Cottonmouth on my rainbow fish?

[Chiguy]

I recently out in 3 rainbow fish and then three more a week later. After a few days I noticed their lips were white so I’m wondering if this is cottonmouth and I need to medicate the tank? No other fish seem to have it, and I’m wondering if I have mostly males and they’re just fighting?

Pictures of a couple attached. It’s more noticeable on some than others but 5/6 have some form of it.

Please help!

 

[Tacocat]

I personally have no experience with cottonmouth so I can't speak on that, but it looks to me that your rainbows have ich. I do want backup on this opinion as I've only had ich once, but even if it isn't there does seem to appear to be white spots.

 

[Fishfunn]

Looks like tail rot too? The one fish coming toward the camera looks like its got Ich as well.

 

[fishorama]

I agree with both tacocat & Fishfunn, your rainbows have more than 1 issue. I'm sorry. It looks to me like both ich & columnaris. Rainbows are prone to columnaris in my limited experience.

Since you're in the US, I think malachite green might be the best bet. I'm old school, so there may be other meds that can treat both.

What other fish do you have with them? Inverts you want to keep will not be happy w/malachite. It's copper based & will likely kill inverts (snails & shrimp) & stay in your tank forever or at least a really long time...

My first advice is to do large water changes before treating with any med. But treat every other day if that's the medication instruction. Vacuum well to remove both parasites & bacteria as best you can, then redose. It'll likely take 2 weeks at best. Good luck!

 

[Fishfunn]

Use Seachem Paraguard medication for the Ich and fin rot.

ParaGuard™ is a fish and filter safe medication that eradicates ectoparasites and fungal, bacterial, and viral lesions. It is suitable for treating ich, velvet, fin rot, flukes, and other infections of exotic fish.

 

[Chiguy]

I agree with both tacocat & Fishfunn, your rainbows have more than 1 issue. I'm sorry. It looks to me like both ich & columnaris. Rainbows are prone to columnaris in my limited experience.

Since you're in the US, I think malachite green might be the best bet. I'm old school, so there may be other meds that can treat both.

What other fish do you have with them? Inverts you want to keep will not be happy w/malachite. It's copper based & will likely kill inverts (snails & shrimp) & stay in your tank forever or at least a really long time...

My first advice is to do large water changes before treating with any med. But treat every other day if that's the medication instruction. Vacuum well to remove both parasites & bacteria as best you can, then redose. It'll likely take 2 weeks at best. Good luck!

Thanks for the thorough answer. Should I get these fish out of the tank to a hospital tank, and if I do will it prevent the other fish from getting it possibly? Or do I need to treat the tank no matter what now?

 

[fishorama]

I haven't used Paraguard but it sounds like a good med to try first! I haven't had both those issues in many years, separately, so I bow to more up to date info, as Fishfunn said! I hope it works well for you, Chiguy. Let us know how it works for your fish. Good luck!