# Weirdest and most disturbing thing I've seen yet



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I've got a school of 9 bloodfin tetras, and I've lost two over the past few weeks, one I had to put down, and another died of natural causes, but it looks like others are starting to be affected, and I'm getting worried.

Their faces appear mangled. Some just have their mouths twisted and constantly open. Three of the eight in the main tank have this going on, and the two that have died both had it. The one I put down I had to do so because his eyes were bugging out as well. At first I thought it was an accident, that I smashed his face in the net when transferring him from my QT to the main tank, but now it looks like it's some sort of infection.

What in the world is going on? Are my bloodfins doomed?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Bulged eyes could have been a sign of popeye. Not sure if that may be what it is going on, but it is fairly easy to cure.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> Bulged eyes could have been a sign of popeye. Not sure if that may be what it is going on, but it is fairly easy to cure.


Alright, how do you cure it?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Believe either melafix or pimafix cures it. Petsmart has numerous meds that will work also.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> Believe either melafix or pimafix cures it. Petsmart has numerous meds that will work also.


I would rather let the bloodfins die, honestly, because the last time I medicated my main tank it killed off almost all of my RCS. If I quarantine, however, could I medicate them in the QT tank, or would I need to treat the whole main tank?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Put them in quarantine to medicate. It's actually better and cheaper that way.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I took some fairly drastic measures to treat whatever the affliction that is affecting my bloodfin tetras is.

I pulled everything out of my main tank. Literally everything - rocks, plants, driftwood, everything.

Netted out my pleco, frogs, Nerite Snail and Amano Shrimp and stuck them in my 10 gallon. Netted my RCS (as many as I could find) and my clams and stuck them in my 3 gallon.

Medicated the main tank with API Melafix, cranked the temp, and added API aquarium salt. The main tank now is home only to my tetras and rasboras, and stuck a handful of my plants in there to float so the fish can have a hiding place.

It's horrible - half of the bloodfins are missing their mouths. It's grotesque, and I have no idea what it is. I've been researching and I've come to the conclusion it's either pop-eye (though, their eyes do not seem affected), or cotton-mouth, though instead of having "tufts" of fungus about their mouths, they are in fact missing chunks of their mouths.

Oddly enough, they are still eating. And the rasboras do not seem affected.

Aquarium FD - Cotton Mouth - Disease Identification, Diagnosis & Treatment

If anybody has any thoughts, I could really use them. It doesn't look good from my end. Might have to cut my losses and rebuild the tank from the ground up.


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## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Alright, how do you cure it?


ive heard to cure popeye just mix some spinach with olive oil...


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I don't think its pop eye, I think you have some underlying problems that Melafix won't help much with. Sounds like with the tetras its already to late as they won't grow their mouths back. If the rasboras aren't showing any symptoms it could possibly something that it just related to the tetras.
I really hate to say this but I think your best bet would be to put the tetras down. As the damage is to far gone for repair and will never be normal. Keep treating the rasboras for about a week to 10 days to make sure they don't come down with anything.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

M1ster Stanl3y said:


> ive heard to cure popeye just mix some spinach with olive oil...


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Hmmm...I thought you said their eyes were bugging initially. It is bacterial or fungal, that's for sure. I would never go to that extent with treatment as far as tearing apart the tank. Could just end up causing other problems.

Did these fish go into your qt before adding them to your tanks? From what I know of cotton mouth, it is similar to fin rot and mostly comes on fish from the store. Just curious. I sometimes risk adding fish directly to my tanks without a qt period. Mostly it works out okay. The ones I have to always make sure I do is Guppies.


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## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

Quote:
Originally Posted by M1ster Stanl3y 
ive heard to cure popeye just mix some spinach with olive oil... 



jrman83 said:


>


i was waiting for someone to get that


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

It's definitely cotton mouth, I've been doing some research. My source is below:

Cotton Mouth Disease In Aquarium Fish

jr - One fish in the beginning was pop-eyed, but I think it was because his face was so far gone.

susan - I QT'd my tetras in batches of 3 in my 3 gallon for a full week at a time before adding them, and dosed the 3 gallon with Melafix and Stress Coat. So I'm pretty sure whatever caused the cottonmouth came from within my main tank. Hence the tearing down and overhauling.

Half the tetras have their mouths gone or near to gone. I am highly considering euthanizing all of the affected tetras as they have stopped eating. I keep a flask of everclear for that very reason. Going to the pet store tonight for some medicated food and some strong antibiotic water treatment to make sure the survivors don't get hurt any further, Melafix is just a stop-gap at the moment. Planning on a complete tear down and rebuild of the main tank.

This really sucks.


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## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

May have been asked already, but any new additions to the tank? If it just showed up its kinda odd


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

M1ster Stanl3y said:


> May have been asked already, but any new additions to the tank? If it just showed up its kinda odd


There have been new additions, the entire tetra school is brand new, but I've put them through medicated quarantine in batches of 3, keeping them quarantined a week at a time. I need to clean my tank is what I need to do, hence the overhaul.

However, the original three I put directly into the main tank without medicating. I'm a complete idiot


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## J-Pond (Jun 8, 2009)

Sounds as if they brought it with them. I don't think there is anything else you can do for them. I would recommend tearing down the tank and giving it a good cleaning in case there are any nastys hanging on.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

J-Pond said:


> Sounds as if they brought it with them. I don't think there is anything else you can do for them. I would recommend tearing down the tank and giving it a good cleaning in case there are any nastys hanging on.


I'm pretty sure they did. I'm such an idiot for not quarantining the first three, and not checking on them until dead fish started appearing 

And I'm doing a complete overhaul. I've removed everything except the substrate and vital hardware like heater and filter. Put a bubbler in there, some sacrificial plants for cover, I've removed half of the water, and I'm doing a 50% PWC tonight, then beginning treatment with oxycycline medicated fish food and tetracycline water treatment, aquarium salt, and hoping I save half of them.

Going to boil the rocks and wood, throw all of my plants away and start from scratch. Bought an under gravel filter to put in under the substrate during the rebuild, just to leave the plate there as a bacteria trap, not to actually run the filter, and I'm going to add a layer of peat moss before adding the fluorite back in.

Gonna do it right the second time around :/


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Some of the best and healthiest fish I have had were ones I put in qt, dosed the tank for 3 days of quick cure, 50% water change and 2 consecutive doses of internal parasite meds. My local fish store (Mom and Pop type) doses their tanks with quick cure when they get new fish...that was good enough for me to start doing that myself.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

When I quarantine fish I usually do it for about 3 to 4 weeks as it sometimes takes that long for some things to show up. The only thing I treat for in quarantine is parasites, unless they break out with ich or something else then they are already isolated from the other fish.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I dose my QT with Melafix, (topical anti-bacterial), and feed garlic, and qt for a week before I add the new fish to the main tank. I've never had problems and saved my main tank twice, but this time I was an idiot. I came home today and started my regimen - one of the bloodfins is already dead and two are not far from it. They've detached from the school and are swimming around listlessly, with half their faces missing and labored gill movements. It looks like the cottonmouth has attacked their eyes too because they don't seem to be able to see where they are going. My source said they'll be dead in under 24 hours, and I think I'm going to let them expire naturally because I don't want to upset the other guys.

The other guys look like they're doing great though. They ate the oxycycline-medicated food and are schooling and chasing each other around. Oddly enough, the rasboras are schooling with the bloodfins, which are at least 2x the size of the rasboras.

Having a very bare tank, you notice a lot more about the behavior of your fish as opposed to when they're swimming through dense foliage all the time :/


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

sorry to hear that happened to you....had that once and it was a real pain not to mention quite disturbing to watch as my fish disintegrated *frown

good luck, sounds like you're doing everything possible to get it cleared up!


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Things have settled down. I ended up having to euthanize 2 more fish, bringing the total death toll to 4, the saved to 5 bloodfins + 3 rasboras = 8. Watching my other tanks like a hawk, as I evacuated all of the other critters like frogs, shrimp, pleco, snails and clams to the other tanks. So far no adverse signs.

Thanks for the comments all.


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## saltydad (Jun 27, 2008)

Could you possibly post a pic of an affected bloodfin for us? Thanks, and good luck.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

saltydad said:


> Could you possibly post a pic of an affected bloodfin for us? Thanks, and good luck.


I am at work right now, but the disease starts with fuzzy growths near the mouth and along the dorsal edges, top and bottom. The fuzz eats the face away (in my experience, the lower jaw goes first), accompanied by strained respiration and frayed edges of the fins. Then the eyes bug out, the gills turn brown, and the fish dies. Once the fuzz has started eating the mouth away, my source said the fish has 24-48 hours to live, which I noticed was the case.

My source called for a recommended treatment of Oxycycline medicated fish food, Sulfa-4 water treatment, and aquarium salt.

Causes are either from the fish store/breeder, or could be caused from poor water quality in your tank.


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## michele08 (Apr 14, 2011)

I have 5 bloodfins...i noticed yesterday that one looks like he got punched in the mouth. It's lower lip looks swollen...I'm not sure if it's cotton mouth disease...help?


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

This was about the closest thing I have found on it, and Ive had fish with the same symptoms as yours that had the exact issue this guy responded with.

Unknown Problem - Swollen Lip On Tetra And Now Danio - Tropical Fish Forums


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## michele08 (Apr 14, 2011)

WhiteGloveAquatics said:


> This was about the closest thing I have found on it, and Ive had fish with the same symptoms as yours that had the exact issue this guy responded with.
> 
> Unknown Problem - Swollen Lip On Tetra And Now Danio - Tropical Fish Forums


Did you treat ASAP or waited? & how did you treat?
& if this is cotton mouth, should i treat all my fish since it's contagious?


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

ASAP, most times with columnaris, its kinda too late once the physical symptoms show. I have managed to save 3 of 15 total fish that came down with this, I ran a constant water change on a 40g tank changing out nearly 300% of the water daily. (I keep 445g of RO water on hand at any given time, I produce that amount daily) Only reason I did this was because two certain fish that cost alot and produced a decent amount of income every 60 days and didnt want to lose them.

Columnaris is this in a nutshell

Columnaris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Columnaris Disease


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