Problem?

[Ozdude]

One of my female Serpae Tetra has a small lump on her bottom lip. It seems
to be white.

When the 6 of them were in the smaller tank (about 1 month ago) about four
of them had the same thing a couple of times and it just went away by
itself.

Does anyone know what this could be? I suspect it may be a fungus, but it's
worth noting that she's heavy with eggs at this same time.

There is a bristle brush lying on the bottom of the tank (as per the Dept.
Of Fisheries, Hawaii, Serpae Tetra breeding information) just in case she
drops eggs in the dawn of the morning.

I am also wondering if it's just a thing that happens to the females before
they are about to drop their eggs. As this event usually happens at sunrise
I am hoping the brush will catch and protect the eggs from being eaten.

I also suspect that they've been devouring eggs over the last week or so as
all of the females at various times have been chubby fat one day and then
skinny the next. It could be an egg casing that's adhered to her lip as well
I guess.

I can't catch her as she's very skittish.

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith

[Keith]

Sounds like a parasite of some sort. Though, I don't know of any
parasite that attacks lips of serpae tetras.....

[NetMax]

"Ozdude" > wrote in message
u...
> One of my female Serpae Tetra has a small lump on her bottom lip. It
> seems to be white.
>
> When the 6 of them were in the smaller tank (about 1 month ago) about
> four of them had the same thing a couple of times and it just went away
> by itself.
>
> Does anyone know what this could be? I suspect it may be a fungus, but
> it's worth noting that she's heavy with eggs at this same time.
>
> There is a bristle brush lying on the bottom of the tank (as per the
> Dept. Of Fisheries, Hawaii, Serpae Tetra breeding information) just in
> case she drops eggs in the dawn of the morning.
>
> I am also wondering if it's just a thing that happens to the females
> before they are about to drop their eggs. As this event usually happens
> at sunrise I am hoping the brush will catch and protect the eggs from
> being eaten.
>
> I also suspect that they've been devouring eggs over the last week or
> so as all of the females at various times have been chubby fat one day
> and then skinny the next. It could be an egg casing that's adhered to
> her lip as well I guess.
>
> I can't catch her as she's very skittish.
>
> Oz
>
> --
> My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith

A white mark on their mouths can be something as benign as fungus on a
wound (less benign if the fish is not healthy though), or it could be
bacterial in origin. Although called mouth fungus, the contagion is
actually Chondrococcus columnaris (bacterial) and is a nuisance to treat
(antibiotics usually). For an extremely small contagion in an
understocked tank of very healthy fish, you might find MelaFix
sufficient, however in non-optimal conditions, it can spread very
quickly. Livebearers are particularly suceptible, followed by characins
such as your tetras.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Ozdude]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
.. .
> A white mark on their mouths can be something as benign as fungus on a
> wound (less benign if the fish is not healthy though), or it could be
> bacterial in origin. Although called mouth fungus, the contagion is
> actually Chondrococcus columnaris (bacterial) and is a nuisance to treat
> (antibiotics usually). For an extremely small contagion in an
> understocked tank of very healthy fish, you might find MelaFix sufficient,
> however in non-optimal conditions, it can spread very quickly.
> Livebearers are particularly suceptible, followed by characins such as
> your tetras.

Thanks, I'm investigating Indian Almond leaves, but MelaFix and PimaFix are
available at LFS#1, so it may be those. She actually looks better today, but
the tank itself is suffering green algae atm, so I am backing right off on
the daily plant fertilizing and I am going to have day without lights
tomorrow, so I'll get to her once I get this algae thing is sorted out.

Thanks again,

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith