SAP has 1 white spot and 3 little pit holes on his back

[puffertt77]

Hello can you please help me?

I have a Freshwater Tropical Tank info is as follows:-
Ammonia - 0
PH - 8
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 40
Temperature - 77f
Food per day - 1 blood worm frozen block, 1 Small Krill frozen block, flakes for other fish
Fish in tank - 1 Mbu, 5 1.5 inch Guppies, 9 3/4 inch Cardinal Tetras, 4 3.5 inch fake simese algae eaters, a Simese Fighter and the SAP
Tank size - 4ft x 1.5ft x 1.5 ft - 250 liters/55UK Gallons
I did a 50% water change yesterday and gave the gravel a good hoover which removed a lot of black/brown dirty water from it (the main tanks water is very clear)

I've resently added a few guppies and plants from 2 different lfs

It's actually both Naboo my Mbu and my SAP that have the problems, the problems have only appeared in the last couple of days

Naboo has 2 very small spots on his back, 1 looks white and the other looks greyish

SAP has 1 slightly bigger white spot than Naboo but he also has what look like 3 little pit holes on his back near the white spot!

I thought this might be Ich/white spot so I had a look in the hospital library and for Ich it says you need to add salt to the water

1) What are the small pit holes on the SAP?

2) Can I use Melafix and Pimafix to cure these symptoms instead, I don't want to add salt to my comunity tank?

Right now I don't have the money to buy an extra tank so would prefer to treat them if need be in the tank they're in

Sorry I have no pictures as my camera phone doesn't focus well enough to be able to see the tiny white spots and pit holes

Thanks for your time and expertise

[Christemo]

The holes could be bite marks. The white could be scaring.
If it is ich, then adding salt to the water would really help. It's one of the better treatments without using medications.

[puffertt77]

Thanks for replying so quickly Christemo

The holes are defenatly not bite marks their like 3 little pin pricks and the white spot is a round ball

Do you think my other fish will be ok with me adding salt?

Also should I use the salt that you put in Marine tanks (don't worry I wasn't going to add table salt:)

Thanks again for the help

[Dadof4]

Your other fish shouldn't be effected by adding salt. In this case you're not adding marine salt but aquarium salt. One tablespoon per 5-10 gallons of water. Make sure you water is pristine, frequent water changes and gravel vacuuming. Melafix is you good in this situation also.

[crazedpuffer]

First I'd recomend doing daily water changes untill you can get that nitrite down to zero (and so it stays at zero)
Melafix/Pimafix won't help much if it is ich. Does it look like salt grains are on the fish? If so it is ich and aquarium salt should be used to treat the fish (it's is perfectly safe, and most plants are fine with it too)

Black or white spots are normally signs of a parasite. See if they go away over the next few days with those water changes, if they start to spread, treat with some form of anti-parasitic medicine.

Also you do thaw out the bloodworms and krill before you feed it to the fish right?

[puffertt77]

Thanks for replying so quickly guys

The spot on Bollo the SAP is bigger than the 2 minute spots on Naboo the Mbu. I suppose they do look like a grain of salt but there's only 1 on Bollo and 2 on Naboo

I'll go and ask my lfs for some aquarium salt, I was also going to put the Temp upto 80f like it says in the Hospital library

My Nitrate has been at .5 for a while, today it did look closer to 0 but I went with .5 as the test strip wasn't totally white. I'll start doing water changes every day like you said until it gets to 0

As for the frozen blocks of food yes I put them in frozen and they float for about 20 sec and then sink and melt almost instantly, the fish don't touch them till they're melted

[puffertt77]

Hello Again guys

I forgot to ask you will putting the Aquarium Salt in my tank affect the PH, Nitrite and Nitrate from now on?

Because on the box it says once it's in there it'll stay in there

I was just wondering if when the Puffers have been treated that I should start doing water changes without the salt so as to remove the salt from the tank

Thanks again for your time

[crazedpuffer]

It won't affect your levels. After you kill the ich just do normal w/c and you will get the salt out.

[puffertt77]

I've got the Aquarium Salt and I'm ready to go but I've just looked at Bollo the SAP's back and it almost looks like some kind of growth?!

It's a circle and it looks a bit like when you start to get a wart, all the skin around and in it looks cracked?!

It also looks like when you've had a scab and it's dryed out and is ready to flake off?!

Has anyone every heard or seen anything like this?

Should I buy some melifix as that heals the fishes skin right?

Or will the salt be enough?

Naboo's 2 white spots seem to be fading so that's good

[crazedpuffer]

Sounds like a fungal infection, salt won't do much to help that. Your nitrite levels could definitely be causing it. What are your perams now?

Try treating with a Melafix/Pimafix combo and see if that helps.

[puffertt77]

Thanks crazedpuffer

Ammonia = 0
PH = 8.2
Nitrite = 0.5ish (It looks whiter than before)
Nitrate = 40

I just got the Melafix and Pimafix, I'm going to add some now

I'll let you know how it goes over the next couple of days

Thanks for the help

[crazedpuffer]

Your welcome, hopefully they get better soon!

[puffertt77]

Thanks

I just made a mistake and put double what I was suppose to in there for both meds

I measured out 10ml instead of 5ml!

Will this be OK?

[crazedpuffer]

Should be alright, keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't act funny, if he does do a w/c (25% should be good)

[puffertt77]

All my fish seem really mellow since I put the meds in, even the Fake Simese Algea eaters are sitting on the gravel and they're looking a bit pale. They're breathing OK though

Naboo's colours have changed to the darkest I've ever seen them so he seems OK

Bollo the SAP is dark and kinda mellow but I have seen him thrash twice, maybe he can feel the meds attacking the sore on his back?! He's generally pretty chilled though

The colours on the Guppies have also been boosted, it's like someone has turned up the contrast in my tank, really amazing colours!

The way the bubbles are going up through the tank it looks like the waters kinda silky

Hang on the FSAE are now moving round a bit more

Maybe I should've just added a bit of meds every 5 mins rather in one go (although it has been 30 mins since I did it now)

All the fish are pooing loads to