Something Is Wrong With My New Rainbow! :(

[funnibunni80]

OK, I just bought a few new fish. Ok... a few is putting it mildly. I just restocked my tank. I have an established tank that has been up and running for... about 6 months or so, I can't remember. It had 3 large goldfish in it & 3 corries. I just moved them to a larger tank.

The tank is a 26 us gal tall. I am running a Penguin 200 w/ charcoal cartridges. Additionally, I just added a UGF to aid in the filtration process. (Plus some extra gravel.) I didn't quarentine any of the fish, because they are all new. I figured that the gf produced so much waste that the bioload would be okay. The new residents are:

3 tourcoise rainbow fish
2 black skirt tetras
3 corys (Not sure what kind) &
4 Oto cats

I tested the water. Ammonia - 0ppm, NO2 - 0ppm, NO3 - 20ppm, pH - 7.5 (same as tap)

I am not sure about the Aquascaping yet, so I just have the plastic plants that were in there before.

Here's the problem. Yesterday (when I brought home the fish) I noticed that the mouth looked unusual. It looks like something is hanging from it's lower lip. But, I am just used to goldfish, so i ignored it. Today, I notice that two of the rainbows have this thing on them, and one does not... The one that doesn't have one... he looks life he HAD one, but that it had been torn off. I have had no problems between fish this far. Here is a picture I took... the 2nd one is the same as the 1st, but zoomed in.

What is this thing hanging from his chin? is it natural? Or something I need to treat?

(The previous occupents are healthy. I have NEVER had any diseases in this tank.)

Thanks for any help you can give!!!

 

[Hobbs]

He has mouth fungus. Any of the funal meds will help with this. Too bad you didn't quaranteen them first and you wouldn't have had to treat the whole tank but what's done is done.

If you had gold fish in the tank prior to him, I think I would have removed the UGF and cleaned under it. Gold fish are very dirty and it's probably nasty under that filter. I ended up removing my UGF very gently without making too much of a mess and then doing a vacuuming.

 

[Parin]

Actually, in the case of rainbowfish, it most likely is not a fungus, but a bacteria.
The columnaris bacteria. Rainbows are very sensitive to it, especially when stressed or introduced into a new water environment.

Put it the fish in a quarantine tank and threat it for Columnaris bacteria. There are various products on the market nowadays.

It's infectious so be careful for the other fish. Usually when a rainbow is healthy and at ease, their immune system can fight of the bacteria. But when stressed, the bacteria wins. If you keep the fish in very clear and clean water with the exact correct parameters and feed him healthy foods, he might heal himself. But the disease can be lethal, so if the infection spreads too much, you might have to euthanize him.

However, not to make you too depressed, several of my rainbows have had columnaris infection (usually right after I purchased them, so weakened by stress). But I have not lost any. Short threatment, destressing, healthy foods and they all healed quickly and are now very happy.

Good luck!

 

[BigC]

With a higher pH 8 - 8.5 and a little added cooking salt will soon solve this trait with rainbows. They are best suited IMO to a species tank where correct water parameters can be achieved to the benefit of the species involved.
Regards
BigC