# Yellow Rainbow - mouth fungus



## mstolpner (May 11, 2005)

Hi,

My yellow rainbowfish (Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi) has mouth fungus. At least I think this is mouth fungus. They developed it in couple days after I brought them from the store. Fish in the store didn't develop it. It doesn't spread to the other fish in the aquarium (including other rainbowfish) and it's not constant - it almost goes away sometimes but it's back in a couple days. pH is 6.8, KH 6 and GH 5. I tried to treat it with MelaFix and PrimaFix with no success. Can you please recommend me something?

Thanks,
Mikhail


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Hi Mikhail,

If it's a mouth fungus, you could try something like Maracyn or MarOxy to treat it. If you can't find that, check out the shelves at your store to see what would work to treat it, and just how safe they are.

I'm not real up on meds (luckily ) but I believe you could even try erythromycin, but I don't know what the dose would be.


----------



## mstolpner (May 11, 2005)

Thank you for response. I decided to try TC Capsules which is tetracycline as they've been sick for some time now.

Mikhail


----------



## mstolpner (May 11, 2005)

Quick update. I was not able to fight this "fungus" with anything so I left the fish alone. Surprisingly it didn't get worse and it recently disappeared when the water hardness went up to about 8-10 dGH. Not too sure if this is just a coincidence. 

Mikhail


----------



## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

I like to use Pimafix and Melafix as meds for my tanks...seems to clear most things up. (but not internal parasites  )


----------



## Neal (Mar 1, 2003)

My rainbowfish have occasional infections on their mouths that look a lot like fungus and could very well be fungus. It appears to happen after they've been startled or attacked and have darted around the tank and crashed into the glass or some rocks. Seems to be a seconday infection from abrasion. Good water parameters and good food clear it up right away. I wouldn't be surprised if your rainbow fish just beat up its mouth in the bag on the way home from the LFS and the poor water quality in the bag led to an infection.


----------



## mstolpner (May 11, 2005)

Possibly, but they had it for months and I tried to treat it with different medicine with no success and suddenly it's gone!

Mikhail


----------



## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

I have noticed this in yellow rainbowfish as well. All the others I've had (eastern splendid, turqoise, boseman's, trisfada) never got it. I think that their lips are just really sensitive and get kind of "chapped" a lot. It always goes away and doesn't spread. I've never noticed them trying to chew on bogwood or anything so I'm not sure what they do to theirselves when I'm at work!


----------

