White Spot/bump Above Eye

[Kaidonni]

I noticed today what appears to be a white spot or bump above the right eye of one of my male White Cloud Mountain Minnows.
 
50 litre tank
5 x White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Temperature range 21C-23/24C (heater isn't even plugged in)
0ppm ammonia (or slightly above, Nutrafin ammonia liquid test insists on a faint reading, API ammonia liquid test appears to refute it to a degree)
0ppm nitrite
7.2-7.5ph (difficult to tell from colour chart on Nutrafin pH liquid test)
30-50ppm nitrate (last tested 3 weeks ago, but it has always been 30ppm+, and this male Minnow has been in the tank for over 2 1/2 years in these high nitrates - used to be over-stocked with completely unsuitable fish that have been rehomed).
 
I'll keep an eye on things, but I sure hope this isn't white spot and just an injury he has had fighting with the other male Minnow.

 

[attibones]

That does not look like the beginnings of ich to me. Ich is a very fine white spot, looks like a grain of salt or sugar. It looks more like a healing injury. Is there a lot of sparring in the tank?

 

[Kaidonni]

Not a day goes by when my two male Minnows aren't fighting, and if they aren't fighting, they're chasing the females around.
 
I did just do a quick nitrate test, and I believe I was looking at 20-50ppm bracket on the Nutrafin nitrate liquid test, possibly closer to the 40-50ppm range in that bracket. The colour charts aren't always easy to match up to the test. I shook the reagent #1 and #2 bottles for ~30 seconds, then the first shake of the phials was ~30 seconds. I shook reagent #3 for 1 minute 30 seconds, and then both phials for ~20 seconds. The final shake of both phials was ~30 seconds. I'm quite thorough...maybe this could even be giving me higher readings than I should be getting, I don't know. I just shake them very well to be entirely safe.
 
3 to 4 seconds into the video seems to give a nice, clear shot.

 

[attibones]

I would say you are actually looking at an older injury and not ich. However, I would do a water change just in case. I wonder if more females would tone the fighting down? I'm not sure about space requirements for this species though.

 

[Kaidonni]

I conducted a 15-20 litre water change just today. I think it was closer to 17 litres, making it ~34%. I change between 15-20 litres once a week. I feed every other day. I could still probably cut down on what I put in, and shall proceed to do just that. I've also just fed deshelled and dethawed pea, and when mushed up it was quite a bit powdery (something I cringe at, worrying how the little particles might pollute the water). Still didn't stop me feedig the mushed-up pea, though...might have fed too much of the powdery mushed-up stuff, or might not have. I do worry a lot.

 

[Kaidonni]

It might be visible in the video, but it's very faint...both that male Minnow and another female Minnow at least (they are the two surviving Minnows from an earlier shoal) have a whitish/greyish dot in the centre of both of their eyes, not quite sure what it might be.

 

[Kaidonni]

Just a number of details not previously mentioned...
 
- Filter is a Fluval 2Plus Internal filter, had tank since August 2009. Replaced impeller first time in December/January. Haven't replaced return flow, have only shoved kitchen towel into it to clean out gunk (without removing it from the housing itself).
 
- White Cloud Mountain Minnows are 3 female and 2 male
- Feed Fluval Tropical Flakes every other day. De-shelled, de-thawed pea every week to every other week (cut up into tiny pieces and mushed up to an extent, although the mushed-up bit can be quite powdery and I don't like how it disperses in the water and can't all be eaten by the Minnows). I could probably stand to cut down on the flakes when I do feed them.
 
- Tank lighting is Sun-Glo 46cm 15w T8, on for 7 hours a day from 2pm to 9pm

- Live planted tank, with assortment of Amazon Sword plants, Ellodea, Java Fern and Vallisneria.
 
- ~255ppm Total Dissolved Solids
 
It was still there throughout today. I don't think it looks fuzzy, and hopefully that isn't to come... I haven't yet observed his poo. The Minnows don't seem to poo all that much these days... The one female Minnow did seem to have white, rather chunky poo the other day (think it was yesterday, Sunday 3rd May), might have been slimy and might not have been. It broke off in a small chunk. No long trail of poo, though.

 

[Kaidonni]

As to the poo issue, either it was yesterday or Saturday 2nd May.

 

[Kaidonni]

A little update - it doesn't look like there's been any change to the spot since Sunday.

 

[Kaidonni]

Some pics I took today of the white spot/bump.

 

[Kaidonni]

Another video, to be entirely thorough.

 

[Kaidonni]

On the Practical Fishkeeping forum, it's been suggested the Minnow has mouthrot, and that the 'front part' (his mouth?) isn't good as well. I'm not sure if I notice anything untoward on his actual mouth as far as the two white areas are concerned; these are that small that it could be normal colouration, or a small fungus developing, it's that hard to tell. I'm not sure any photos or video would help because it's going smaller than the white spot/bump above the eye. I do think the white marks on his mouth seem almost symmetrical in positioning, although not entirely, so it could be normal colouration...but I mention this because I don't want to assume and end up wrong.
 
It's also been suggested the white spot/bump above the eye might be a tumour.

 

[Kaidonni]

Two more pics...

His mouth does look rather red in real life, but then images online of White Cloud Mountain Minnows show them having red areas around their mouth.

 

[Kaidonni]

One last detail I forgot...I do have a snail in my tank, it's been there for a month upwards, eating the algae off the side of the glass and from plants (he hasn't reproduced). Either a pond or bladder snail. I've noticed one or two other very tiny snails, but only this one remains a constant presence.

 

[Kaidonni]

I did recently start re-using a bucket for some of the dirty tank water. This bucket I used once last year when the one Clown Loach I had died, specifically for the water removed when I deeply vacuumed the gravel in the corner where that Clown Loach died (he had fin rot as a secondary infection). I never sterilised it or anything, I just left it to dry and ever since then the main bucket in which I rinse filter media, etc has just sat in that old bucket. I didn't use that old bucket for almost a year. But, as I remove more than 10 litres at a time, I've decided two buckets was better...I did stupidly dip the gravel vac into that old bucket last week - although that was the same day as I noticed the spot, so that wouldn't be the main cause - and I'm wondering if using that bucket in general has anything to do with my current problem? I've also used the jug I use to add new water to the tank to pour unused excess clean water into the old bucket, and have poured water from the fresh water bucket into the old bucket (so splash-back could have caused contamination...).

Of course, these Minnows and the Clown Loach I rehomed were all in the tank at that time, although I had dosed with eSHa 2000 the same week (if that offered any protection). But, as the main bucket always sits in the old bucket each week, and I touch the outside of the main bucket, if anything was going to be transferred, it would have probably happened well before now. Or not...just thinking out loud of all the possibilites. I do dry out both buckets by wiping them with kitchen towel, and if I've had my hands in the old bucket and have handled the main bucket after that...another route of contamination.