white stuff - what is this?

[peathenster]

Well I have access to all kinds of microscopes...how to get the fish tails there is a different question

My current hypothesis is that the spots have something to do with fin nipping - they only show up on the tails of my younger fish, which are chased by bigger ones quite often. They look perfectly normal otherwise - eating well and no weird behavior.

So I guess I'll choose option a). Will move the bigger ones out in a few days and see what happens.

Any other ideas/opinions/experiences would be appreciated...

Not sure, without a microscope.

It is interesting that they appear on the veins of the fins only, similar to my fish. I don't know if these happen or not, but has anymore seen any evidence of air embolisms in fish? For some reason mine really reminded me of air bubble almost. There was no fuzzy growth or spreading outside of the initial white spot.

I'd either...
a) Leave it alone for observations (either alone or in a quarantine tank).
- does the fish start flashing or acting weird? does it spread to other fish?

b) treat the fish with antibiotics at first (in a quarantine tank, not the main tank). If it doesn't do anything at all, either leave it alone for observation or wait a while and does it with something for parasites or fungi.

It's important to remember that medications aren't entirely beneficial for healthy fish, so i wouldn't be too quick to use antibiotics unless the fish is showing clear disease symptoms. No point in subjecting your fish to meds unless you have to.