orangish red mouth

[fantasy fish]

Some of my male white clouds have an orangish red mouth, is it from fighting cause i have noticed on of my males without the red mouth has been chasing the other males. or is it a fungus or disease. I have 4 males, 3 have a red mouth and 1 female who also has a red mouth. it is a 25gal tank at about 80 F. not sure about ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are. haven't gotten test kits yet.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The temps a little hot so i would lower it down slowly a bit, do their mouths look intact i.e not eaten away or got odd texture to them? Do they have any other wounds on them that could be caused by fighting? Are they shoaling together and are they lethargic or breathing rapidly in comparison to how they normall breath?

 

[fantasy fish]

k i will lower the temp then, the mouths look intact, no odd texture the mouths are just colored. No other wounds on body that i can see, and they are schooling together looks like they are breathing fine. i went to the lps where i bought the white clouds and noticed that they had the same colored mouth, but i know when i bought them that their mouth was normal looking.

Thanks

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I have never kept white clouds myself and don't know an aweful lot about them, but it sounds like it is just normal coloring- somtimes when you buy a fish and it has been stressed out and underfed at the lfs, its colors are not very strong and after a couple of weeks of good care they start to realy show colors that they didn't have when in poorer health; it may be that this is just your situation hopefully .
I would still keep and eye out for any changes in their coloring and behavior, the only desease i can think of that would turn your tetras mouths orange is posibly septicemia although that is found more on the body and fins of the fish- mouth rot could also do this but as the names suggests, you would have to see at least some erosion of their mouths...Ammonia could also change the coloring although the fish's gills would most likely be red/sore looking aswell, i would just do a 30% water change with dechlorinator to help rule out the posibility of any water quality problems .

 

[fantasy fish]

k i will do a water change and keep an eye on the fish. if it is cause of ammonia levels should i just do a water change then too, if the gills get red looking? or is there then something i should buy to help with the ammonia

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

No just do water changes with dechlorinator to remove the ammonia, ammonia absorbing products will mess up your bacterial cycle and cause the tank to mini cycle which is bad- nothing beats a good old fashioned water change .

 

[fantasy fish]

k, can't do the water change today though, as it is the fourth of july and have a big family celebration! very awsome! Thank u tokis-phoenix

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Don't worry about it glad to help i hope things go well for your white clouds and you and the family celebration is a success