Black spots

[James Shingler]

Quote from another website.
"I have an F1 adult male Ikola. He has developed a black spot on the side. It is on the yellow part of his body. Its similar to the black spots found on some of my wild Ikola. Any suggestions as to what to do? I dont believe he had them when I first purchased him."

Does any one hear have a clue as to what is caursing these to apear on otherwise healthy fish?

Its not just Ikola that are being reported as above with these black spots/marks (Sometimes getting very large) "developing"

Thanks for your input in advance.

[tanganyikanhunt]

Here:
http://www.duboisi.com/forum/viewtopic. ... lack+spots

[Dan Woodland]

Have you treated them with anything yet?

Do they seem to be affected by the black spot?

If they are active and spawn I would not worry about but keep an eye on your tank for any issues.

Dan

[James Shingler]

Sorry black spots are not my prob just trying to help and understand this maybe new problem. + I am ashamed to admit 24Tropheus and myself are one and the same

I was and still am hoping for a new clue to the real answer thories are welcome too.

I would not treat anything unless I was sure of the cause it may be a breeding/genetics prob or conditions prob who knows?

[tanganyikanhunt]

I know that OB or 'blotching' is something that is common with malawi fish. And I know that some tropheus are OB. Perhaps this is what we are seeing.

I have no real answers, just more questions

Hey 24, good to see you here!

[James Shingler]

Hi and welcome yourself.
I notice Troy and Thomas Andersen do not post much if at all on Troph.
Is there a reason for this?

[Pam Chin]

Hi James,

I would have to see it myself to guess what it might be. But I have seen black markings that are actually some type of fungus. It doesn't seem to hurt the fish other then looking funny. I am not sure what causes it, I have heard many theories; too much spirulina, poor water conditions and even that it is something that comes from pond raised fish.

It is going to depend on just how "hands on" you are with your fish, personally I wouldn't hesitate to pull the fish out and take a closer look; is it really this color marking; ob? Or is it something growing on the fish, etc. And if it is a fungus does it wipe off, can you take a scraping.

I agree that you don't want to treat your fish unless you are postive what it might be, wrong meds just compound the situation.

Cichlid Power!
Pam

[James Shingler]

Thanks Pam I will relay that back to the person with the prob.
I have not seen the prob myself but could coppy and post a couple of photos from the other website if that helps. I will give credit to here if anything comes of the advice I hope
Sorry if its cheeky but I said I would ask around for the cause.

[James Shingler]

External Image

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d168/ ... C04272.jpg

maybe this is the answer

The black marks in wild fish are caused by the intermediate stage of a parasite. It is in the bird, it drops faeces in the water which are picked up by the fish, expressed in black markings on the side. Here the parasite will stay until the process is continued, and the fish is eaten by a bird, and the cycle starts again. In the case of tank breed fish, this can’t happen, and if one has a wild caught fish with some black spotting, as far as I know it will go no further than this, as it requires the fish to be eaten by a bird.

but there are reports of these spots spreding in the sides, I guess from badly infected fish still showing more and more new and larger spots.
It steems it has not reached any suplier I know but may be because some fish are kept in open pools before export.

But the report on F1 fish is VERY worrying if true.

[James Shingler]

Well nothing more to report on this guess the report on F1s was an exageration. Black spots on pool breds and wild caughts prob just an irritating side effect of the big bussness that Troph importing can become. Oops may get in trouble for that last comment.

[tanganyikanhunt]

Here is an update:

Several months ago I got in wild lamprichthys. The fish were pretty badly ammonia burned. When they settled I noticed a black marking on my wild male's tail. I let it go for a while but kept an eye on it. His tail started to deteriorate. Being somewhat panicked at the thought of losing this fish I went and found some medication.

I am using 'bio-bandage' from hikari. It is great stuff though pretty pricey.

Long and short of it is that the black stuff seems to respond to the medicine. It has shrunk dramatically. It seems to be a bacterial infection as it is responding to treatment.

In another wild fish, tropheus kambwimba, I noticed heavy black stain on a fish and untreated it has now disappeared after about a year. This fish gets nothing to eat but spirolina.