Weird mouth issue

**slinky** · 12-31-2007, 04:57 AM

I have a gold molly that has been staying in a corner in the bottom of the tank and behind these gravel-rough rocks. I've noticed that he seems to have been biting them or rubbing his mouth on them and that he can't seem to even eat brine shrimp and keep them down when he chooses to eat. Taking a look at his mouth from above, it looks almost like the right corner of his mouth has discintegrated although I cannot be sure. I do notice that putting him in a hospital tank he spends all his time at the bottom, in the corner, and might be rubbing his mouth against the side. While I don't see any signs of fungus, I put in triple sulfa after having him spend the day in a bath of anti-fungal.

Have any of you seen such a thing? I really don't know what the problem is and he has been such a great fish. While I'd like to move away from my mollies (who eat all the food before it gets to the bottom for the other fish) I'd still like to save this cute guy. Any suggestions?

**OscarFan** · 12-31-2007, 05:11 AM

could be mouth Fungus post a pic

**cocoa_pleco** · 12-31-2007, 05:17 AM

yep, its mouth rot. add melafix and pimafix, with some salt. he should be fine with meds

**Lady Hobbs** · 12-31-2007, 11:54 AM

I'd use fungal meds myself. You want this stuff gone fast.

**slinky** · 12-31-2007, 02:03 PM

Thanks guys... yeah, I really do need this stuff to be gone quickly as it seems to kill the fish very quickly (and starve them.) I think it is only attacking the livebearers as there was a red platy that had similar symptoms but wasn't pecking the wall as much and had her skin seem to be raw on her bottom.

The problem here is diagnosis since there is no actual fungus that I saw on the fish. The pictures are the best I can get and I've contrasted them so you can make out how the mouth seems fine on one side and then it seems to just be missing, like a quarter moon cutout, on the other side.

I had a bumblebee goby that I could shake from these long fungal hairs but that you could spot immediately. Here there was nothing. The fish just stopped eating and stood still, either at the top of the tank or on the bottom. I only noticed that he seemed to be nipping at a rock regularly that has a rougher surface and saw him nipping at a rough rock regularly and he couldn't even swallow brine shrimp. He's an aggressive eater and if he can't keep the food down or go after it, something is very wrong.