# growths on rainbow fishs mouths



## SuperFish (Mar 17, 2011)

I have 3 banded rainbowfish (1 male, 2 females) in my filtered/heated 60L tank. The tank also has quite a few live plants and plenty of swimming space. I've had them for nearly 2 weeks now and about 3 days after I got them i noticed that all 3 of them had small white tuffty-looking growths on thier mouths.

The fish were in good shape when I bought them and there were no sick fish in the shop tank. My tank was well matured (I kept some tetras in there for 8 months - which I have now moved to a bigger tank - and I never had any problems with) and I did a 20% water change and gravel vac after I noticed the growths and treated them with "Aquamater Fungus Cure" and repeated the treatment after 3 days (as it says to on the bottle) I also added 3 tablespoons of aquarium salt (as recommended by my lfs where I bought the fish along with the fungus meds) to the tank.

Its now been nearly a week since I started the treatment and the growths are still there. They haven't spread or changed size either and the fish are still eating like normal and swimming around, sometimes they shake their heads a bit (trying to get rid of the things on thier mouths?) but other than that thier behaviour is normal.

Just want to know why the treatment didn't work and if it was something else (not fungus as I treated for), why didn't the growths get any bigger.








Heres a picture of my boy - you can kinda see the white in the photo.
Pictures by rainbowfishies1 - Photobucket
heres a link to a few more photos.

I'm just worried about what it could be if the fungus meds didn't work and that it might spread to thier fins/bodies or something.

Any help appreciated


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

What's the active ingredient of your fungus med? Fungal infections are extremely rare and it certainly is NOT what you are dealing here with. Maroxy is the only true fungal med. A lot of actual bacterial infections are often mistaken for fungal infection. What you are dealing with is columnaris. Mild cases require only a teaspoon up to three teaspoons per gallon of sodium chloride.

Are these the only fish you have in the tank? If not, separate all rainbowfish and treat separately. Add a teaspoon per gallon of salt every 12 hours until you reach three teaspoons per gallon of salt total dose. It should be sufficient enough to keep bacteria from latching on the mouths.

Severe cases will require antibiotics but you don't need to use antibiotics at this point. Which antibiotics do you have access to? Kanamycin (more effective in alkaline water), tetracycline (more effective in acidic water), a combination of Maracyn and Maracyn 2, Maracyn Plus or Jungle Fungus Clear is required for severe columnaris cases.


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## SuperFish (Mar 17, 2011)

Active ingredients in the meds are:
2.00mg/ml acriflavine and
0.40mg/ml malachite green

Yes these are the only fish in the tank at the moment, its a 60L tank so I'm not 100% sure but would that be around 15 gallons? How long should I keep the 3tps/gallon salt concentration up for (this would be to strong for an extended amount of time wouldn't it?)


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Give it a week at least to see if there are improvements. Your med is antibacterial and anti-protozoal. I'd just focus on salt for now.


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

Rainbows are very susceptible to this "white lip" as I call it. They need very clean water so extra water changes and being very diligent on keeping your nitrates as low as possible should clear this up. It is not uncommon for a lot of rainbowfish keepers to do at least 50% water changes each week. I used to have Boesemanis and if I slacked off on water changes they were the first to show it. There lip would start to get the little white growth. A couple extra water changes that week would usually clear it up. I didn't need to treat with anything. But if you let if get out of hand then an antibiotic may be needed. You may want to increase your weekly water change to about 40-50%.

Also, I think your tank may be too small for these fish.


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

This is interesting, and I have some comments. I have dwarf (neon) Rainbows and I notice that if I'm not diligent about water changes, (which I am) they too get a small thing on their lip, and as soon as I change the water it does go away. But I'm not sure that is what this post is about. Even though you can't tell by the picture, I'm wondering if what is described is more of what looks like white stuff in the mouth - like they have cotton in it??? 

That's what I read in description. I have been looking at Boeseman Rainbows at PetCo, but they also have this white stuff in their mouth, so I haven't purchased them. 

There are other posts here that describe this,but it's not being diagnosed. The person who's tetra had it, did die.

I'd like to hear how it clears up, if it does with salt, or whatever you use. May help me decide whether I should get these fish that have this and QT from my fish and treat. 

Gwen


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

SuperFish said:


> I have 3 banded rainbowfish (1 male, 2 females) in my filtered/heated 60L tank. The tank also has quite a few live plants and plenty of swimming space. I've had them for nearly 2 weeks now and about 3 days after I got them i noticed that all 3 of them had small white tuffty-looking growths on thier mouths.
> 
> The fish were in good shape when I bought them and there were no sick fish in the shop tank. My tank was well matured (I kept some tetras in there for 8 months - which I have now moved to a bigger tank - and I never had any problems with) and I did a 20% water change and gravel vac after I noticed the growths and treated them with "Aquamater Fungus Cure" and repeated the treatment after 3 days (as it says to on the bottle) I also added 3 tablespoons of aquarium salt (as recommended by my lfs where I bought the fish along with the fungus meds) to the tank.
> 
> ...


Okay, I re-read it, and does sound more like stuff caused by water quality. My bad.

Gwen


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