Gold fish loosing lips

Question
I have 3 goldfish in a 20gal tank.  Right after I brought them home all 3 developed the white spots on their sides.  I was told to do the Ick treatment.  The sides cleared up. Two of them have lost their upper lip. They were eating pretty good, but now one of the looks like the bottom lip is disappearing and it is having problems eating.  Also two of them look like the spots are coming back.  My questions are will the lip grow back and what is causing this?

Answer
Hi Angelena;

It sounds like mouth rot which is caused by a bacterial infection. Make a 25% water change to help their immunes systems. Also go to your local fish store and get an antibiotic medication with Tetracycline in it. "Maracyn TC" and "TC Caps", are examples of some.

If the spots look like salt specks, the fish are infected with ick. Use a treatment for that too.

Also get some aquarium salt and Melafix. They will help the fish feel better and soothe their wounds. Melafix helps tissue regrowth too. The salt also weakens the ick so the medicine can kill it faster.

The lips may or may not grow back, it really depends on how bad the damage is. The infection has to be eliminated first of course. Hopefully they will heal just fine and feeling better in no time.

To avoid diseases like this and help them heal faster, be sure to keep your goldfish tank very clean. All tanks need a 25% water change and a gravel vacuuming weekly. Clean water weekly boosts their immune systems to help avoid illness and also helps healing. Goldfish are very messy so be sure you aren't overfeeding too. Feed them once a day and only enough food to completely finish from all areas of the aquarium in 5 minutes or less. Overfeeding causes excess waste and leads to illness.

I hope they feel better soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins