Strange substance coming from cory’s mouth

[Majsa]

I have 12 pygmy cories in my 45L low tech tank, and this morning I saw some long, white stringy substance coming out of one of the cories mouth. It didn’t seem to like it and let me get it out with a pair of long tweezers. The slimy substance then partly disintegrated in the water. Otherwise the Cory seemed just fine, rested a while and then went on doing its thing.

As this is the second time I see this within a month or so, I can’t help wondering what it is. Anyone else seen this? A bad meal, a digestive issue or even something gone wrong in a spawning attempt?

 

[john dory]

Could be the remains of a bloodworm.
I always chop mine up...if they're particularly large.

 

[John q]

Hard to say really, I had a neon rainbow fish that had a bit of stringy white substance hanging from its lip and was convinced it was cotton mouth. In the end it just disappeared and my deduction was it had damaged its mouth on something and got a bacterial infection.
Keep an eye on it and if it starts spreading then maybe it will need isolation and or treatment.

Cheers.

 

[Majsa]

It’s really odd, it was a long string (longer than the fish itself. If it had come from the other side of the fish I’d thought of internal parasites. Didn’t see any damage on the mouth itself.

I haven’t given them bloodworm, their staple is catfish pellets and they also get Tabimin, microworms, daphnia and brine shrimp eggs once in a while. They join the otos at their dinner table too when they get algae tablets.

I hope it’s just something the fish ate and nothing serious.

 

[john dory]

Could be the sticky stuff that is released with the eggs.