Hello,

Hoping for some advice! Two of my neon tetras have white growths on their mouths that I'm a little worried about.

About a week ago I noticed one neon seemed to have a deformed mouth; it looked permanently open. I have been monitoring it and I think it is more of a growth than a deformity; a while swelling under the bottom lip/ jaw, about the size of a poppy seed. Last night I noticed another has a white growth on its top lip that wasn't there a few days ago.

Strangely, my scruffy betta has a white growth under his body about 3mm from the mouth, that developed about a week after I got him and has never gone despite repeated treatments. Think they could be related? I always rinse the buckets out after water changes so hope I've not given my neons some horrible betta disease :(

I'll add some pictures later once I'm at my computer, but in the meantime any suggestions of cause & treatment would be greatly appreciated!

Oops, almost forgot stats:
180L tank, holds 165L
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-30 (it's in the middle)
pH: 6 (currently waiting for coral shell to have an effect on KH)
Occupants: 6 honey gourami, 8 julii corys, 12 neon tetras.

Thank you for any help

Some pictures - apologies for the quality. I'll try and get more tonight.

It's not very clear but this is the fish that has the growth on his lower lip/ jaw.

I can't really see much - but good luck getting some better pics. I ended up getting a video clip in the end as they were too quick for me.

Goodness, FK seems to be experiencing a number of posts recently on tropical blobs and lumps!

I've had neons with this before given the pics. Could be one of two things IME, either just general normal mouth fungus in which case a good treatment like Esha 2000 usually resolves.

If it hangs around though after that though, more likely to be Flexibacter columnaris which is a gram negative bacteria. Antibiotics are usually needed to shift it something like Furan/Furan2 but a) this will kill all the filter bacteria - best to treat in a QT only and b) you will need a vets prescription unless purchasing from overseas websites.

Yeah it's really hard to get a good picture... video doesn't focus for some reason. Grrr.

More pictures attached - hopefully this can help! I'm worried about the poor fishy as the growth is getting larger and is obstructing his eating - you can kind-of see in the third picture how bunged up his mouth is with this growth

Thanks Violet, think I was typing at the same time as you!

I was thinking fungus... I almost wanted it to be a deformity because it wouldn't be contagious but now I'm worried about the rest of the shoal because the pH is a bit too low right now so they might be unhappy!

I'll try getting some Esha. Will it be ok to treat the whole tank or should I isolate the ones with fungus?

Good pics V. Any rapid breathing?

Mine were panting near the surface when is was Flexibactor that was affecting the gills too. There can be other symptoms too, any other lesions? Fins a bit tatty? Any darker markings near the doral fin (usually referred to as saddleback markings)?

Got to say, these more recent pics don't look like common old mouth fungus to me Do a moochy on the internet for Flexibactor, see if any of it rings true. Fins crossed for you.

They're all behaving absolutely as normal - zooming up and down the tank, shoaling nicely, eating, no gasping and they're staying mostly in the bottom 1/2 of the tank amongst the plants.

The other one that has symptoms has one single white spot (doesn't come up on camera, too small!) on his upper lip. I can't see any legions on the spotty fish but two others have paler coloured scales on their flanks, but it's really hard to tell if this is some kind of lesion or just a normal colour variation. Again it doesn't show up in pictures.

Their fins seem ok. Most of them have been a bit tatty since I bought them, they weren't in great condition then but because they were so tiny it wasn't that obvious. Can't see any darker areas either. But then it's only been 'growing' for around a week; perhaps it's early days?

I'm paranoid it's something more than fungus Flexibactor does look similar, but because the fish is so small it's hard to tell!

I've just ordered some Esha 2000 - should I treat with that first and see what happens? Or do you think I should look into getting some columnaris treatment?

You know what, I'm sat here staring at my neons, and there is something I haven't noticed before: some of them are swimming at a 45 degree angle with their noses up. These ones are also venturing towards the top of the tank, which they don't normally do. At least, not that I've noticed. Do you think these are additional symptoms?

I feel so paranoid I can't stop staring at them in case I spot something else!

Quote:

I know how that feels... FX