Mouth fungus?

[Lama]

Hello.  We have a 15 gallon planted tank with 7 harlequin rasboras, 3 Corydora hasbrosus, 3 cherry shrimp, and several snails.  I would appreciate advice on treatment of the rasboras.  Several of them started having trouble with white bumps by and on their mouths.  They and the shrimp were the original inhabitants of the tank and unfortunately went through the tank cycling (before I knew a thing about water chemistry!).  They survived and seemed fine for a couple weeks or so until I noticed the white spots on some of their mouths.  At that time they also were glass surfing a lot, despite normal water parameters.   I treated the tank with a course of ich-x, ParaCleanse, and Maracyn; the five day course.  But the some of them still have smaller white spots.  The glass surfing has stopped and they seem happy.  My next thought was to set up a hospital tank (I just now am gathering items for) and try dosing with salt.  But I was also wondering, if I should just continue dosing with ich-x or a combination of ich-x and Maracyn to see if I can get the spots to go away completely?  Yesterday was day 5 of the meds trio treatment.  The corys are relatively new to the tank and I worry about overtaxing their systems and that is why I was considering trying salt next with the rasboras in a hospital tank.  Any advice is valued greatly.

pH 6.8, KH 4, 0 nitrites, ammonia and nitrates.  The highest levels (on different days) while cycling were: 7.8 pH, .5 ppm ammonia, 2 ppm nitrites, and 5ppm nitrates.

[Colu]

It difficult to tell off your pictures do the spot have a fuzzy cotton wool like apprance

[Lama]

Yes, at one point, near the end of the month of August, I did observe the fuzzy appearance on a couple of their mouths.  I didn’t get a photo then.  This photo was taken this morning and I had a difficult time getting it….they don’t hold still long.  No fuzziness now though, just small white bumps on a couple fish.

[Colu]

I would do a full course of maracyn and also treat with ick x for any possible fungal infection

[Lama]

Ok, I did complete a dose of ich-X and Maracyn; following dosing instructions on the package Day 1-5.  I will do a second round.  

[AliMcMurph]

Mine had the same thing (well, a white dot at the tip of the mouth). I saw a thread on another site where someone said it’s scar tissue. It went away on its own but if yours is actually fuzzy then it could be fungus

[Lama]

I had read about the scar tissue/blister idea as well.  But after some time I observed the spots having a fuzzy appearance and decided to medicate.  Hopefully, the meds help and it goes away!

[laritheloud]

On 9/13/2021 at 10:37 PM, AliMcMurph said:

Mine had the same thing (well, a white dot at the tip of the mouth). I saw a thread on another site where someone said it’s scar tissue. It went away on its own but if yours is actually fuzzy then it could be fungus

For what it's worth, I treated a diamond tetra months ago for mouth rot/fungus with maracyn and ich x. It has mostly healed but has always had a little bit of a whitish 'callous,' I suppose, where it once was. He eats fine, behaves fine, never acts sick, it never gets worse. I'm almost certain it's scar tissue.

@Lama if a second round of meds doesn't affect the appearance, and if all the fish are acting and feeding fine, I'd probably just observe and make sure it's not getting worse. If they were affected by a mouth fungus it might look a little 'off' for a long time even after the infection is gone. I actually have rainbowfish right now that I'm attempting to decide whether or not I should try a treatment; it's really common in rainbowfish, I've noticed, to have a bit of that white patch to the lip. I'm seeing no fuzz and no one is acting sick, so right now, I'm just observing. Good luck!

[Tobyroo]

@Lama hi, do you have an update on this? I’m seeing the same thing on two of my rasboras. I did the medication trio and the spots got smaller but didn’t fully go away and today one of them looks like it got bigger! It doesn’t really look fuzzy but it isn’t a defined spot like ich.  Parameters are good, fish are behaving normally and eating still. It’s only on my rasboras and not my other fish. 

[Lama]

Tobyroo, sorry for my delayed response.  I also tried the med trio (two rounds of it) and Maracyn 2.  The white bumps didn’t really change much after treatment; they got somewhat smaller and I never observed the fuzziness following treatment.  However, there are still small white bumps visible.  Only 3 of our 7 rasboras developed this condition and it never seemed to spread.   I think we treated them last fall (not sure of the timing) and the rasboras are still doing well; eating, exploring, schooling, and sparing.  It seems what I’ve read about this sort of thing, it could possibly just be some sort of callous?  But the general consensus (from what I’ve seen) seems to be that it has happened to other rasboras and they don’t seem to affect the health of the fish themselves.