# what causes cotton mouth?



## Mari (Jan 24, 2005)

I have a 20 gal High tank that I've had for a few months now that has recently re-developed columnaris (or cotton mouth). I had originally gotten cotton mouth there by buying some pet shop fish and unfortunately not quarantining...big mistake of course. I lost quite a bit of fish despite treating the tank etc. 
this was around 2 months ago, maybe a bit more.

I then did water changes, filter changes etc. and managed to keep a few fish alive...I have an opaline gourami, 4 tiger barbs ( 1 albino, 3 reg) and 1 cardinal tetra. The tank was clean until about a week ago, I started noticing those dreaded symptoms again on my tetra and a spot on my TB, so I immediately took action and treated with a liquid med containing malachite green. I had previously used the tablets and had ended up losing more fish than saving them, since some were too weak to handle the tablets. I thought I'd try liquid this time, and it seems to be working as the TB no longer has symptoms and no other fish have developed any. However, the problem seems too much for my tetra...the poor thing still has it on his mouth, and despite 2 treatments it is not going away. 

The meds seem to be affecting everyone else in my tank negatively, since my gourami ( who had no symptoms) is being a tad droopy and sitting on the bottom for short periods instead of foraging the tank. I am at a loss of what to do...I really need to get the tank up and running so that I can get a pleco or algae eater, as the sides are full of algae that I dont want to completely get rid of at once for fear of a tank imbalance...

So if anyone could please help me that would be great, and also I would like to know what could have cause the outburst of columnaris again as the tank was supposedly clean... Thanks for your help!


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## northfacehiker (May 31, 2006)

Anytime you add meds to a tank, increase the aeration. If you have a 2nd air pump and airstone, definitely put it in the tank. If you don't, I would recomment going to your LFS and buying a small pump. Dissolved medications reduce the oxygen content in the water (in addition to the stress of already having an illness in the tank). This may be why your gourami is looking bad. I definitely recommend the extra oxygen setup.

As for your algae, when the tank is back to health, look for an oto! They stay small and do a wonderful job of cleaning up algae. They will even clean algae off of plastic and live plants without eating the live plants themselves.

Hope this gets you going in the right direction. Sorry to hear about your fungus troubles.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Keep an eye on the ammonia when you medicate with dyes (malachite green, methylene blue) they reduce the light in the tank, so algae could die and decay and add to your problems


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Both responses are good info. Although we have not addressed the underlying issue. Healthy fish vary rarely get sick, even when illness is around(just look at humans, we dont all get a cold when one person does).

Introducing a sick fish to a healthy tank should not result in an outbreak as healthy specimens can fight off disease. The number one cause of illness spreading in fishtanks is poor water conditions. I would start there. Labrynth fish and apistos seem to be more succeptible to this disease also. As for treating columnaris, malachite green is a great med for it.

*As a side note, I believe that the above fish types are more succeptible because lack of proper care when dealing with labrynth fish (keeping bettas in small housing and not doing the proper waterchanges) and apistos (can be hard to mimick their environment asit usually has a lot of debris on the river floor).

I am in no way saying that you do not take care of your fish and even healthy fish do occasionally get sick.


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## Mari (Jan 24, 2005)

thank you all for your excellent responses... I will definitely look into all of them and see what happens from there. I did a 45% water change yesterday and replaced the carbon in the filter and they are looking much better with all meds out of the tank (well most of the meds anyhow). The Tiger barbs are acting a bit better...they are swimming a bit more actively than they were and none have columnaris symptoms, though my gourami is still looking a tad droopy on the dorsal fin. They are all still eating however, and right now my main concern is the cardinal tetra, which is still showing some slight symptoms of cotton mouth and is not eating nearly as much as it should be. Its only eating a few flakes (or pellets, or whatever it is I am feeding at the time) and then is uninterested. Anything I can do for it without re-medicating the tank? I don't want to reinfect the others either...


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Cardinals do not respons to meds well (most tetras dont). One usually uses a half dose if they are involved. Keep changing the water as often as you can (no more than once per day and no more than 50%). Clean water is the best med for fish.


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## Mari (Jan 24, 2005)

thanks...almost everyone is back to normal other than the cardinal and the gourami, who is more active now and just a tad less droopy but still not up to his full potential. I will do those water changes...I already missed a day! thanks once again. I hope all of them make it


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