Have you seen your fish dormant for some time? Well, if the fish prefers to stay at the bottom of the tank and is not swimming around happily, you should watch its behavior carefully. It may be the beginning of cotton mouth disease.

This disease is a kind of whitish fungus that forms on the face of the fish, especially on the lips and cheeks. The lips will look swollen and rot. You may even notice an extra strip at the end of the lip that will move around the fish’s mouth every time the fish takes a breath.

You may also find other symptoms. The fish will lose its appetite. So even if you offer them food, they won’t be eager to catch it. There is a reason behind this. They will not be able to open their mouth easily due to this disease. They will move very slowly and the water will also become cloudy due to a white liquid that frequently comes out of the fish’s mouth.

If you can’t take quick action, all the water will soon be contaminated and the other fish population will be infected as well. Very soon after, the fish will die one after another.

There is no guaranteed cure for this disease. There is only one solution.

You have to be very quick and cruel about it. If you see any fish infected with this disease, you should immediately remove it from the aquarium and discard it. Many people prefer to sit idle for a while and what they do is go and talk to the pet store owner about the behavior of the fish. If you don’t take this strong action, the other fish will get infected soon.

If you feel that the disease has not spread, you can do one more thing. Take some water and add a lot of salt in that. Then take a piece of soft cloth and soak it in that water. You should slide the mouth of the fish with this cloth. So this fish should be kept in a separate tank. At the same time add a terramycin solution to the aquarium water. You can immediately tell the difference in the behavior of the other population of fish.

You can also use a methylene blue solution for treatment. It is equally effective. But the main solution is to isolate the infected fish as quickly as possible and treat the aquarium water.