and you will require veterinary assistance to obtain them. They are all pretty strong antibiotics and should not be used willy nilly. Antibiotics will not work on fungal infections. If the fish had white fluff on its mouth then they won't make any difference to it. The antibiotics will however wipe out your filter bacteria hence the reason you need to treat fish in a separate tank. But don't bother buying them because the fish doesn't need them.

Regular water changes & gravel cleans, and a clean well established filter will help to prevent most diseases. If the fish do develop a problem, quite often a couple of big (50-75% done once a day) water changes and a complete gravel clean will help clear it up.

 

[SharonCC]

If it's gone , maybe he picked up somrthing off the substrate...had you fed anything that might have looked like what you saw?

 

[Just_Another_One]

Just woke up and am happy to report there is no more white fluffy stuff around anyones mouth or at all on their bodies .i didnt feed anything unusual though they had some frosen bloodworms the night before... im sure what i saw was definitly not nomal it looked like a bit of cotton puff had been placed around his mouth..... i guess they just felt like putting me through a little scare they sometimes do... well im off to do a water change as reccomended and then going to buy some new live plants.
Thanks everyone

 

[Syphoniera]

A few times now, when I've been feeding various fish frozen bloodworms, I've had a bit of a temporary shock as a white and rather fluffy-looking bit of bloodworm protruded from somebody's mouth.
It looked rather a lot like a nasty bit of fungus, just long enough to make my heart skip a bit...