Who Gives A Fish Forums

Here's the issue.

This white spot, looks like an air bubble, showed up out of nowhere - it wasn't there when we turned the lights out last night.

No other fish have it so far.

37 gallon tank, 30 percent water changes every four days.
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, pH 7.5, KH 120, water temp 75F.

I'm having trouble getting a clear view of the issue here. The white spot seems too large to be Ich, but without a closer look, it's difficult to say if it's bacterial or fungal, possibly from a wound. Can you tell me more about the fish's history? How long have you had it? Also, you've provided some water parameters, but I'd like to know more about the water hardness specifically.

The water hardness is 244 and the temperature is at 75F. I've had him since February this year, he's one of the originals.

He and the male gold lyretail can get pretty rambunctious, especially during their playful moments. The gold is a bit bigger, but he used to back off - now he doesn't. It's not constant, but it happens. When I take a closer look, the white spot appears gelatinous.

He's still swimming and eating like normal, acting just like himself.

Honestly, the pics aren't clear enough to pinpoint the issue. From what I can make out, it seems like it could be a fungal infection, but I'd need a sharper image to be more certain.

Emeraldsea wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 4:53 am Honestly, the pics aren't clear enough to pinpoint the issue. From what I can make out, it seems like it could be a fungal infection, but I'd need a sharper image to be more certain.

I'll try for a clearer photo, but he's being stubborn about posing.

Here is the rewritten post:

Managed a slightly clearer picclyture.

If it's fungal, would Pimafix be the way to go, or is there something else I should consider trying first?

I've always found that salt is a better option than pimafix, melafix or bettafix for treating fish health issues.

Using salt is a great way to treat various fish diseases without relying on chemical-based medications. Salt is relatively safe and commonly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. I've found that it's effective in treating minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as external protozoan infections.

Salt won't treat whitespot or velvet, but it's great for treating most other types of external protozoan infections in freshwater fish. It can also treat early stages of hole in the head disease caused by hexamita, but you need to clean up the tank at the same time. Plus, it's effective against anchor worm, fish lice, gill flukes, skin flukes, epistylis, microsporidian and spironucleus infections.

When using salt, I add a heaped tablespoon of rock salt, swimming pool salt, or non-iodised salt per 5 gallons of water. If I don't see any improvement after 48 hours, I'll double the dose. I keep the salt level like this for 1 to 2 weeks.

The great thing about salt is that it won't affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails. After the fish have recovered, I do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh, dechlorinated water. Then I do a 20% water change each day for a week. This helps to slowly dilute the salt out of the tank without harming the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, make sure to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This keeps the salt level stable and minimises stress on the fish.

When adding salt, I dissolve it in a small bucket of tank water and then slowly pour it into the tank near the filter outlet over a couple of minutes.

Thanks for the suggestion, Collin. I've got a BN Pleco in the tank, and I seem to recall reading that salt isn't recommended for them - or am I getting it mixed up? I've been reading so much, it's all a bit jumbled in my head.

The white spot on the Molly does appear to be smaller this morning, but I might just be imagining things. I'm thinking it could be a wound, so I'm inclined to keep an eye on him for another day or two to see how it develops. I've also been considering setting up a separate 10- or 15-gallon tank for use as a hospital or quarantine tank. We've got plenty of seeded filters that would help cycle it quickly, and it might be a good idea to have one on hand, even though we don't plan on adding any new fish until later in the fall.