Another Neon Tetra with white growth on mouth

Hi experts.
Another case of Neon Tetra with white growth like and .

First saw the problem on Saturday (3 days ago). Moved to QT on Sunday. This Neon is 1 out of 6. I have had this since Late January (so about 3 months).

He is definitely unhappy in the quarantine tank. I moved him to QT looking up online and thinking this could be Columnaris. But after reading more from , this could be something else that's viral? Based on the pictures, can columnaris be ruled out? If this is not a problem or if its not contagious, I would like to move him back to main tank. I am yet to start any medication for this.

Another Tetra has a while coloration on his Tail and analfin. (Attaching that pic too)

Additional details:
Water temp - 79F. This is higher now since the weather is warming up.
Ph: 6.6
Ammonia and Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
Diet: Varied (Flakes, Sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen daphnia, frozen brine shrimp)

 

One has finrot the other has a tumor. Mine had this too. I would avoid neon tetras these days unless wild caught, as they tend to have bad genes. My guess is columnaris. I have dealt with it before.

One of the best ways to treat is to dose kanaplex and paragaurd at the same time. It works at early stages. Unfortunately, it may be too late. If it starts going down hill, euthanize is the best option.

 

One has finrot the other has a tumor. Mine had this too. I would avoid neon tetras these days unless wild caught, as they tend to have bad genes. My guess is columnaris. I have dealt with it before.

One of the best ways to treat is to dose kanaplex and paragaurd at the same time. It works at early stages. Unfortunately, it may be too late. If it starts going down hill, euthanize is the best option.

Thanks. What is the risk of spreading to others in the tank?

 

It is highly contagious and will wipe out your take. QT ASAP. How long ago did you notice symptoms? What other fish do you have?

 

One has finrot the other has a tumor. Mine had this too. I would avoid neon tetras these days unless wild caught, as they tend to have bad genes. My guess is columnaris. I have dealt with it before.

One of the best ways to treat is to dose kanaplex and paragaurd at the same time. It works at early stages. Unfortunately, it may be too late. If it starts going down hill, euthanize is the best option.

I did a round of Kanaplex and Furan-2 and it didn’t clear up the white mouth growth, and it hasn’t changed in appearance. My fish is still alive about a week now post-meds and seems otherwise healthy and still eating in quarantine. So maybe not Columnaris in my case?

Going to keep a really close eye on the other neons going forward, though.

 

Strange thing is this issue seems to be neon-specific.

 

Hi experts.
Another case of Neon Tetra with white growth like and .

First saw the problem on Saturday (3 days ago). Moved to QT on Sunday. This Neon is 1 out of 6. I have had this since Late January (so about 3 months).

He is definitely unhappy in the quarantine tank. I moved him to QT looking up online and thinking this could be Columnaris. But after reading more from , this could be something else that's viral? Based on the pictures, can columnaris be ruled out? If this is not a problem or if its not contagious, I would like to move him back to main tank. I am yet to start any medication for this.

Another Tetra has a while coloration on his Tail and analfin. (Attaching that pic too)

Additional details:
Water temp - 79F. This is higher now since the weather is warming up.
Ph: 6.6
Ammonia and Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
Diet: Varied (Flakes, Sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen daphnia, frozen brine shrimp)

Sorry to hear you’re dealing with it, too...these mystery illnesses are frustrating!

 

I literally had the exact same symptoms on a group of 11 neons. It was not neon tetra disease, thats for sure. Mine started getting the tumor things, and some of them didn’t really have lower caudal fish anymore. They acted normally for 6 months, eating, swimming, exploring. I did everything. Melafix, furan-2, kanaplex, paragaurd, everything. I finally euthanized because they didn’t really have fins anymore from the fin rot . It never affected the platy in the tank though.

 

Thanks Canacullus doughboy52 DoubleDutch

I have isolated the Neon Tetra with this mysterious White mouth disease. Canacullus To your question. I would say I saw the symptoms 4 days ago. This one was in the main tank for about 24 hours after symptoms showed where it could have transmitted on to others in the tank. The behavior was very normal - eating, activity levels, schooling, etc

If things look ok in a couple of weeks, I'll release him back to the main tank? He does not do well in the hospital tank possibly because of isolation and his schooling nature. Should the neon with finrot be isolated too? Its had it for 2 months now, and doesnt seem to pass on to others.

 

I would remove all neon tetras to treat. Columnaris is present in all water bodies. The bacteria are harmless as long as fish are healthy but if fish are stressed or unhealthy, the bacteria take advantage of them. There must be an existing issue already for them to get columnaris, if that's what the disease is.

 

Hi experts.
Another case of Neon Tetra with white growth like and .

First saw the problem on Saturday (3 days ago). Moved to QT on Sunday. This Neon is 1 out of 6. I have had this since Late January (so about 3 months).

He is definitely unhappy in the quarantine tank. I moved him to QT looking up online and thinking this could be Columnaris. But after reading more from , this could be something else that's viral? Based on the pictures, can columnaris be ruled out? If this is not a problem or if its not contagious, I would like to move him back to main tank. I am yet to start any medication for this.

Another Tetra has a while coloration on his Tail and analfin. (Attaching that pic too)

Additional details:
Water temp - 79F. This is higher now since the weather is warming up.
Ph: 6.6
Ammonia and Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
Diet: Varied (Flakes, Sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen daphnia, frozen brine shrimp)

What are the silvery-clear fish in your Last photo of the neon? I’ve never seen those before and they’re pretty cool looking

 

What are the silvery-clear fish in your Last photo of the neon? I’ve never seen those before and they’re pretty cool looking

Glass Catfish. I have 5 of them. Started with 6, one died about 6 weeks ago. Pretty cool fish. They mostly hang in the same place all day, but once the lights go down, they are all over the place.

I did everything. Melafix, furan-2, kanaplex, paragaurd, everything.

The Furan 2 and Melafix didn’t help with Fin rot?

 

No I used them together. It was far too late though. They had it for 5+ months at that point. Yours could be treated though. That was a rough start to the hobby, battling columnaris for half a year.

 

As Redshark continiously states : There are no meds that will solve the problem.
Clean water and a stressfree environment is the only thing that might help.
I think it really is a shame these cases aren't documented properly here on the forum : We have to
reinvent the wheel every time on a weekly basis.

 

As Redshark continiously states : There are no meds that will solve the problem.
Clean water and a stressfree environment is the only thing that might help.
I think it really is a shame these cases aren't documented properly here on the forum : We have to
reinvent the wheel every time on a weekly basis.

Yeah. Got it. I was specifically referring to the Neon with the fin rot. Maybe get that treated.

With the White growth, agree with you. Likely is a wait and see approach. Isolate in hospital tank still recommend or unnecessary? What is the consensus there?

 

Yeah. Got it. I was specifically referring to the Neon with the fin rot. Maybe get that treated.

With the White growth, agree with you. Likely is a wait and see approach. Isolate in hospital tank still recommend or unnecessary? What is the consensus there?

I'd say yes. I don't know how bad the neons are affected, but the chance it spreads isn't that big in my experience.
Stressfree isn't in an hospitaltank.

 

I'd say yes. I don't know how bad the neons are affected, but the chance it spreads isn't that big in my experience.
Stressfree isn't in an hospitaltank.

Thank you!

 

I could be mistaken but everything I see in the pics looks like Columnaris to me.

I would expect that once there are symptoms big enough to be seen with the naked eye the immune system has been compromised, the fish has been invaded and what you are seeing is the tissues being killed and fed on by the bacteria. That is why they appear white.

The fish come with the Columnaris bacteria present on their bodies in my opinion. The strain or strains of Columnaris here have originated in the fish farms as wild fish do not have it.

This disease can make you feel like a helpless beginner again! I know because I have fifty years experience in the hobby yet it happened to me and I couldn't stop fish dying. I have not found a single case of medications curing fish perhaps because the pathogen is by this stage inside and throughout what are tiny fish and difficult to fight.

Getting a disease-free Neon shoal is a lengthy process from this point and you can expect to lose badly affected fish, though fish displaying relatively minor symptoms may be saved by owners able to provide really good stress-free aquarium conditions for their fish.

It took me 18 months to get to the stage where I had a healthy shoal. When I had kept Neon Tetras previously (years ago) they had seemed robust and healthy.

 

I could be mistaken but everything I see in the pics looks like Columnaris to me.

I would expect that once there are symptoms big enough to be seen with the naked eye the immune system has been compromised, the fish has been invaded and what you are seeing is the tissues being killed and fed on by the bacteria. That is why they appear white.

The fish come with the Columnaris bacteria present on their bodies in my opinion. The strain or strains of Columnaris here have originated in the fish farms as wild fish do not have it.

This disease can make you feel like a helpless beginner again! I know because I have fifty years experience in the hobby yet it happened to me and I couldn't stop fish dying. I have not found a single case of medications curing fish perhaps because the pathogen is by this stage inside and throughout what are tiny fish and difficult to fight.

Getting a disease-free Neon shoal is a lengthy process from this point and you can expect to lose badly affected fish, though fish displaying relatively minor symptoms may be saved by owners able to provide really good stress-free aquarium conditions for their fish.

It took me 18 months to get to the stage where I had a healthy shoal. When I had kept Neon Tetras previously (years ago) they had seemed robust and healthy.

Great info. What I’m inferring from your post is that this isn’t an immediate threat to other heathy species in the tank, but the neons are especially susceptible to what’s already there in the fish?

What can be expected from a fish that receives treatment and doesn’t die? My neon is more than a week removed from completing a round of Furan-2 and Kanaplex in the QT. I would have expected it to have succumbed by now if it was infected and the meds didn’t work. It still has the white on its mouth but still eats daily and looks otherwise healthy. Is there potential for scar tissue on the mouth or for the white to go away after a while if the meds did indeed work?

 

I could be mistaken but everything I see in the pics looks like Columnaris to me.

I would expect that once there are symptoms big enough to be seen with the naked eye the immune system has been compromised, the fish has been invaded and what you are seeing is the tissues being killed and fed on by the bacteria. That is why they appear white.

The fish come with the Columnaris bacteria present on their bodies in my opinion. The strain or strains of Columnaris here have originated in the fish farms as wild fish do not have it.

This disease can make you feel like a helpless beginner again! I know because I have fifty years experience in the hobby yet it happened to me and I couldn't stop fish dying. I have not found a single case of medications curing fish perhaps because the pathogen is by this stage inside and throughout what are tiny fish and difficult to fight.

Getting a disease-free Neon shoal is a lengthy process from this point and you can expect to lose badly affected fish, though fish displaying relatively minor symptoms may be saved by owners able to provide really good stress-free aquarium conditions for their fish.

It took me 18 months to get to the stage where I had a healthy shoal. When I had kept Neon Tetras previously (years ago) they had seemed robust and healthy.

Thanks again Redshark1. Hopefully they all make it and get healthy. Either way, I am really tempted to say I will completely stay away from Neon Tetras for a while. Its a shame, because they are such beautiful fishes.

At this point, I have two in the hospital tank (One with the white mouth and one with the fin rot). Didnt move the other 4 Neon Tetras that I have. I can imagine they are bored out of their minds and probably stressed as well in the hospital. But now I have them isolated I am debating whether to try out some Kanaplex just to treat the one with fin rot? I do hate to keep them separated.

 

Either way, I am really tempted to say I will completely stay away from Neon Tetras for a while. Its a shame, because they are such beautiful fishes.

I’m feeling the same way right now

 

I have stayed away from treatment and worked on supporting the immune system with good husbandry as I believe this is the key to recovery and success.

I have seen with my own eyes white marks on the skin and fins disappear.

White in the body is muscle necrosis and I haven't seen recovery from this.

Often fish died because Columnaris had invaded the gills and rapid breathing was the symptom.

What are you expecting from treatment? Muscle necrosis means that the tissue is invaded by the bacterium, is now outside the control of the fish and therefore isolated from treatment. Antibiotics will not reach it and the bacterium can reproduce at will and spread.

Healthy Neon Tetras are available. In my area they all come from the same source, Hong Kong. There is a big difference in how they are handled and acclimatised when they arrive at the LFS.

I have a LFS that drip acclimatises them overnight and I have seen only one unhealthy Neon in the shop and they acted promptly in that case. I have never had a problem buying from them.

Other LFS have no clue about it, were losing 50 Neons a day, removed the dead ones before opening the shop, kept the remainder on sale and were asking me for information.

 

I have seen with my own eyes white marks on the skin and fins disappear.

Is that while in the main tank with other tank mates? I feel the main tank is way more stable in terms of temperature, ammonia, nitrite, etc. But there are semi-juvenile Angelfishes, Corydoras, Dojo Loach. Basically a lot of activity. No one is really aggressive towards my neons.

My LFS is quite good. They seem very knowledgeable (not everyone there, but I have my go to people). Definitely miles ahead of a Petco or Petsmart. But I am pretty sure they dont drip acclimate.

 

In the main tank without intimidation from other tankmates.

I even removed my Golden White Cloud Mountain Minnows as the males were chasing the Neons when spawning.

 

Exactly same issue... Same symptoms on Neon Tetras, other fish are not visibly infected, and disease resistance to all sorts of treatment (salt, antibiotics). It's not the virulent strain of Columnaris that kills quickly: it progresses slowly over their fins and mouth.

 

My fish is still alive more than 4 months later. The growth on his chin doesn’t seem to be getting any bigger. We feel bad for him because he’s a lone fish in our 10 gallon QT. But I’m too scared to put him back in the DT even though he now seems fine.

 

More than 6 months now and my neon is still looking completely healthy except for the white growth on its chin, which has long since stopped growing. At what point can this be considered benign and non-infectious? I feel bad for the poor fish that’s been alone in a QT for so long!

 

More than 6 months now and my neon is still looking completely healthy except for the white growth on its chin, which has long since stopped growing. At what point can this be considered benign and non-infectious? I feel bad for the poor fish that’s been alone in a QT for so long!

Do you have a picture?

 

Here it is. Always fun trying to get a good picture of a fish haha

 

Here it is. Always fun trying to get a good picture of a fish haha

hmmm looks like some abnormal growth rather than a disease.....maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in

 

More than 6 months now and my neon is still looking completely healthy except for the white growth on its chin, which has long since stopped growing. At what point can this be considered benign and non-infectious? I feel bad for the poor fish that’s been alone in a QT for so long!

3/4 of my neon are in the same condition. 1/4 seem to be resistant, as are other non-neon fish. So it is both contagious and not contagious... Those who are affected are just not dying. But they are eating up by this thing. One barely has any fin left. Antibios make no difference.

 

See something similar too. Its been several months now. I can see the condition progressing. All my neons have it and its slowly getting bigger, but they are still alive. And eating too. No others seems to be affected.

 

Wow. So, neon-specific disease that’s potentially contagious to other neons (while some may be immune), and no help from medicines. Sounds like a lot of people are experiencing the same thing. I guess it’s just a matter of risk tolerance for whether to reintroduce the fish with the other nine neons. Wish I had know about this before I bought neons!

 

Over the years multiple (hundreds) of threads have been on Fishlore about this issue.

Again and again the reactions / amswers are the same and treatment appears to be useless. Again and again Redshark1 has explained this condition.

Instead of reinventing the wheel again and again I ask again to add speciespecific diseases like this one to the specific forums as a sticky.
This counts for more diseases and conditions BTW (DGD, Red Blotch, NTD (which it is hardly ever))

 

Over the years multiple (hundreds) of threads have been on Fishlore about this issue.

Again and again the reactions / amswers are the same and treatment appears to be useless. Again and again Redshark1 has explained this condition.

Instead of reinventing the wheel again and again I ask again to add speciespecific diseases like this one to the specific forums as a sticky.
This counts for more diseases and conditions BTW (DGD, Red Blotch, NTD (which it is hardly ever))

That makes sense. What I haven’t seemed to find is advice on whether this is benign and can reintroduce my fish after nearly seven months in a QT.

 

On my fish this condition disappeared gradually over several months. My fish never got it again. I put this down to my work on the aquarium environment especially water quality.

I feel the environment in the typical aquarium is extremely poor for the maintenance of these fish when you compare their jungle stream natural habitat (which can be seen on youtube videos).

Blaming the quality of the fish isn't the be all and end all.

In my opinion something is below par if the fish still has this condition after six months.

 

On my fish this condition disappeared gradually over several months. My fish never got it again. I put this down to my work on the aquarium environment especially water quality.

I feel the environment in the typical aquarium is extremely poor for the maintenance of these fish when you compare their jungle stream natural habitat (which can be seen on youtube videos).

Blaming the quality of the fish isn't the be all and end all.

In my opinion something is below par if the fish still has this condition after six months.

That’s great that it went away for your fish. Can you elaborate on the environment being poor? My fish, which is getting neither better nor worse, has been in a cycled, bare-bottom, 10 gallon QT for these seven months. Consistent reading of 0/0/10 and weekly 20% water changes. The only thing that comes to mind for me is stress from being a lone fish in the tank. But it’s still brightly colored and looks otherwise healthy. Which again, brings me back to my question as to whether this is possibly a benign tumor and wondering if/when it’s safe to reintroduce him to my DT without endangering the neons and the other species. Or is it a risk worth taking so the fish is no longer on its own? If this was some infectious disease I’d think the fish would be dead by now.

 

That’s great that it went away for your fish. Can you elaborate on the environment being poor? My fish, which is getting neither better nor worse, has been in a cycled, bare-bottom, 10 gallon QT for these seven months. Consistent reading of 0/0/10 and weekly 20% water changes. The only thing that comes to mind for me is stress from being a lone fish in the tank. But it’s still brightly colored and looks otherwise healthy. Which again, brings me back to my question as to whether this is possibly a benign tumor and wondering if/when it’s safe to reintroduce him to my DT without endangering the neons and the other species. Or is it a risk worth taking so the fish is no longer on its own? If this was some infectious disease I’d think the fish would be dead by now.

When there is no info available, you need to experiment. You could reintroduce the fish and come back here in a month to tell us what happened. The possible outcomes are:
1. Everything stays the same (most likely)
2. The other neons develop symptoms (they probably have been exposed to the "disease" already, so not too likely)
3. Your sick fish gets better (unlikely)

Otherwise, you keep your sick fish in QT until it dies so you can measure how long it lives. Or you can cull the fish and move on.

Whatever you decide, it's useful information for everyone so please keep us posted. In my case, sick and asymptomatic are all together and with other species as well, and those who have no symptoms don't develop any. Those who do don't die and act "normally". So the risk seems low to reintroduce your fish.

 

When there is no info available, you need to experiment. You could reintroduce the fish and come back here in a month to tell us what happened. The possible outcomes are:
1. Everything stays the same (most likely)
2. The other neons develop symptoms (they probably have been exposed to the "disease" already, so not too likely)
3. Your sick fish gets better (unlikely)

Otherwise, you keep your sick fish in QT until it dies so you can measure how long it lives. Or you can cull the fish and move on.

Whatever you decide, it's useful information for everyone so please keep us posted. In my case, sick and asymptomatic are all together and with other species as well, and those who have no symptoms don't develop any. Those who do don't die and act "normally". So the risk seems low to reintroduce your fish.

Thank you! Your reply gives me much more confidence in the option of reintroducing the fish to the display tank. I wasn’t trying to be difficult or dense - I’m still very new to the hobby (~10 months) and trying to fully understand what I’m dealing with. I’ll mull it over a bit and will be sure to reply back with updates in this thread.

 

I moved my neon back to my display tank yesterday. Just wanted to reply to the thread to mark the date. I’ll update periodically on how things go! Poor thing is so much tinier than all the other neons after six months in quarantine, alone. Must have been pretty stressful