Blister and white stuff

[pkremer]

OK, you can slap me up depending on what this is. I'd assumed this was something else this whole time, but it is occurring to me now that this might not be normal.

About 3-4 months ago, I bought 4 killifish. After a few weeks I noticed a little blister on the largest one's 'lip', or right below his mouth. I wasn't sure, but when it didn't spread and the fish seemed perfectly normal, I assumed it may have been a blister from a heater burn. A few weeks later, a 2nd killifish had a tiny white blister under his lip. The other 2 killifish never got it, and the betta and the chinese algae eater never showed any signs of it, so I assumed they were heater burns. These little blisters have never spread, but have been there for months.

However, about a week ago, I put 5 serpae tetras in the tank. Within a week, 2 of these new serpae tetras have this same little blister right on their front lip, right below their mouths. And there are a few curious white patches growing on some algae on one of my decorations. These white patches are about three weeks old, I'd say. I'd never thought anything because all the fish seem completely normal except for a few having that blister.

I talked to the manager of my LFS, and he said it might be a bacterial infection that only spreads if the blister pops open, and that might be why only 2 of the killifish have it and 2 serpae tetras. He recommended treating with Maroxy. I don't want to medicate them if there is nothing wrong or give the wrong medication if it isn't bacterial, so I thought I'd post up here and see what people who might have seen this before had to say about it.

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20

There is a little excessive algae growth in this tank. I am currently trying to keep it at bay by reducing hours of light, trying to block a little bit of sunlight coming in the window. This is a Wal-Mart kit aquarium (that I bought before I realized I shouldn't have) with all the original equipment.

Thanks!
Paul

 

[Guest]

One of my fish has the same thing. I tried finding anything that could give me clues to what it could be and the only thing I found is Nodular Disease, here is a description of it here:

Caused by Sporozoans, single celled spores that can multiply and spread rapidly. The spore's life cycle usually begins by ingestion to the intestinal tract by the fish. Here the spores infest the bloodstream penetrating internal organs before forming visible cysts and boils on the fish's body. When these boils rupture, millions of spores are released and so the cycle begins.

There isn't any treatment for this disease.

 

[pkremer]

Well, that's not good! My LFS rep recommended Maroxy and I will continue trying that for the next couple days to see what happens.

If what you say is the case though, I don't want to put the serpae tetras in my 38 as I planned originally! I don't want all my fish to have that blister. This gives me kind of a dilemma, however...if there is no treatment for this disease, what can I do? It would be unethical to give these fish back to the pet store, unacceptable to move them to my show tank, and inhumane to euthanize them as they seem to be living normal lives apart from the little blisters on their mouths!

Any comments on this from anyone else?
Paul

 

[Guest]

I think the best thing to do is keep all the blister fish together in a tank & don't use the vaccum from that tank on other tanks. Although I don't think all fish will get it even if they come with the water but why risk it? I doubt maroxy would do anything, considering isn't it a med for fungus? Also the blisters on my fish have dissapeared and then came back a month later grr & then dissapeared again. What I would NOT do is killing all the infected fish. Just keep them in a tank of their own. I also read that fish do not "suffer" from it & can still live a long time.

 

[julieanne]

what you have got is a case of mouth fungus normal fungas remedys wont work what id do is try a salt treatment one teaspoon of AQUARIUM salt<table salt isnt the same thing close but no> per 5 gallons of water leave it till it seems to go away< maybe a week or so>then do 20% water changes every day until you get rid of all the salt

 

[pkremer]

Quick update: I have finished the 5 day treatment with Maroxy and the problem has not cleared up. I stopped back at the LFS where I bought them and noticed that the tank the tetras came from had several fish with the same problem! I mentioned it to the employee and she said that that tank was beaing treated for a bacterial infection...nice of them to sell me fish from there!

She said they were using Maracyn to treat the tank. So here's my question now: I no longer would feel bad about taking these fish back to the store. Do you think that Maracyn will help these guys out and that I should spend another $8 to try to fix it, or should I take them back and let the LFS deal with their own mess? If they refuse to take them back, I guarantee that is the last time I will do business with them...they have caused me more than one problem in the past...

Paul

 

[Umberle]

dunno, sounds like the damage has already been done, the only thing taking them back would do is allow you to get a smaller isolation tank? On the other hand you could sit back and let the LFS stress out all the fish with the meds and find out if anything works before trying it on your fish.

It all sounds pretty annoying though. I swore I wouldn't go back to my LFS for fish a while back but when I popped in yesterday it was obvious that there's someone new managing the fishies