black spots
- Thread starter catfish
- Start date
I looked at a couple of sites and there are a couple things that cause black spots so I need more info.
Do the spots move?
are they on the skin or under it?
is the fish new?
does your tank contain snails?
does your tank contain fw clams or mussels?
have you recently added plants or fish or live food to your tank?
How several pest the recomended treatment is a dip into a strong salt solution of 5 teaspoons of salt in 1 gallon of water making sure that it is dechlorinated and the same temp as your tank. place the fish in the bath for 10-20 minutes.
This will kill many flukes, helminths, and glochidia while not adversely effecting most fish if it is a different problem.
a couple sites suggest using this as a diagnostic saying that if the spots go away it was one of those and if not they look at other diseases.
It won't hurt your cichlid to try it.
One interesting thing that shows up as little black dots on recent imports is the larval form of fresh water clams and mussels, they are seldom dangerous unless they involve the gills and will drop off on thier own in a couple days/weeks and turn into adults.
Do the spots move?
are they on the skin or under it?
is the fish new?
does your tank contain snails?
does your tank contain fw clams or mussels?
have you recently added plants or fish or live food to your tank?
How several pest the recomended treatment is a dip into a strong salt solution of 5 teaspoons of salt in 1 gallon of water making sure that it is dechlorinated and the same temp as your tank. place the fish in the bath for 10-20 minutes.
This will kill many flukes, helminths, and glochidia while not adversely effecting most fish if it is a different problem.
a couple sites suggest using this as a diagnostic saying that if the spots go away it was one of those and if not they look at other diseases.
It won't hurt your cichlid to try it.
One interesting thing that shows up as little black dots on recent imports is the larval form of fresh water clams and mussels, they are seldom dangerous unless they involve the gills and will drop off on thier own in a couple days/weeks and turn into adults.
guppy said:
the spots do not move, it looks like they are under the skin but i cant tell for sure, ive had the fish for about over a month now, my tank contains no snails fw clams or mussels, i havent added anything into my tank recently.
I used table salt once but some people recomend against it. Since they have been there at least a month and are under the skin they are probably worms, either cestodes, nematodes, helminths, or trematodes. Do you know if the fish was wild caught? most of these parasites come in wild fish, most do not spread as they need at least one other host species in their life cycle. some are harmless but most cause a lowered disease resistance and general disability to the fish.
Until recently the only "cure" I had ever seen work was to prick the spot with a fine hypodermic needle then swab the spot with iodine, I did this on a couple of flounder, it worked but who knows if I got them all and it is a real pain.
Recently I heard about a broad spectrum anti-parasitical for internal macroparasites that is supposed to work well. It is "Jungle Anti Parasite Medicated Fish Food" and if it stands up to half the claims I have heard it is a godsend, I found a site that has it @ $14.95 plus shipping for a 12oz canister (you feed only this to youf fish for 10 days) the site is
www.aquamart.com
look under foods or medicines. It is supposed to take care of all the tissue dwelling worms and and intestinal parasites as well.
Until recently the only "cure" I had ever seen work was to prick the spot with a fine hypodermic needle then swab the spot with iodine, I did this on a couple of flounder, it worked but who knows if I got them all and it is a real pain.
Recently I heard about a broad spectrum anti-parasitical for internal macroparasites that is supposed to work well. It is "Jungle Anti Parasite Medicated Fish Food" and if it stands up to half the claims I have heard it is a godsend, I found a site that has it @ $14.95 plus shipping for a 12oz canister (you feed only this to youf fish for 10 days) the site is
www.aquamart.com
look under foods or medicines. It is supposed to take care of all the tissue dwelling worms and and intestinal parasites as well.
Hmmm, no snails so it is not digenetic flukes, no fw clams or mussels so it isn't their hitchhiker stage, pencil dot size so not argulus, under the skin and dark so not ick, velvet, fungus, or henneguya, and not moving around so not costia or the other oodinium.
Possibly ichthyosporidium but that is rare in fresh water tanks, it rarely very much harm to the fish but as far as I can find there is no cure.
I don't know what it could be, hopefully someone else will.
Possibly ichthyosporidium but that is rare in fresh water tanks, it rarely very much harm to the fish but as far as I can find there is no cure.
I don't know what it could be, hopefully someone else will.
Ahh, I had to look it up but diplostomiasis is one of the helminth worms that the jungle medicated food is supposed to cure, a relative of the ones I needle poked. The salt might not help but it sure won't hurt. It wouldn't work with my flounders because they and their worms were from a tidal basin.