White pimple on head of Rasbora.

[ZenWhen]

Can anyone tell me what this white spot is & what I should do about it? Thanks in advance!

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Can anyone tell me what this white spot is & what I should do about it? Thanks in advance!

Greetings.
That's not too bad a photo!
It's not on the head, but appears to be where the operculum, (gill cover), meets the body of the fish. This is one area quite often prone to tears and small wounds, caused by squabbling with other fish, or a bit of carelessness whilst on manoeuvres.
It could be a blob of excess mucous, or bacteria, or even a tiny bit of a fungal infection. It may even be completely benign.

It looks a bit large for a dreaded ich, but it might be...a clearer shot would help with this.
(Ich looks like a grain of salt and an infestation with ich makes a fish look like it has salt grains dotted about it).

Are your other fish clear? To help us assess your tank and potential issue, can you please tell us more about your tank, the water and its history and contents?

 

[ZenWhen]

Greetings.
That's not too bad a photo!
It's not on the head, but appears to be where the operculum, (gill cover), meets the body of the fish. This is one area quite often prone to tears and small wounds, caused by squabbling with other fish, or a bit of carelessness whilst on manoeuvres.
It could be a blob of excess mucous, or bacteria, or even a tiny bit of a fungal infection. It may even be completely benign.

It looks a bit large for a dreaded ich, but it might be...a clearer shot would help with this.
(Ich looks like a grain of salt and an infestation with ich makes a fish look like it has salt grains dotted about it).

Are your other fish clear? To help us assess your tank and potential issue, can you please tell us more about your tank, the water and its history and contents?

Thanks for your input. It is a 40 gallon tank. It has been running for 3 years. 25% water change every week. HOB Aquaclear 110. Some live plants. Tank is under stocked. None of the other fish are showing any signs of disease.

 

[fishyfun&fans]

It looks fungal to me too but the photo isn’t clear enough(it is hard to take a photo of a fish though!)

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Thanks for your input. It is a 40 gallon tank. It has been running for 3 years. 25% water change every week. HOB Aquaclear 110. Some live plants. Tank is under stocked. None of the other fish are showing any signs of disease.

Cool...so what are the other fish?
Does 'some live plants' imply some plastic plants?

 

[ZenWhen]

Cool...so what are the other fish?
Does 'some live plants' imply some plastic plants?

3 White Cloud Mountain Minnows, 2 Brillant Rasboras, 2 Albino & 4 Panda Corys, Male Albino Bristlenose Plec, One Bolivian Ram & 1 Assassin snail. Plants are mostly live- Anubis’s & Amazon Sword. Mopsni & Spider Wood.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

3 White Cloud Mountain Minnows, 2 Brillant Rasboras, 2 Albino & 4 Panda Corys, Male Albino Bristlenose Plec, One Bolivian Ram & 1 Assassin snail. Plants are mostly live- Anubis’s & Amazon Sword. Mopsni & Spider Wood.

White Cloud Mountain Minnows are a schooling fish and should be bought in numbers of at least ten (Ref: Seriously Fish).
Brilliant Rasboras should be in a group of at least six, or they'll be stressed and stress can lead to aggression, even in normally peaceful fish.
That lone Harlequin should not be a 'lone' Harlequin. This fish needs to be with at least seven others. Being a sole example, I would suspect it gets bullied, after lights'out.

At least an injury from cheap plastic plants can be thankfully ruled out, although that would've been a lot easier to put right.

 

[ZenWhen]

White Cloud Mountain Minnows are a schooling fish and should be bought in numbers of at least ten (Ref: Seriously Fish).
Brilliant Rasboras should be in a group of at least six, or they'll be stressed and stress can lead to aggression, even in normally peaceful fish.
That lone Harlequin should not be a 'lone' Harlequin. This fish needs to be with at least seven others. Being a sole example, I would suspect it gets bullied, after lights'out.

At least an injury from cheap plastic plants can be thankfully ruled out, although that would've been a lot easier to put right.

TV

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

TV

???

 

[ZenWhen]

I actually have 4 Harlequin Rasboras. The Brillant Rasboras & White Clouds I have had for probably 5 years. I don’t want anymore of them & so basically am phasing them out. I understand about schooling fish but didn’t when I got the Brillants & White Clouds & I don’t want to overstock my 40 gallon so I guess you could say it’s a tank in slow transition . Thank you for the advice though. I will keep an eye on the tank to see if any more white spots show up.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I actually have 4 Harlequin Rasboras. The Brillant Rasboras & White Clouds I have had for probably 5 years. I don’t want anymore of them & so basically am phasing them out. I understand about schooling fish but didn’t when I got the Brillants & White Clouds & I don’t want to overstock my 49 gallon so I guess you could say it’s a tank in slow transition . Thank you for the advice though. I will keep an eye on the tank to see if any more white spots show up.

Even four is less than you should have.
The point is, your collection of fish is far from ideal and stress will be a consequence, regardless of how long they've been together.
The good news is that if it was really ich, then you would expect more fish to show it.

Do you use aquarium salt in your water?
If not, then a dose of 1tbsp per 3 gallons would help the fish immune systems and facilitate any wound healing. Neither ich nor Fungus doesn't like it either and, if it is a fungus, then salt is a good first step before having to pull out the chemical-in-the-tank big guns. (Ich can simply be treated with increased temperatures, but I really don't believe we are there yet).