Problem with firemouth

[Jason Tsangaris]

I have a 29g tank with 2 convicts, one small and one larger, a channel cat,
and 1 firemouth. I had 2 firemouths but one died. I notice now a
"blister" on each side of my firemouth's face. He still eats, but stays to
the back of the tank.

What could this be?

TIA,

Viper

[dc]

Jason Tsangaris > wrote in
. 97.131:

> cat, and 1 firemouth. I had 2 firemouths but one died. I notice now
> a "blister" on each side of my firemouth's face. He still eats, but
> stays to the back of the tank.

Can you describe the blisters in detail? It could be a lot of things.

Does it just look like a pimple? Does the flesh look damaged? Is it
protruding through the skin? Does it have any slime shed or white material
attached to it? Is it in the same exact spot on each side of the animal?

The most common cause is inflammation do to injury or infection. My
instinct would place the blame on the convicts; 29 gallons isn't a lot of
space for such hostile American cichlids. The fact that the symptoms are
near the mouth may indicate fighting.

If the infection is mild Melafex might be the simplest treatment, but if
the convicts are to blame for the injury that isn't going to solve the
problem.

[Jason Tsangaris]

dc > wrote in
:

> Jason Tsangaris > wrote in
> . 97.131:
>
>> cat, and 1 firemouth. I had 2 firemouths but one died. I notice now
>> a "blister" on each side of my firemouth's face. He still eats, but
>> stays to the back of the tank.
>
> Can you describe the blisters in detail? It could be a lot of things.
>
> Does it just look like a pimple? Does the flesh look damaged? Is it
> protruding through the skin? Does it have any slime shed or white
> material attached to it? Is it in the same exact spot on each side of
> the animal?
>
It looks like a bllister you would get on your finger, about 1/4" in
diameter. It is red in color,but not bright red. It looks like a scab.
It is in the exact same spot on both sides of the animal.


> The most common cause is inflammation do to injury or infection. My
> instinct would place the blame on the convicts; 29 gallons isn't a lot
> of space for such hostile American cichlids. The fact that the
> symptoms are near the mouth may indicate fighting.
>

I have never seen them fight.

> If the infection is mild Melafex might be the simplest treatment, but
> if the convicts are to blame for the injury that isn't going to solve
> the problem.
>