Is this white lip fungus or injury? Better pictures and update

[Gannon]

A week ago I posted about some white lip stuff on 2 of my rainbowfish. I was told it was likely a fungal infection so I used maracyn and treated the tank. 6 treatments later nothing has changed really, besides some stringy stuff no longer being on the lip. One of the rainbows looks a little better possibly though.

I finally got some clear pictures of the lip issue and now wanted to ask again if you think it’s still fungal or if it’s just an injury? Should I do another round of medication or just be done and watch carefully? What is my best course of action here? Thanks for any help you can offer me!

[Brymac1]

Looks fine to me. Rainbows will often get a white color to their lips. If it starts to spread you might want to consider a fungal and bacterial treatment.

[Gannon]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:34 PM, Brymac1 said:

Looks fine to me. Rainbows will often get a white color to their lips. If it starts to spread you might want to consider a fungal and bacterial treatment.

I already did a treatment this last week (5 doses) because there was two that had this, one only has it on one side of his lip though. He isn’t photographed here, but it looks the same, just on only one side. The other side is normal.

[Brymac1]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:36 PM, Gannon said:

I already did a treatment this last week (5 doses) because there was two that had this, one only has it on one side of his lip though. He isn’t photographed here, but it looks the same, just on only one side. The other side is normal.

I’ve had many rainbows that get this and most of the time it is not an infection. Also if you treated with maracyn, it doesn’t cover fungal or gram-negative bacterial infections.

[Gannon]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:45 PM, Brymac1 said:

I’ve had many rainbows that get this and most of the time it is not an infection. Also if you treated with maracyn, it doesn’t cover fungal or gram-negative bacterial infections.

What would be a better medication then? In the instance that I have an infection like that?

[Brymac1]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:46 PM, Gannon said:

What would be a better medication then? In the instance that I have an infection like that?

If it is an infection (which I don’t think it is) I would treat with malachite green (ich-x), kanamycin (kanaplex) and neomycin (neoplex).

[Gannon]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:47 PM, Brymac1 said:

If it is an infection (which I don’t think it is) I would treat with malachite green (ich-x), kanamycin (kanaplex) and neomycin (neoplex).

All at once? And would you use this all on a display tank? Or try to quarantine? I have a quarentine tank, I just don’t how I would catch little rainbowfish in my 125 haha. I have ich-x, and I have some kanaplex.

[Brymac1]

You can treat all at once in a display or quarantine tank. But it doesn’t look like an infection to me.

[Gannon]

On 8/8/2021 at 5:52 PM, Brymac1 said:

You can treat all at once in a display or quarantine tank. But it doesn’t look like an infection to me.

Awesome! I’ll keep an eye on it! Hoping you’re right, I have some archerfish that look cramped in their quarantine tank and I’ve been dying to put them in the 125. Gonna wait till Thursday and cross my fingers this isn’t an infection and doesn’t spread. How long would you suggest waiting to be sure? I’ve seen this on one rainbow 2 weeks ago (the one that looks better now) and haven’t been sure if it “spread” to the other one or if it’s just coincidental.

[Brymac1]

On 8/8/2021 at 6:00 PM, Gannon said:

Awesome! I’ll keep an eye on it! Hoping you’re right, I have some archerfish that look cramped in their quarantine tank and I’ve been dying to put them in the 125. Gonna wait till Thursday and cross my fingers this isn’t an infection and doesn’t spread. How long would you suggest waiting to be sure? I’ve seen this on one rainbow 2 weeks ago (the one that looks better now) and haven’t been sure if it “spread” to the other one or if it’s just coincidental.

If it is an infection you should notice a big difference in appearance within a week.

[Gannon]

On 8/8/2021 at 7:11 PM, Brymac1 said:

If it is an infection you should notice a big difference in appearance within a week.

So if my fish have gone 1-2 weeks without it changing it’s fine? Like one has had this for 2 weeks, the other for 1.

[Colu]

I would  monitor for now if it get worse I would treat with API fungus cure it also treats secondary bacterial infection 

[laritheloud]

It's probably fine and looks okay to me. If you treated the fish and it's improved a bit and not gotten worse, it might also be some scar tissue that will hang around for awhile. It doesn't look inflamed by the photos, so monitor for now and if it gets worse then try another treatment.

I have a fish with upper lip scar tissue in my tank. I treated him for mouth rot/fungus five months ago and it's left a funny-looking mouth and some thickened tissue. There's no inflammation, it never gets worse, and he behaves totally fine, it's just a mark of what he's been through.