Random threads hanging from Ryukin's mouth

[Princess1982]

Help!!

My ryukin has floation issues already because of what I think is either a deformed or damaged swimbladder but now he seems to have little stringy things hanging out of his mouth.

They seem to be coming from inside his mouth and most of the time you can't see them until he floats tail up and opens his mouth then they fall out. There seems to be two of these white, string like growths and one on each side of his mouth.

At first I though he just had some food stuck inside his mouth when we he opens his mouth I can see it is clear of food. I have checked all my other fish and none of them have this.

I know very little about Ryukins but from looking at pictures I can't see any others with little white things haning from the sides of their mouths so I am assuming it is not part of the breed. But they don't look worm like, they are almost feathery in appearance and no more than 1mm long.

Does anyone know what this is? I do have some Terta Parasite guard and was wondering of I should treat the tank.

Thanks very much for your help!!


180l Fluval with 2 filters
1 x black moor
1 x white ranchu
1 x red cap oranda
1 x common goldfish
1 x leopard plec
1 x calico ryukin

Temp is 19 degrees and water parameters all normal. I change about 50% of the water weekly.

 

[Hholly]

I wonder if he's got parasites?

 

[Princess1982]

That's what I'm thinking. But I need to find out what type of parasite before I treat him. Any ideas from my description?

 

[Princess1982]

It sounds a bit like cotton mouth but he doesn't have any of the other symptoms apart from the white stringy bits hanging from his mouth. Does anyone have any first hand experience with cotton mouth disease?

 

[jlk]

Hi Princess! I am sorry you are having so many issues with this ryukin! Can you possibly post a pic? What are the exact readings for your water parameters? Its difficult to detemine from your description if its a parasite issue or an infection. Can you possibly determine if theres any movement in the strings? The second issue will be how to treat once we figure out if its an infection or a parasite as I know your access to meds is limited in your country.

 

[Princess1982]

Hi JLK!

Yes these fish are driving me nuts. Thinking perhaps I am not cut out for fishkeeping - maybe it's me not them!

Have tried to take a picture but he opens and closes his mouth too quickly to take a picture. I am trying to avoiding netting him because of his swimbladder issues and don't want to cause him any unnecessary stress. I can't tell if the strings are moving or not because he sucks them straight back in his mouth. At first I thought they looked quite feathery. They just seem to be perfectly symmetrical in his mouth which is bizarre.

I have been to my LFS and told them the symptoms and like me they think cotton mouth disease. I have treated the tank with salt at 0.1% and also treated with King British Fin Rot and Fungus Control medication. I was also advised that live food would be better for him because of his swimbladder so I bought some brine shrimp and glassworms. His appetite doesn't seem to have changed.

The water paremeters are as follows:

Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20ppm
Nitrite - 0
PH - 8
Temp - 19.5 degrees celsius

I recently had a brown algae (diatom?)) issue but I believe this is normal within the first few months of setting up a new tank.

Most of the fish seem to be missing a couple of scales but I have only caught one flicking against the travel and that was only on one occassion. I do have ornaments and I'm thinking they are brushing against it to get to food that gets trapped under it. I have seen them do it. I don't believe this is for any other reason but I could be wrong.

I did see all of them sat together at the bottom of the tank at 5am yesterday morning. The lights were off and I don't know whether they were sleeping/resting or whether that is another sign. They were all grouped together. As soon as the lights went on they all got up and started swimming around normally.

Any help would be much appreciated as always!

Thanks

 

[jlk]

Diatoms are normal in a fairly new tank & they should resolve on their own. Their behavior sounds fairly normal & an occasional missing scale is not unusual if you have sharp ornaments or gravel bottom. The 'threads' do concern me though. Lets see how the salt & treatment you are using works for you. If its not effective, we will try to figure out what other options you have available. Keep us posted!

 

[Princess1982]

Will do. Thanks very much!