Help - Tetra With White Blob On It's Mouth

[chrisjd]

Hi I'm looking for help identifying what is wrong with my neon Tetra. Here's a http/i.imgur.com/A6DEW. He has a growing white blob on one side of his mouth - it now reaches about half way across but he is still willing and able to eat. I thought it might be a fungal infection of some sort, so I've been treating with Primafix for a week but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any ideas what I should do, keep treating with Primafix, try a stronger anti-fungal or could it be something else?

 

[mikev]

Likely a columnaris infection. this is bacterial, you need antibiotics, not antifungals. If you cannot find antibiotics (kanamycin, furan are good choices), try acriflavin.

 

[benzenering]

Agreed, likely a bacterial infection.

I like to double up and use both gram positive and gram negative antibiotics on these, just to make sure I kill it all. I recently treated with both Maracyn and Maracyn 2, simultaneously, to kill a bacterial infection in my cichlid tank, which was apparently introduced by buying new fish.

Note that you may still lose the sick fish, though this one is particularly hardy as it has already lasted a week.

 

[chrisjd]

Thanks for the quick responses! I will check my local fish shop tommorow and see which antibiotics they have. One follow up question, would the anti-bacterials you have suggested be safe for use with snails as I have some assassin snails in my tank.

 

[mikev]

Antibiotics are always snail-safe, but may whack your biofilter.