Hello,
Lately on my tamasopoensis, I have noticed black spots on and around his mouth and underbelly, going back to the tail fin. I have done some research on "black spot disease" on the internet, as I have not encountered this one before, and the info I was able to find seems inconclusive and sketchy at best. Some people say it is from too much spirulina in the diet. I feed a varied diet to my fish, including NLS pellets (staple), hikari cichlid gold, southern delight vegetable grow, and freeze-dried krill. The only fish with these black spots is the tamasopoensis. He does not seem affected by it in any way- he is the boss of the tank and is his usual active self. I dosed the tank with pimafix for a week to see if it would get rid of it, as pimafix is mild anyway. no dice.
To further confuse me- there are not many pictures of tamasopoensis on the internet, as it is a quite rare species in the hobby. Of the pictures they have on google, the best close-up I found also has the same black spots! I have uploaded the picture below. I tried to get a picture of my fish, but it is hard to get one showing the spots. they look 100% exactly like the ones on the fish pictured.
So, any ideas? Is this probably just an odd coloration on this species, which has not been well documented? or perhaps a disease, fungus of some sort?
Lately on my tamasopoensis, I have noticed black spots on and around his mouth and underbelly, going back to the tail fin. I have done some research on "black spot disease" on the internet, as I have not encountered this one before, and the info I was able to find seems inconclusive and sketchy at best. Some people say it is from too much spirulina in the diet. I feed a varied diet to my fish, including NLS pellets (staple), hikari cichlid gold, southern delight vegetable grow, and freeze-dried krill. The only fish with these black spots is the tamasopoensis. He does not seem affected by it in any way- he is the boss of the tank and is his usual active self. I dosed the tank with pimafix for a week to see if it would get rid of it, as pimafix is mild anyway. no dice.
To further confuse me- there are not many pictures of tamasopoensis on the internet, as it is a quite rare species in the hobby. Of the pictures they have on google, the best close-up I found also has the same black spots! I have uploaded the picture below. I tried to get a picture of my fish, but it is hard to get one showing the spots. they look 100% exactly like the ones on the fish pictured.
So, any ideas? Is this probably just an odd coloration on this species, which has not been well documented? or perhaps a disease, fungus of some sort?
