Tetra's nose blackened

[DwarfCichlid101]

My sister has a 12 gallon tank with a few black skirt tetras in it, and oddly enough two of them have black 'puffs' around their lips and also are slightly discolored. We were trying to figure out what it could be, but don't really know. This has happened once before with one of her tetras and the black puff ended up getting huge and the fish eventually, and sadly, died.

These are a couple pictures of the fish, hopefully you'll get what I mean (and sorry 'bout the quality, I know its not the greatest)-

 

[Druu]

Fungal infections in fish can be black in color.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Had exactly the same thing happen with a few of mine, but it only happened on the old ones.
I take it the ones that have it are quite big? Any idea of their age?
It seems to be something that affects these tetras once they get to pension age....
One of mine went around like that for 6 months. It was obviously an old fella. A bit like warts on your Grandma.....

 

[ShadowBass]

This is the only post I ever remember seeing similar to your situation.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88393

 

[DwarfCichlid101]

yes these fish are old, more than a year since we bought them.

So which is more likely? fungal infection or a wart from being old?

 

[DwarfCichlid101]

For more detail on the infection.... it appears that on one side of the fish, the black stripes have faded and gotten smaller, but on the other side, the stripes have gotten all blotchy. In the lip area (mostly on the lower lip) there is a black bump that continues to get bigger. Not at a very fast rate, but it's noticeable from a few weeks ago. There are two fish like this, and one isn't as bad. Like I said earlier, my sister had a fish that had the same thing a month or two ago, and it died after about a month with the infection. I can try to get better pics if that will help.

(Just for clarification, her fish were already darker towards the tail; it's just part of their stripes. I know that caused a little confusion because the pics I currently have aren't that great of quality)

I hope that helps!

 

[bmxer4ever]

Hopefully someone here will have a definitive answer, I'm only commenting on my own experience. The pic you have looks exactly like the fish I had. Bear in mind that tetras don't live that long, so the bigger ones will be getting on a bit.
It may be that it's an infection that causes the warts, but it's more prevalent in older fish..??
Old age black widow Tetra disease?!