White Spot/bump Above Eye

[Kaidonni]

I'm carrying out emergency action as this evening, it appears whatever I could see on the female Minnow's right flank has eruped into an open sore. At one point, it looked like a small bit of tissue or pus or something came from the sore (looked like - it could have been something in the water she swam past, but not taking that chance). A 50% water change, thorough gravel vac, followed by dosing up to 2g/litre aquarium salt (to be upped to 3g/litre in the morning if necessary). I'll then conduct another 50% Sunday morning, and top the aquarium salt up. I can't use the Esha at this stage as I contacted the manufacturer, and they advised that even dechlorinators such as Prime can affect the medicine.

I've attached the video of the female Minnow. While she is active to an extent, she was hiding in some plants when I got home from work. She was also quite dozy when I fed the fish some flake food, and while she did eat a little, she spat some back out after taking it up and spitting it out a few times.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYl2mE1Z06U&feature=youtu.be

 

[Kaidonni]

Slight change of plan, as 9pm at night is not really the time to be mucking about too much in case something goes wrong. I'm opting for 1g/l tonight, then upping it to the 2g/l in the morning after ~12 hours, and finally up to 3g/l tomorrow evening. Dosing more gradually should avoid stressing the Minnows as I've never used aquarium salt before, and even 1/l looks like a lot to add all at once.

Measured it out on digital scales, and also took 2g off for the kitchen towel the salt was measured out on.

I did dissolve it in a litre of tank water first, and poured it in gradually, and as necessary added a little more water to the jug and waited for more of the salt to dissolve.

 

[Kaidonni]

I'll be upping it to 2g/l this morning. I'm not sure if I should conduct the next 50% this evening, ~24 hours after the first one, or if I can wait until tomorrow, around 11am-12pm, ~38 hours after the first one (as that's when my normal weekly clean is scheduled, along with a quick filter clean). In any case, this evening the aquarium salt levels go up to 3g/l.

Alternatively, I could conduct another 50% change this evening, replace the salt removed during the change, and do a 4-5 litre change tomorrow just to give the filter a quick clean, and up to 3g/l tomorrow. Or I could still up to 3g/l this evening.

 

[Kaidonni]

A small piece of kitchen towel - probably from last night when I dried out the water jug - snuck into the tank with the aquarium salt. I could have taken it out of the jug while I was dissolving the salt, but I didn't. It shouldn't hurt the fish, and I do worry over the smallest things.

 

[Kaidonni]

I conducted the 50% clean last night as planned. Today I was only going to do about 5-10 litres and a filter clean, but I endeavoured to push on to 50% again as the white spot I referenced on the female Minnow's caudal fin is still there, and there is also a second one on her caudal fin; unsure about her other fins, but definitely keeping an eye out. I'm suspicious that I'm about to experience an outbreak of Ich, and I've upped the aquarium salt to 3g/l or thereabouts - it might be a bit above due to the scales not being exact, nor the volume measurement of my tank minus filter, plants, heating apparatus, algae magnet and airstone. She's still hanging at the surface when the light is off, and the eruption looks like it's healing over or becoming a cyst again.

If this is Ich, then - if I'm not mistaken - it must have arrived via an external route; it can't just exist in the tank and not do anything. There have been no new introductions in over a year and a half, excepting plants and - most recently - snails (of which I'm now keeping an eye out and eliminating when I get the chance). Could it have started in the gills of the female Minnow, causing her to hang at the surface? No idea where the appearance of the eruption/cyst on her right flank, just behind her right gills, factors into this - is it something else, i.e. bacterial, or is it also likely Ich?

As per the white spots on her caudal fin, could it be any other parasite, or a certain bacterial infection? It's not fungal, and I've seen fin rot on a Clown Loach, so I don't believe it's fin rot.

In any case, I have both Esha 2000 and Esha Anti-White Spot and Velvet handy (got the latter many months ago 'just in case'...might have been a wise decision). I've never, ever, had Ich before *touch wood*... I'll have to wait at least 24 hours before dosing as the Prime might interact with them. The manufacturer has warned against using Prime with Esha 2000 in an email, so I can only assume the same problen applies to the Esha Anti-White Spot - waiting 24 hours should ensure the reductive potential of the Prime has been mostly exhausted, if not completely (hopefully completely!).

I hope it's safe to run the Esha Anti-White Spot alongside the aquarium salt treatment. As to the temperature treatment, I could turn the heater on and the temperature up, but as these are White Cloud Mountain Minnows and their maximum recommended temperature is usually 22C, I'm not entirely sure if the temperature treatment would be the best approach or do the Minnows much good.
 
EDIT: The two white spots do appear to be visible from either side on the caudal fin - unless there are spots either side and the female Minnow is moving too much for me to get a good look and notice that - so I don't quite know what to make of that. Could potentially be fin rot, or still Ich.
 
EDIT 2: The female Minnow now appears to be hanging at the surface even while the tank light is on.

 

[Kaidonni]

Possibly heavy gilling is evident when the female Minnow is hanging at the surface, and at other times too.

 

[Kaidonni]

Just one more observation - the female Minnow has curved her spine upwards and downwards at times. At one point yesterday, she was lying on the top of a Canadensis plant while the other Minnows were schooling by her, and she was at an angle and curving her spine (can't quite remember if upwards or downwards specifically).