White stringy lips on five Boesmani Rainbows and white bump on one German Blue Ram lip.

[smoosh]

Hi everyone! Today, I noticed a small white bump/lesion on the cheek of one of my German Blue Rams. It seemed to have appeared overnight. The bump doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much I’m just worried it could be a bigger problem. I've also noticed white growths on the upper and lower lips of five of my Boesemani Rainbows. The growths have a slightly stringy or cottony appearance. After research, I suspect it could be a bacterial infection like columnaris. Here are the tank parameters:

• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: 5-10
• Temperature: 25°C
• pH: 7

Let me know if you need any more information.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

It could be cotton mouth. To treat it you can use melafix but I might research how to treat it a little more. I do believe that your nitrate should be 0.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It's bruising/ fat lip from swimming into things. This is common on new fish when they go from a bigger tank into a smaller one or a tank that is a different size and has really clean glass. They often swim into things and because they have soft mouths, they damage their lips easily.

Keep the tank clean (big regular water changes & gravel cleaning, filter cleaning) and add some salt to prevent secondary infection. see directions below for info on salt.

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The blue ram has excess mucous under its jaw. The fish probably injured itself and is producing mucous to protect the injury. It should clear up by itself over a few days if the tank is clean. You can do a big water change and gravel clean to help speed things up.

-----

Rainbowfish need lots of plant matter in their diet and at least 50% of their diet should be plant based. Try to have some live aquatic plants in the tank for them to eat. Duckweed is a small floating plant that most rainbowfish love to eat.

------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

Keep the salt level like this for 1-2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[Essjay]

Melafix doesn't do much - it is tea tree oil.

 

[smoosh]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It's bruising/ fat lip from swimming into things. This is common on new fish when they go from a bigger tank into a smaller one or a tank that is a different size and has really clean glass. They often swim into things and because they have soft mouths, they damage their lips easily.

Keep the tank clean (big regular water changes & gravel cleaning, filter cleaning) and add some salt to prevent secondary infection. see directions below for info on salt.

-----

The blue ram has excess mucous under its jaw. The fish probably injured itself and is producing mucous to protect the injury. It should clear up by itself over a few days if the tank is clean. You can do a big water change and gravel clean to help speed things up.

-----

Rainbowfish need lots of plant matter in their diet and at least 50% of their diet should be plant based. Try to have some live aquatic plants in the tank for them to eat. Duckweed is a small floating plant that most rainbowfish love to eat.

------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

Keep the salt level like this for 1-2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

Thanks, Colin, I've added API aquarium salt. I will keep an eye on it. Also, I forgot to mention that they've been in the tank for about a week now.

Thanks.

 

[smoosh]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It's bruising/ fat lip from swimming into things. This is common on new fish when they go from a bigger tank into a smaller one or a tank that is a different size and has really clean glass. They often swim into things and because they have soft mouths, they damage their lips easily.

Keep the tank clean (big regular water changes & gravel cleaning, filter cleaning) and add some salt to prevent secondary infection. see directions below for info on salt.

-----

The blue ram has excess mucous under its jaw. The fish probably injured itself and is producing mucous to protect the injury. It should clear up by itself over a few days if the tank is clean. You can do a big water change and gravel clean to help speed things up.

-----

Rainbowfish need lots of plant matter in their diet and at least 50% of their diet should be plant based. Try to have some live aquatic plants in the tank for them to eat. Duckweed is a small floating plant that most rainbowfish love to eat.

------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

Keep the salt level like this for 1-2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

Hi Colin,

Thank you for your advice regarding the white growths on my Boesemani Rainbows and the bump on my German Blue Ram's cheek. It's been a week since I added the salt as you recommended, but unfortunately, I haven't noticed any improvement in the rainbowfish. The white growth on my rainbows hasn't spread to my other fish though. However, I'm relieved to inform you that the blue ram's bump has healed.


On another note, I've encountered a new issue with my dwarf gourami. It has a red wound on its side. I'm unsure how it occurred and I've been considering using sulfaplex to treat it. Do you have any suggestions on how to treat the wound or any possible causes for it?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Fishies4Ever]

How big is your tank and how many of what fish is in it?

 

[smoosh]

How big is your tank and how many of what fish is in it?

Its a 75 gallon stocked with 8 Boesmani rainbowfish, 10 neon tetras, 6 cherry barbs, 1 dwarf gourami, and 2 german blue rams.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

In some of the pictures of the rainbow fish it looks like they are almost peeling. I am not sure what that is but just figured I would point it out to people who have more experience. The dwarf gourami could be getting bullied by someone in the tank or could have gotten scratched on something in the tank. He does kind of look a little bloated. Have you tested for ammonia, nitrites, etc?

 

[smoosh]

In some of the pictures of the rainbow fish it looks like they are almost peeling. I am not sure what that is but just figured I would point it out to people who have more experience. The dwarf gourami could be getting bullied by someone in the tank or could have gotten scratched on something in the tank. He does kind of look a little bloated. Have you tested for ammonia, nitrites, etc?

Thanks for your response. I actually did test the water parameters, and the results showed that ammonia and nitrites are at 0, while nitrates are close to zero. So water quality doesn't seem to be the issue.

As for the rainbow fish, you're right about some of them appearing to peel while also showing signs of cottony growth around their mouths. Regarding the dwarf gourami, I haven't noticed any bullying behavior in the tank, but it's possible that it got scratched on something like driftwood. Upon further inspection, the dwarf gourami does look a bit bloated as well.

Given the situation, I'm considering using sulfaplex to treat the wound on the dwarf gourami. I still have salt in the tank. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any other suggestions or recommendations?

 

[Colin_T]

One of the rainbowfish has lots of excess mucous on its face. Make sure the tank and filter is clean. Do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Make sure there are no chemicals getting into the water.

The gourami looks like it has a physical injury but it could be the start of an ulcer. The sulpha medication might work but if it's an ulcer, the fish will probably die.
You can use the sulpha with salt in the water.