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Kyanite14

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I got this guy two days ago and he looked healthy. Yesterday he developed a single white spot hanging off the edge of his fin. This morning he developed this white blister thing on his mouth, but the other white dot has not spread to any other fish or multiplied.

What is this and how can I treat it? I donā€™t have any space for a quarantine tankā€¦
4A36C5B2-1912-4490-91E6-640F2BBD2FEA.jpeg
 
looks to be columnaris on the mouth maybe...
I am not sure if a salt bath would work for gouramis but I have used salt on other fish with the same problem, and it has been treated
 
I got this guy two days ago and he looked healthy. Yesterday he developed a single white spot hanging off the edge of his fin. This morning he developed this white blister thing on his mouth, but the other white dot has not spread to any other fish or multiplied.

What is this and how can I treat it? I donā€™t have any space for a quarantine tankā€¦View attachment 310141
Looks like cottonmouth (columnaris)
I have not had much success in keeping dwarf gouramis as for treatment as sagooosh suggests you could remove it and if you have a small container treat it with salt, it is transmittable so be careful of your other fish.
 
Ok, I donā€™t have any right now but I will get some tomorrow when the store opens. I donā€™t think any of the kitchen salts I have are suitableā€¦

Would it be ok to just add it to the aquarium in case the others have caught it too? I have guppies, neons, and a nerite snail who apparently can tolerate brackish water.
 
First, never add any medication or do a "treatment" without knowing what the issue is. Any product added to the tank water does naegatively affect all fish in the tank, and if it is not going to do anything beneficial you are only making things worse for all the fish.

Second, this is not the normal columnaris, but it may be some bacterial issue. I have seen this years ago, I never treated because I really had no idea what it was and store people didn't help me much. So I let nature take its course. I would rather lose one fish than treat the tank and lose or weaken all of the fish. And I did do that in the distant past.

If I remember correctly, any fish with this lived for some time. And it did not ever show signs of spreading, which is the only thing I ever really worried about.
 
First, never add any medication or do a "treatment" without knowing what the issue is. Any product added to the tank water does naegatively affect all fish in the tank, and if it is not going to do anything beneficial you are only making things worse for all the fish.

Second, this is not the normal columnaris, but it may be some bacterial issue. I have seen this years ago, I never treated because I really had no idea what it was and store people didn't help me much. So I let nature take its course. I would rather lose one fish than treat the tank and lose or weaken all of the fish. And I did do that in the distant past.

If I remember correctly, any fish with this lived for some time. And it did not ever show signs of spreading, which is the only thing I ever really worried about.
Will he recover on his own then? My water parameters are good, I suspect it flared up from stress when I moved him home. He is glass surfing though, Iā€™m not sure what else I can do for stress, I wasnā€™t able to get him a partner.
 
I think it is probably Columnaris, a flavibacter infection that will not be cured without antibiotics. Being in a zone where I can't get antibiotics, I have no clue what to suggest. It is highly communicable, and bad news.

BUT

There is also a condition caused by mouth fighting, and that is a male GM dwarf gourami. They fight, and sometimes by grabbing each other by the mouth and wrestling. Rainbows get the same thing by brilliantly swimming into the glass at speed. That's what people are curing with salt, and what I usually clear by adding... nothing but clean water. That problem is white lips, no fuzziness.

I think I see a fuzziness in your photo the injury white mouth doesn't have. If it is columnaris, I'd be forced to choose a cruel option. I'd get him out ASAP. If the spots are fuzzy, I would euthanize him and hope for the others in the tank. Maybe it won't have spread yet. In isolation, if you don't have a heated, filtered hospital tank, he'll die from being cold (it's a heat loving fish). It's a lose lose between a slow death and a quick one.
 
I think it is probably Columnaris, a flavibacter infection that will not be cured without antibiotics. Being in a zone where I can't get antibiotics, I have no clue what to suggest. It is highly communicable, and bad news.

BUT

There is also a condition caused by mouth fighting, and that is a male GM dwarf gourami. They fight, and sometimes by grabbing each other by the mouth and wrestling. Rainbows get the same thing by brilliantly swimming into the glass at speed. That's what people are curing with salt, and what I usually clear by adding... nothing but clean water. That problem is white lips, no fuzziness.

I think I see a fuzziness in your photo the injury white mouth doesn't have. If it is columnaris, I'd be forced to choose a cruel option. I'd get him out ASAP. If the spots are fuzzy, I would euthanize him and hope for the others in the tank. Maybe it won't have spread yet. In isolation, if you don't have a heated, filtered hospital tank, he'll die from being cold (it's a heat loving fish). It's a lose lose between a slow death and a quick one.
I do have access to antibiotics, I wouldnā€™t know which one to use though.
 
It's either Columnaris or a fat lip. Columnaris will spread rapidly over the head and face (within 24-48 hours) and the fish dies during that time.

A fat lip occurs when the fish bumps into something and get a swollen lip. It can last for a week or two and doesn't spread.
 
Iā€™ve been using Kanaplex and it hasnā€™t really worked, but Iā€™ve had the fish for almost a week since the symptoms and itā€™s still alive. Itā€™s definitely not a fat lip though. Itā€™s changed a little bit and the white stuff has split to both lips without spreading.
 
It looks like columnaris to me, also. Kanaplex doesn't help much with this disease. You need a different anti-biotic and you need to treat the whole tank. Columnaris is a gram negative bacteria. There are several drugs that can help.

I have success with ERYTHROMYCIN. There are a few fish meds that contain this and it can also come as that name. Maracyn, (now Fritz Aquatics' Mardel Maracyn). API offers it. Some say because this drug mainly treats gram positive infections, something else should be used. So you may want to consider the popular one two punch of "the combo antibiotic treatment of Kanaplex and a nitrofurazone. If you cannot find Kanaplex, and alternative would be Mardel Maracyn 2.

The thing about columnaris is that it is noit just single variety. There are myltople strains of this disease which vary in lethality from the worst able to wipe out a tank in a few days with the fish never showing external symptoms. On the other end of the spectrum are varieties which can take months to kills fish. But you will see the external symptoms. Incidentally, it should be safe to conbine thee two Maracyns. Here is what Fritz says: "May be Used Along with CoppersafeĀ®, MaracynĀ® Two, or MaracynĀ® Oxy" https://fritzaquatics.com/products/...ts-by-disease/bacterial-infections-freshwater

I probably would have to say columnaris is the disease which I have had to deal with the most number of times over the years. I have only seen Ich twice. I have seen a few cases of wasting disease. I have pretty lucky with treating it. However, I have never had one of the more virulent strains which kill fast.

edited to add the following:

There are a number of antibiotics that can work agains columnaris. However, given the variety of strains and treating over time, some strains have developed resisitence to specific anti-biotics. Fow us as fish keepers who have no way to determine which srain out fish may have, we also do not know which would be either the most or least effective choice. This would argue in favor of the dual drug approach. I have never tried this however, so I cannot offer a first hand opinion.

Since this is only on one fish now and it isnt showing signs of being very ill, you might try using a hospital tank and treating just the one fish, A smaller tank means less medication is used. If you see other fish in the tank showing symtoms, this would change things, I would them return the fist to the main tank and teat it.

Columnaris can present in multiple ways, It is often called sddlenack disease because it startes as a white patch aon the fish at the base of the drorsal. It can also present as white patch on the body of the fish. I can also present in mutilpe locations. So you fish with the "mouth fungus" may develop white patches in its body or at the base of the dordsal.
 
Last edited:
Ok, I have one dose left of kanaplex and then Iā€™ll see if I can get the erythromycin
 
It looks like columnaris to me, also. Kanaplex doesn't help much with this disease. You need a different anti-biotic and you need to treat the whole tank. Columnaris is a gram negative bacteria. There are several drugs that can help.

I have success with ERYTHROMYCIN. There are a few fish meds that contain this and it can also come as that name. Maracyn, (now Fritz Aquatics' Mardel Maracyn). API offers it. Some say because this drug mainly treats gram positive infections, something else should be used. So you may want to consider the popular one two punch of "the combo antibiotic treatment of Kanaplex and a nitrofurazone. If you cannot find Kanaplex, and alternative would be Mardel Maracyn 2.

The thing about columnaris is that it is noit just single variety. There are myltople strains of this disease which vary in lethality from the worst able to wipe out a tank in a few days with the fish never showing external symptoms. On the other end of the spectrum are varieties which can take months to kills fish. But you will see the external symptoms. Incidentally, it should be safe to conbine thee two Maracyns. Here is what Fritz says: "May be Used Along with CoppersafeĀ®, MaracynĀ® Two, or MaracynĀ® Oxy" https://fritzaquatics.com/products/...ts-by-disease/bacterial-infections-freshwater

I probably would have to say columnaris is the disease which I have had to deal with the most number of times over the years. I have only seen Ich twice. I have seen a few cases of wasting disease. I have pretty lucky with treating it. However, I have never had one of the more virulent strains which kill fast.

edited to add the following:

There are a number of antibiotics that can work agains columnaris. However, given the variety of strains and treating over time, some strains have developed resisitence to specific anti-biotics. Fow us as fish keepers who have no way to determine which srain out fish may have, we also do not know which would be either the most or least effective choice. This would argue in favor of the dual drug approach. I have never tried this however, so I cannot offer a first hand opinion.

Since this is only on one fish now and it isnt showing signs of being very ill, you might try using a hospital tank and treating just the one fish, A smaller tank means less medication is used. If you see other fish in the tank showing symtoms, this would change things, I would them return the fist to the main tank and teat it.

Columnaris can present in multiple ways, It is often called sddlenack disease because it startes as a white patch aon the fish at the base of the drorsal. It can also present as white patch on the body of the fish. I can also present in mutilpe locations. So you fish with the "mouth fungus" may develop white patches in its body or at the base of the dordsal.
I couldnā€™t find nitrofuranzone, looks like API discontinued it. I can still get the erythromycin, but do you know of any brands that do still make nitrofuranzone? Heā€™s developed a patch on the base of his side fin now, and his mouth isnā€™t much better either.

I wouldā€™ve gone to the store sooner but I got sick and couldnā€™t leave the houseā€¦
 

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