Growth on lips - what is this? Clear pics

[Aquaawesome]

Hi!

Please I hope you can help! I noticed something dif on the lips of one of my CPD in my 60 l tank. Couldn’t see it on anyone else in this tank (10 zebras, 5 CPD, 1 endler)

Went to my 30 l tank and 3 neon green rasboras had growths too!!!! (4 rasboras, 2 platy, 1 endler, 2 endler fry, 6 neocardina, 3 norman’s lampeye)

Tanks are fully cycled. Parameters good (same each tank): Nitrate 15, nitrite 0, GH under 14, KH 6, PH 7, clorine 0. Ammo 0.

Newly added: 2 platy to the 30 l 7 days ago. 10 Zebras to the 60 l 14 days ago. No quarantining.

 

[Ghostly]

It looks as though it could be mouth rot.
Is it protruding/fuzzy or more like the skin has just turned white?

 

[Fishfur]

There are two possible likely candidates for this and unfortunately one of them is columnaris. The other is fungal.

This is pretty early on to catch this so I would want to soak that lip lesion in methylene blue, just as it come from the bottle, something a vet taught me to do eons ago.

Used early enough, MB can cure columnaris but if not, then antibiotics are the only other alternative because it’s a nasty infection that is always fatal if not cured.

 

[Aquaawesome]

Hi Fishfur, thank you for answering. Is it possible to distinguish between the columnaris and a fungal infection? I lean myself towards columnaris after reading today but not sure of course.

I can't soak the lips - the rasboras are super tiny, would never be able to grab them.

I have read that salt can cure this? Do you believe this is true?

 

[Fishfur]

Hi Fishfur, thank you for answering. Is it possible to distinguish between the columnaris and a fungal infection? I lean myself towards columnaris after reading today but not sure of course.

I can't soak the lips - the rasboras are super tiny, would never be able to grab them.

I have read that salt can cure this? Do you believe this is true?

Salt can do nothing whatsoever for columnaris but I keep fish that size and it is possible to use MB even with these tiny little guys.

Catch it, in a very soft net. Enclose him in the net just long enough to squirt the MB from a syringe or dropper. It does not matter if the entire fish is covered in it - it’s not going to stick to anything other than the infected spot.

You can’t overdose it this way and it only stains where the slime coat is missing or damaged and nowhere else. It can’t hurt the biofilter used this way either.

You can rinse off excess in a bowl of tank water before putting the fish back in the tank or just put him back. The tiny amount of MB that rinsed off won’t be a problem.

Salt can help make osmoregulation easier for sick fish but it isn’t a cure for anything except nitrite or cyanide poisoning in fish.

Only a microscope could tell whether it’s fungal or bacterial at this stage and you’d have to get a sample from the lesion to examine first.

 

[Aquaawesome]

Ah okay, so I thought I had to only dip the tiny lips It's def doable then. Will it hurt his eyes? Maybe again stupid question. Would you seperate the infected guys from the rest? In the one tank with 15 fish it's only one who shows symtoms. But in the other one it's 3 out of 9.