Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me. I have had my 10 gallon tank going for a just about a year with minimal fish loss, at least nothing out of the ordinary. I have Guppies, 1 head and tail light, 2 black neons, 3 normal neons, 2 angels, and one bottom feeder. My tank is clear, doesn't look dirty other then the stuff on the bottom which has always been there for the most part. THis morning i woke up to my male guppy being dead and when i got home one of my last babies was dead as well. This baby tho is about 5 months old and still very small, so i don't know if there was something wrong from the get go as the other babies born at the same time were alot bigger. I was looking at my other fish, and my head and tail light has a big white mark on it, does not look anything like ick as i had that about 6 months ago and successfully removed it. I have no clue what it is, havn't seen it before and i'm not sure if its anything to worry about or not. I tested for ammonia and it seems to be fairly normal, looked to be between 0 and .25, but mostly yellow (0). Having done some reading, if it is to do with ammonia, i have read not to change my filter stuff, which does need to be changed , but now i'm not sure whether i should ornot. Has anyone ever had a fish with one big white spot on it? He/she otherwise seems healthy and the only other thing i have noticed in the tank today is that one of my other guppies is spending alot of time sitting on the log in the bottom of the tank and appears to be "panting". This guppy is about 8 months old.
Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Is that white spot cottony or waxy? I'm not sure if the 2 problems are related, but does the guppy have any loss of color, red gills or loss of appetite? will he move away if you put your finger near him?
Its not fluffy at all, just white and a bit smaller then a dime. The guppy still swims and eats almost like normal other then the "resting" or whatever it is he is doing.
Its not fluffy at all, just white and a bit smaller then a dime. The guppy still swims and eats almost like normal other then the "resting" or whatever it is he is doing.
is that white spot sort of waxy looking? how old is the guppy?
Some more questions to try to help out. It seems like you've really been trying your best and making sure you got advice, so that's great. It's just that some petstores can give really bad advice at times, so you did well to come on the forum to get an array of opinions, rather than just one.
Here's some remarks/questions that I hope will put you on the right track:
You can, and must, rinse off excess stuff off your filter material once in a while. Rinse it in water from your own tank, though, not tap water. That will not disturb your cycle. After a few months it is definitely time for a rinse. This is not addressing your problem directly though, sorry.
Thanks for all the responses. I have no red fins at all in the tank. I changed my filter stuff, charcoal and sponge about 8 weeks ago and have rinsed them since, about 3 weeks ago, with aquarium water. They do need to be changed but i don't have spares at the moment, gonna go get some this week. The spot on the head and tail light, i guess you could say looks kinda waxy, although it seem a bit smaller, (or maybe just my eyes, lol), he otherwise seems healthy. The baby guppy is about 6-8 months old, i can't remember which batch of fry he came from to give an exact age. I also noticed this morning that one of my neons also has some white on it, in the red coloring toward its tail, almost at the fin. I just can't tell if its external or internal, again the neon seems otherwise healthy as well. I know my filter was having issues and not circulating properly until last night when I lifted the the holder for the sponge and charcoal, although they don't look very dirty, something was clogging it i think as my circulation has returned. I thought my filter was giving up the ghost and was just going to buy a new one, but i apparantly don't have too, so i'm not sure if that could be the root of the problem or not. I also don't know how long the neon has had this white mark as they usually hide int he back where they are not so easily seen, i got lucky and saw this when i fed this morning before work. As for nitrate testing, the only test kit i have is for ammonia, I guess i'll should get a proper test kit so i can test everything.
Let me know of any more thoughts, short of testing for everything else. And as for pet store responses...where I live I have no pet stores handy and the closest one has already proven that they really don't knowwhat they are talking about, which is why i joined this forum originally way back when. I prefer to get alot of differant opinions and hopefully find one that works, then one opinion thats way off base.
Do you have any pics of them to post? At this point, i'd recommend some non-harsh natural meds.. either Melafix (just never use this on bettas or any air-labyrinth fish) or Rid-Fungus might treat the different issues going on in that tank.
Again, not directly related to what you're seeing on your fish, but regarding the filters. If you change all your filter media at the same time, this can change the water chemistry drastically (if you start a mini-cycle), which may make the fish poorly. When it comes to maintenance, small and regular is best: i.e. changing one filter media at a time, and rinsing them before replacing them.
As betta Couple says, a photo would indeed help, but I guess we're talking about something really really really small here, so of course taking pix will not be a day in the park.
I was asking for red gills, not fins. Any red, or darkened, gills?
I would get the full test kit (at least nitrate, nitrite, pH, and ammonia) if you can, as that can really give you more direct answers.
OK, sorry for the misunderstanding about the red, no none of them are read unless they are supposed to be, anywhere. I have taken a few pics, not sure if they will show much, just taken with a webcam as my digitals flash blocks out whats in the tank. The pics show the head and tail lights spot on his back near the top fin, and they also show the neon with the white mark near the end of its tail fin. NOt sure if you can see them very well, but here goes nothing, lol.
I know of this disease (neon tetra disease or something like that) that makes neons white. Could that be it?
"Loss of color in the red stripe and/or milky/brownish coloration, pale area beneath the dorsal fin. Sluggishness, erratic swimming, separating from the school, weight loss, occasionally in advanced stages ends in a secondary bacterial infection that causes bloating and pop-eye." (from http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html)
Ok If that is it, what do i do? The neon is still eating and swimming and hasn't left the school, other thent he white on him, he is absolutelynormal, same wi tht the head and tail light.
If you still have no luck, do an internet search for neon tetra disease and see if someone did try something that worked. But remember, we are not sure that's what it is. I hope it's not.
You could also try these links for disease diagnosis:
I have read all those links and can't see anything there that might be whats going on. I couldn't get any pics to show for some reason, so i could not make a comparison. The good news is, none of my other fish are showing the same thing as the head and tail light and neon, both fish are still thriving, eating swimming and looking quite normal. I'm going to change my carbon in my filter and rinse my sponge with the aquarium water hopefully today some time and see what that does. I still haven't been able to get to the pet store for a full test kit , but i hope to get one very soon as i would also like to get more fish soon, but i don't want to until this clears up, whatever it is. Also, my guppy that was showing whatever it was showing is now back to normal. Maybe it was caused by the plugged up filter and now that water is flowing again, they are gonna be ok. The spot on the head and tail light hasn't grown or changed any, but it also hasn't gotten any smaller either. Same with the neon. I'm doing some water replacement today and the filter thing and i guess i'll see how it goes from there. Could these big white spots be a form of ick? The only ick i've ever seen is white dots, but i'm not sure. I do have ick treatment here just don't know whether to use it or not. I'll see how it goes after i do all this today and see what happens i guess.
Thanks for all input, any thing else anyone can think of would be great.
Oh, sorry these links didn't help. You're doing really well looking all of this up. Sorry, I can't think of what this might be. Could be a long stretch but the white area... fish flea? They are translucent and their body form what could look like a film on top of the fish' skin, but white? Sorry I couldn't be of more help, Marilynne.
Glad they're doing better, though.
Great that you're getting the test kit before getting more fish. It might reveal a little more as to what's going on.
Hmm.. well, i'm glad the guppy looks back to normal. I'd say without a doubt that those 2 fish don't have ick.. if the white spots were waxy looking, i'd say it was probably fish pox, but that's out too. Fortunately you don't have them showing symptoms for all those diseases so it leaves me thinking of 3 possibilities, both of which are guesses at this point. If you can turn the flash off on your digital and get a close shot of them, i might have a better idea (thanks for the pics you took and we're not wanting to be pushy, just want to be helpful with this mystery issue).
One is that they are experiencing a type of body fungus that isn't fuzzy and isn't spreading for some reason.
Another is that those are benign tumors BUT tumors would seem more like bumps.
And there's the slight chance of them being ulcers, but you'd probably see behavior changes and ulcers wouldn't stay the same for so long, i think.
I'd still be at the general meds recommendation i gave earlier if you'd want to do some sort of treatment without risking harm to the fish, but even just keeping the water clean and good is the best course for now. If you felt like it, perhaps some liquid vitamins like vitachem and treating the water with novaqua+ or stresscoat would help too.
Did you're fish turnout okay? What did you end up doing? I have the same problem with my rainbow shark. He has a white patch on the top of its head and it is nothing like the common symptoms. He is perfectly fine except for that mark on the top of his head.
Any red, or darkened, gills?
, but i hope to get one very soon as i would also like to get more fish soon, but i don't want to until this clears up, whatever it is. Also, my guppy that was showing whatever it was showing is now back to normal. Maybe it was caused by the plugged up filter and now that water is flowing again, they are gonna be ok. The spot on the head and tail light hasn't grown or changed any, but it also hasn't gotten any smaller either. Same with the neon. I'm doing some water replacement today and the filter thing and i guess i'll see how it goes from there. Could these big white spots be a form of ick? The only ick i've ever seen is white dots, but i'm not sure. I do have ick treatment here just don't know whether to use it or not. I'll see how it goes after i do all this today and see what happens i guess.
I'd say without a doubt that those 2 fish don't have ick.. if the white spots were waxy looking, i'd say it was probably fish pox, but that's out too. Fortunately you don't have them showing symptoms for all those diseases so it leaves me thinking of 3 possibilities, both of which are guesses at this point. If you can turn the flash off on your digital and get a close shot of them, i might have a better idea (thanks for the pics you took and we're not wanting to be pushy, just want to be helpful with this mystery issue).
What did you end up doing? I have the same problem with my rainbow shark. 
He has a white patch on the top of its head and it is nothing like the common symptoms. He is perfectly fine except for that mark on the top of his head. 