Is this a parasite? Recommend means of treating?

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Tank size: 200L
tank age: 2 years
pH: stable 6.5
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 10-20ppm
kH: 6
gH: 6
tank temp: 23c


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Yesterday i noticed strange swimming behavior in one of my Cory's, and also in one of my cherry barbs.
There color is unchanged, but they struggle with the flow and seem generally sluggish.

Upon closer inspection i noticed a brown stringy thing on the top of the head, both on the cory and the barb. It's quite small and seems to be moving because of the flow.
I have not spotted them rubbing it against anything.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
I have my hospital tank ready and anti parasite medication and aquarium salt, but i'm not too sure what the best next steps are.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:
200l, change about 30% weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
No

Tank inhabitants:
12 cory's, 8 barbs, 15 neons, couple of oto's, bunch of shrimps and snails

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
Added some plants about a week ago.. hopefully this is not the reason
I did move houses about 3 months ago, maybe that has induced a lot of stress on them and weakened their immune system, as well as the different water parameters in the place i know live.

Exposure to chemicals:
No
Digital photo (include if possible):
See attached, this was the clearest i could get. The barb is shy and unfortunately i could not get him closer, but it looks exactly the same as on the cory and almost on the same spot on his head.

It just looks like a bit of poop or gunk stuck on its head.

As for the sluggish behaviour, check the temperature and try doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the tank every day for a week. And clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Colin_T said:

It just looks like a bit of poop or gunk stuck on its head.

As for the sluggish behaviour, check the temperature and try doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the tank every day for a week. And clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! I really hope it is but the reason i got worried is because i found the fish stuck on the filter inlet (which has not happened ever in two years), and it just keeps going to the places where the flow is weak. And then i found this spot on the cory and on one of the barbs. Anyway, i'll do the cleaning and see how it progresses.

I would increase your temperature by a degree or two. Certainly I agree with Colin - make sure you use a gravel vac every time that you do a water change, though personally I'm not a fan of large changes. If your parameters are OK, and yours look fine, I believe 30% per week is ample, unless of course you have a good reason to suspect contamination.
If only 2 out of 35 fish are affected it's possibly just a couple of weak individuals rather than a problem with your tank. Keep an eye on it but don't start chucking chemicals in as that won't help weaklings, it will just stress them more as well as the others!