Black patches that shouldn't be there.......

[Jaded_Pulse]

Hi, I have 4 colombian tetras & a black skirt/black widow tetra (yes, I'm getting him a shoal soon). One of the colombians has been in the tank for about 3 months now & is probably approx. 1.5". The black widow's been in there for same amount of time, too, but I only introduced the other 3 colombians last week. I know they all got really stressed out for a few days late last week because I had to change all the substrate (stones) because my original BAD lfs sold me ones with shell etc. in & the ph was going crazy high, so my new good lfs said to change all the stones, & that would be ok so long as I don't clean the filter or anything else in there for a few weeks, & when I had to take out about 2/3 of the water (to change the substrate), that I put it all back in. They said that trying to catch them would stress them out even more so I very carefully worked around them. The black widow & the smallest colombian never stopped eating, but the other 3 did, but this morning, all but my original big guy have started eating again. But my big guy won't eat, & I noticed this morning he has about 3-4 of these largeish (3-5mm?) patches of black colouring developing on one side. They're not solid black as in it's part of his colouring, just like a black tinge in patches. Ammonia has remained 0 since I changed the substrate. I don't have test kits for the other 2, but I would assume if there's been no ammonia, it's highly unlikely there would be any nitrite or excessive nitrates?? It's a 15gal tank, with fake plants only at the moment, but will be trying to grow real ones soon. I live in Australia, so I don't know if I can only get certain meds here, but just thought I'd mention it. Anyways, sorry this is so long & probably doesn't make sense, hope I haven't left anything important out....I'm really worried about the poor little guy, any advice would be appreciated big time. Thanx!!

EDIT: Oops, the title was meant to be "Black patches that shouldn't be there oops!!

 

[adcs]

I have a Platinum Tetra Hemigrammus vorderwinkleri, which has developed two black patches near it's tail along its lateral line.

The patches are little circles around 3mm in diameter (the fish is only about an inch long). The scales are slightly raised where these patches are. These patches never get any bigger and they don't change shape. No more than 1 fish has this at a time. Besides these spots, the fish looks healthy (eating, active and alert).

So far 4 of my 9 Platinum Tetras have died one by one over around 6 months. I've seen these black patches on one or two that died so I can only assume this is why they suddenly died.

I suspect that it's a bacterial skin infection. Does anybody else have any ideas?

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Ok well that's a little scary adcs!! None of my guys have died from this yet, but hopefully we can both get it cured before either of us loe any more to it. I fed them bloodworms for the 1st time this morning (EWWWW!!!! ). He did take some, but wasn't interested in coming to the surface, just waiting for them to sink down to him. There doesn't seem to be any spread of the spots on him or to anybody else, & all others are eating well. I went to see my lfs yesterday - they said they'd never heard of it but that *maybe* it was just from stress or that he'd bumped into something (as in they're small bruises) but I don't know how true that is....guess I'll just have to wait & see. But anyone with ideasw would be showered with gifts & love & attention for all of eternity......well maybe not but....you know......

 

[adcs]

Well, if I manage to save my little tetra and get rid of the black patches, I'll let you know.

I fear if we don't figure out something soon, one by one my Platinum Tetras are going to die.

I've done the following tests and got these results:

pH: 7.2 (can't be sure this is accurate - I don't trust the test kit)
dGH: 18
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.25ppm

I did this test before I did a 30% water change, so the Nitrite will have lowered.

 

[tstenback]

Don't know if i can specifically help you but here is a decent link to some probable causes Diseases I have used this succesfully many times. It sounds like some sort of a fungus as these often darken patches of skin. Keep us posted i would be very interested in knowing what cures this. HTH

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Nothing at that site really describes what I'm seeing, wish I had a digi cam so i could show you all. The only thing that sounds remotely like it is "Black Spot," but it seems fairly rare, & it's pretty hard to get info on (IME). I'm really not sure now whether he's really sick or not because he had quite a good feed this morning, but then he doesn't do a whole lot of swimming any more, & I *think* I'm starting to see similar signs on one of my black widows (my original one)....but I might be imagining this. So please, anybody with any ideas no matter how crazy, please speak up now!! Thanx, Michelle.

 

[HeatherSweetness]

I've heard of ammonia burns,they cause black spots on the fish too. May want to test the water for ammonia and see if that could be a possibility,and start doing water changes,and add some stress coat.

 

[tstenback]

I am not sure if this is what your fish has but i have been looking for days and think this may help Myxobacteriosis HTH

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Thanx for the suggestions.

HeatherSweetness - even when I changed the entire substrate I had no detectable ammonia, so I doubt it could be ammonia burns....but could it be that there's been a high pH in there for so long?? (even though I'm slowly bringing it down with water changes now)

Tstenback - you're right, myxobacteriosis does sound like a possibility, except that my tank's not overstocked, & there hasn't been any ammonia for ages (so more than likely no nitrite either right?)....Pity I can't find any pics of this, because I'm not really sure if what they class as black patches are like the ones on my guy - his aren't solid black, more like dark patches, you know? A couple seem to be circular, but a couple just seem to be "free-form" so I don't know....

He's been a bit more active today, even had a bit of a go at the zucchini I put in there for my snail (they never usually eat it), plus he had a good go at some bloodworms again, so he seems to be doing ok. Do you think there's anything I can/should do for him?

BTW - thanx to whoever fixed my thread title!!

Thanx again everyone,
Michelle.

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

OMG I just went over to check on them & his eyes are sticking out a bit!! ARGH what do I do for pop-eye or whatever this is??? Please help me!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tstenback]

If its pop-eye one treatment is maracyn2. There may be others as well but you need to act quickly on this one. HTH

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

You're a lifesaver (literally) - thank you!!!!

 

[adcs]

Platinum Tetras look like this:

My diseased Platinum Tetra looks like this:

Myxobacteriosis sounds close. My tank is overstocked but tests conclude that there is no ammonia and Nitrite was very low although the test was taken before a water change. I'll check again tonight.

Has anybody seen this before?

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Ok well I don't know if I'm going mad or what but I looked at my guy again yesterday morning & I think it must've been the light because his eyes look ok (except for the one that looks like it's growing fungus or something ) 4 of them (3 colombians, 1 black widow) now, however, look as though they have the start of ich so I'm going to the lfs tomorrow to get some stuff for that ...........I don't know why I'm having so many dang problems at the moment - any ideas?? How to fix?? Argh it's almost enough to make one give up

 

[R3GG]

Found this thread after searching for black spot, i have noticed a black spot on one of my cardinals either side of its tail, it sounds similar to your problem, i lost a cardinal just the other day - its tail was missing. My fish have undergone a fair amount of stress recently cos they've been moved to a very small temporary tank while i set up my new tank. Myxobacteriosis sounds pretty close to my problem as the fish could do with more space at the moment. I'm hoping this cardinal wont lose its tail like the last one.