Please help diagnose

[Oysterstu]

I'm unsure the best treatment for these Bloodfin tetra. It appears their jaws/faces are literally "rotting" away. Leaving them unable to eat.

Any ideas?

[ddavis1979]

This site can be a good tool for figuring out fish problems.

http://www.fishyportal.com/diag/

However, I didnt see anything about erosion of mouth and lips.

[imma24]

That looks pretty nasty - what size tank are these fish in, how often do you change the water and what were your latest water parameter readings?

[Oysterstu]

Hey sorry,
i should have done a hell at a better introduction.

These fish are currently in a fish wall in a pet store. 1200 gallon system. Unfortunately it is not my system and i am unsure what the GPH exchange rate is set to. Municipal water quality will yield extremely hard water with high alkalinity and moderate to high pH. I will need to request specific parameters.

I have seen this once in the last three years and it has just shown up again in a different store.

my experience thus far has yielded zero positive resolution. The fish often die before treatment or die during initial treatment.

they are showing up in our stores with this condition. its been directed to watch closer and not to let this into our fish systems. During treatment they are in a 29 gallon with increased temperature and salt. No carbon filter. 25% water changes every second day. bacterial and fungal medications have not done anything.

[Cermet]

Sounds like a flesh-eating type bacteria; for humans this bacteria will not respond to most antibiotics so unlikely any treatment will work for fish. Salt would seem to be the best course. If you cannot confirm it isn't something else, and the salt fails, might be best to remove and destroy the current stock and then try getting new stock from a different supplier. You don't want it to find home in your main tank filtering system!

[Public Alias]

It sounds like it is possibly Flexibacter columnaris - a flesh eating bacteria like Cermet said.

If it actually is Flexibacter columnaris, you want to lower the temp to below 75F. That will slow the multiplication of the bacteria.

What sort of antibiotics have you tried? Amoxicillin could be effective.