Apisto With Discolored Skin Patch And Scratching

Request Help

Tank size: ~250L, heavily planted, no CO2, open top
pH: 7.5 (used to be lower -7-, but I stopped CO2 injection 2 months ago and switched to a lower light setup)
ammonia: 0
nitrite:0
nitrate: 5-10 (I dont have a nitrate liquid test atm, reading from a strip)
kH: 6
gH: 8
tank temp: 23 °C

Fish Symptoms: My apisto cacatuoides male (<1 year old, still growing, fed mainly frozen food and sometimes flakes) recently developped a discolored patch of skin on his left side. Today he went into a fit of scratching this side only against bogwood/plants so I gave him a short methylene blue bath and put him away in a quarantine tank. I think I saw him sort of coughing in one occasion too.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Water changes every 2 weeks (~20%), I have been reducing water changes due to BBA, but perhaps I sould not have...

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: No more than plant fert every 2 weeks and water conditioner. Filtration with EHEIM 250.


Tank inhabitants:
- 2 females A. cacatuoides (one with 1 week-old fry atm... I am not trying to keep them, it just happened)
- 10 Silver tip tetras
- 6 phantom
- 5 corys (I will soon rehome them, as A. cacatuoides are picking on them a bit too much)
- 4 otocinclus
All species happy and courting/spawning on a regular basis (apart from otocinclus :] )... However, on top of this discolored skin issue, there has been a recent outbreack of cotton mouth disease (3 corys, 1 phantom and 2 silver tip), faily early stages. I isolated the fish in a separate quarantine tank.

Recent additions to your tank:
No new fish in the last 6 months, but I have added a few new plants.

Exposure to chemicals:
Perhaps controversial, but I use half rainwater in my fish tanks. However, I did not use it for my last WC as I fear a recent contamination. My local tapwater is at pH 8, KH 12 and GH 20

Sorry, a bit lengthy...
Please help! Not sure if it is bacterial/parasitic/environmental and would like to treat soon...

Thanks!

The discoloured patch does it look like bleaching beneath the skin?
Any excess slime on gills, body, fins?
Does the discoloured patch look white, or a greyish white?
Check the fish gills for looking pale with excess slime, red and inflamed?
Any red sores, or tiny pin prick marks on the fish?
Does the fish swim in a jerky movement?
Any signs of darting, erratic swimming?
Hows the fish breathing?
Check the fish mouth for cotton strands, cotton wool patches on the mouth?
Is the fish still eating?
Has the fish been fighting with another fish?



Sorry for all the questions but need to find out if the patch is bacterial, parasites.

Hi Wilder, thanks for replying!

Answers below. Before I saw your message I treated his tank with Phenoxyethanol (regular dose, 80 mg/L). He seems healthy so I thought it would not hurt since his tankmates are having bacterial issues.

The discoloured patch does it look like bleaching beneath the skin? not sure how to describe it. He has black markings that appear and disappear depending on his mood. However on this particular patch, it seems like the black markings never shows.
Any excess slime on gills, body, fins? Not that I can see
Does the discoloured patch look white, or a greyish white? More kinda white-pinkish. Not that it appears particularly irritated, but "flesh colored" eventhough the rest of the body is covered with black markings.
Check the fish gills for looking pale with excess slime, red and inflamed? Cant see excess slime although perhaps slightly inflamed? Not sure how it sould normally be.
Any red sores, or tiny pin prick marks on the fish? Nope
Does the fish swim in a jerky movement? No, he behaves normally otherwise
Any signs of darting, erratic swimming? No, only once I saw him go into a frantic scratching fit, otherwise he is well composed and kingly as usual

Hows the fish breathing? Normally, slowly
Check the fish mouth for cotton strands, cotton wool patches on the mouth? None
Is the fish still eating? Yep
Has the fish been fighting with another fish? Not particularly, could have been fighting a bit with his females. One of the female is with fry and does not seem to want him around, even when he is trying to chase the tetras away. Although I think the discolored patch appeared a week or 2 before the fry.

I added a close up (not sure that would help... Its his healthy side)

a close up of the previous picture

White pinkish marks can be bacterial. By your reply it doesn't seem like a parasite involved.

Get you some information on white, pink marks.

Just keep a close eye out for flicking and rubbing.
Ulcer can be red, or pink, with a circling of dead white tissue around the edges.
Sorry I can't find the information I wanted to post.

I read somewhere that I should use medicated feed (with anitbiotics). However it seems I would need a perscription. How do I do that, do I need to bring my fish to the vet in a bag &deg;.&deg; ?

Has the fish only started to rub since adding the medication?

What is your location please?

Hi,

Cambridge. I put him in a quarantine tank when I saw him starting rubbing this discolored patch (yesterday). I only just medicated him today.

What are you using for ferts?

... He does not seem well right now. He was not actif at all (just kinda letting himselg go with the flow) I was even able to touch him. Perhaps I should return him to the main tank, he seems to be getting too much stress in his QT. I changed the water today (almost 80%) to avoid ammonia. Could it be an alkalosis?

Its in Anti-bacterial and fungus treatments (from Lovefish and Interpet). I use TNC lite, half the dose recommended as my tank is low tech, just a mix of micro (K, Mg, Fe, Mn Cu B Zn Mo and EDTA).

So the fish gills are slightly inflamed. This can be due to bad water quality, bacterial, parasites like gill flukes. Fish can also cough with gill flukes, and spit food out.

Signs of skin, eye, gill flukes are.
White specs on the lens of the fish eye.
Red inflamed gills, pale gills with excess slime, bleeding gills.
Opaque body with excess slime.
Flicking and rubbing.
Darting, erratic swimming.
Laboured breathing, or gasping at surface of tank.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Spitting food out.
Weight loss.
Listless and lethargic.(later stages)
Red sores, or tiny red pin prick marks on fish body, fins.
Secondary bacterial infections.

Thanks, I will treat the whole tank for parasites I think... I am returning him to the main tank, I am woried he'll die overnight, he seems to either not like the medication or water quality in there.

I am not rulling out the possibility of water quality issues in my main tank, but all fishes get involved in courting/spawning shows on a regular basis (today the silver tip, as almost everyday), so could that not be an indicator that water quality is ok?