Sick Firemouth Help Please

[stuarthill05]

i have had 2 firemouths for about 6 months now. over the last few week one of then has started to look ill. it has lost all its colour and looks small compared to the other which was the same size. I have attached some pictures (the best i could get) for anyone with any knowledge of fish disease. i have come across a few diseases in my 5 years of fish keeping but never this. any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Is it breathing irregular?

 

[stuarthill05]

no it seems fine

 

[stuarthill05]

the only thing i can think of is a fungal disease my other firemouth is fine so i dont think it is contageous. his mouth does look a little white. any ideas

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Probably a bacterial infection. Ive used Maracyn before on a fish I had that had this, and it went away in a week.

 

[Mystus Redtail]

Right, maracyn is the first thing that I would use too. I've had great results with it and you don't have to pull your carbon if I remember right. Good luck.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Also, be careful with Maracyn. I THINK it can affect your beneficial bacteria, afterall its a bacterial med. I would remove carbon too. I suggest treating in a seperate tank/container. Use a sponge filter etc, dont feed any food if possible, try and keep parameters down.


Ive had success with Maracyn and would use it without hesitation if any fish I own have a bacterial infection.

 

[stuarthill05]

hi im not sure i can get maracyn here in the uk i have looked in a couple of shops and cant find it is it just an anti - internal bacteria treatment?

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Maracyn is an antibiotic. You can substitute with another fish antibiotic for bacterial infections.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

I also recommend doing a water change. Very clean water is benefical to treat this.