Pseudo Acei - Mouth Fungus?

[fishlover500]

I have a pseudo acei and noticed that he has a white "lump" - well it is sticking out quite a bit
It looks sord of cottony so i found out it may be cotton mouth?
It is located on the acei's lip on the right side
I looked for other symptoms and the fins seem to be okay
the breathing is a little slow if anything and the scales i am not
sure if they are a bit white around the edges

Is this cotton mouth? If not, what is it?
How quickly does action need to be taken?

 

[Colin_T]

If it looks white and fluffy then it is just a minor fungal infection that has grown on a damaged lip. Any anti-fungal treatment for fish tanks should clear it up. Often adding 1 heaped tablespoon of rock salt per 20litres of tank water, will clear it up too. If the tank is big you can catch the fish and add a drop of fish medication directly to the infected area.
Fungal infections usually occur on injured areas. Cichlids often scratch themselves on rocks or get into fights with each other. Under normal conditions the infection should not spread to the other fish.

If it is mouth fungus (Columnaris) then it can spread quickly. Columnaris is characterised by red inflamed mouth, which goes white but not fluffy. The white spreads over the mouth and face and the fish usually dies within a day or two of the symptoms appearing. Rift Lake Cichlids don't normally get Columnaris but they can if kept in really bad conditions.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

Before you treat the tank do a 50% water change and complete gravel clean. This will reduce the gunk in the tank and allow the medication to work more effectively. It will also lower the pathogen count in the water and mean there are less nasties around to infect the fish.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating otherwise it will absorb the medication out of the water.

 

[fishlover500]

the "disease" does have a white line above his mouth now and fluffy white stuff on the left side of mouth as well.
I have a quarantine/breeding tank that is not being used right now, it is 15 gallons, could I use that? And as u said
any fungus treatment would work? I assume that its normal fungus as it sticks out at least 2mm? Another reason
why I think it is normal fungus is the fish isn't dead yet and it's been a few days since I noticed. So do I put him
in quarantine then put fungus treatment in?

I don't think my cichlids are being abused - they are in a 65 gallon w/ 9times filtration and lava rocks and slate
I do a 15-25% water change weekly, last time I tested the nitrates were below 20

 

[Colin_T]

yep it is probably going to be cheaper to treat the fish in the spare tank. If you have a spare filter then that will help to keep the water clean. Don't have any carbon in the filter because it will absorb the medication.
Monitor the ammonia & nitrite levels in the quaranitne tank as some medicaitons kill off the beneficial filter bacteria. Also if the tank doesn't have an established filter then you could get an ammonia reading and that will make the problem worse.

 

[fishlover500]

I do have a cycled filter for it

Treat it w/ any antifungal infection?

 

[WILDER]

If its columnaris you need a bacterial med.
http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm

 

[fishlover500]

I am asking, is it columnaris?

 

[Colin_T]

it could be fungus (the white fluffy) and a bacterial infection, (the white line above his mouth). If you use a broad spectrum medication then it will treat both. Look for Wardley's Promethyasul, Waterlife protozin, or Triple Sulpha. They should all do the job and treat fungal & bacterial infections.
If you can post a pic of the fish we should b able to give a more positive id but if you use a broad spectrum medication it should treat the problem.