I noticed that one of my smaller Haps had an asymmetrical pattern on her today... which I realized meant something was wrong.

There's no sign of swelling, she's not flashing, she's eating normally, but there's a long irregular jet-black blotch/stripe on one side of her that is not on the other side. I'm positive this was not the case a month ago.

Any ideas on what it is? Suggested countermeasures?

Thanks!

Could you post a pic?

It's likely just normal black markings cichlids tend to show from time to time.

There are three theories to what causes it...

1) Stress

2) too much spirulina

3) external parasites

I've had this happen in my tanks a time or two, and it always goes away on it's own, so I contribute it to stress most of the time.

Kim

I have the same thing with a couple of my female saulosi and occasionally my colbat zebra due to all the spirulina flakes they eat.

When I moved these guys home today (we're moving offices next week so I set up a tank for them at my house), I saw that several other fish in the tank had some of the same black marks.

Againm, no flashing and normal eating, bu it looks a lot more like a rash now that I'm looking with a magnifying glass.

Should I do a round of Pimafix in the new tank to head off problems? They have all the extra stress from tonight's move to allow for. Or would some other medication be better?

The biggest Peacock, the Venustus and the yellow labs are all unaffected. The smaller fish are more likely to show it.

Thanks!

You can add the Pimafix, but I don't think it will help. It's a fungal preventative, and if this is anything other than stress or dietary related, it would be parasitic. If they aren't flashing, you shouldn't have any worries!

I noticed in a LFS here there was a bottle of medication labeled for "black ich". I picked it up to read the label and it was less than informative, really didn't describe any symptoms, so you just assume they mean black spots. I've only seen the med once, in one store, and the bottle looked potentially antique.

But if the fish aren't behaving oddly, it's likely stress.

If I were going to add anything preventatively it would be Melafix, since your most dangerous biproduct of stress would be a bacterial infection...

I've got some strange logic, Don, I know... Giggly

Kim

I've noticed those black blotches on some of my fish in one tank only and it comes and goes periodically.

I only feed NLS, the same as all other tanks, so I know it's not too much spirulina. It's not always on the fish at the bottom of the totem pole. They behave normally and I haven't lost any. It's just strange and I don't like it.

Here's a picture I took yesterday. It looks like someone dropped a little paint on him. Hmmmm


Is this the sort of thing that you are seeing, Pseudo?

It only happens in one tank at my house, too, Aura...

But it isn't always my least dominant fish! The guy in my avatar had some blotching for awhile. And, so did my male trewavasae in that tank, they were my two most dominant fish, but always fighting for the top spot.

I was thinking about this last night, and coincidentally, I realized that I used to feed HBH Veggie Flake mixed with my Omega One cichlid flake at about 50/50, and stopped doing so about a month ago. No black blotches in that tank since!

Kim

Kim, were those foods heavy on the spirulina? What are you feeding them now?

I don't think my problem is food related because I feed the same food to all of my tanks. And I don't think it's stress because the pushier fish seem to have it as much as any others.

It's just strange how it seems to show up once in a while and then go away to reappear later on a different fish.

The veggie flake was heavy on the spirulina, that's why I cut it out. Omega One has spirulina in it, but I was mixing the two half in half, and I thought maybe I had too many green veggies in it for a mostly omnivore tank.

Over on CF, I answer a post a day (at least) about this very subject. I've never seen any fish be actually "ill" with the black spots. Most of the time it goes away on it's own, and there's no real rhyme or reason as to how it got there.

Kim

I have been feeding Tetra Spirulina to these guys. I have been feeding HBH Veggie Flake in other tanks (with NLS Cichlid for the larger fish) and I think I'll phase it out.

Any other recommendations on food?

Thanks for all the great help!