Ammonia Level: .50
Nitrite Level: 0
Nitrate level: 10
Ph Level: 8.0
Ph Level out of the Tap: 8.0
Tank size(How many Gals) : 7 gal (QT tank)
and How long has it been running? 3 months
What kind of Filtration: Top Fin 10
How often do you change the water and how much: 30% once a week (depending on water quality results)
What kind of Water additives or conditioners: cycle, nova aqua, amquel plus
Any Medications add to the tank: .1% salt (started today)
How many fish in the tank and there size: 1 oranda, 3.5" (not including tail)
Add any new fish to the tank: oranda is new
What do you feed your fish: soaked flake, oranges
Any unusual findings on the fish: tiny white thing poking out of wen
Any unusual behavior: nope
If you can what is the chloramines Level from the Tap: not sure (will get that test on Friday)

Just got this fishy last wednesday. Noticed tiny white spot on his head a few days ago, but I thought it was just a piece of debris or something. Now the white thing has grown (still pretty tiny) and looks like something poking out of his head. It's not moving, and I can't tell if the skin around it is red because he's grey. He's behaving normally- eating, sleeping, etc. Just got off the phone with the fish guy at the lfs and he says that the fish in the tank are all doing ok with no symptoms.

Added 7tsp of sea salt today. Could it be a worm? Maybe fungus? Can't tell if it's cottony or smooth (it's so tiny).

Lela:

This can happen to fish with wens--it's nothing to worry about. They sometimes get a bit of white stuff in the wen creases, probably due to the wen growing faster than the blood supply to support it. No need to medicate--just keep an eye on it for now.

If the fish gets lethargic, loses its appetite, clamps fins or if there is redness around the white spot, then it could be something serious.

However, your ammonia should be zero so I would do some water changes right away to get it back down. At a ph of 8.0, ammonia is more toxic to fish. so a reading of .5 is really not good.

Laura

Also if you get really worried about it you can get some Iodine and a q-tip and swab the area to clean it, just make sure you don't get it in the gills or the eyes.

<HUGE sigh of relief>

I just did a water change in there this morning (50%) my tap water starts with 1.0. I'm out of ideas on how to lower the ammonia to a level lower than the "clean" water being added. Data Guru says that she has the same problem, but AmQuel or Prime will help that out. What do you guys think?

Koko, if it doesn't start to improve, I will do the iodine swab. I'm terrified...but I'll do it! I've read up on some tips that members have posted- so, if it comes to that hopefully I can do it without harming Monty...say a little prayer for me (or maybe it should be for fishy).

Thanks again!

Lela:

I don't know anything about Amquel or Prime since I've never used either. However, if DataGuru says it works, I would trust her judgement. She knows what she's talking about!

Laura

She sure does. Amquel and Prime do help control ammonia.

I would give it a couple more days before you swab if you are feeling nervous about it. White spots on the wen are very common indeed and are usually completely harmless and normal. It's only if the spot gets very big (larger than, say, a match head) or the area around it becomes red, puffy or sore that you should worry.

If you want to swab, the easiest way is to get an old washcloth, dip this into the tank water, get your Q-tip ready soaked with iodine (or you can use Neosporin if you prefer), net the fish out and quickly wrap it completely in the soaking wet washcloth, covering its eyes and gills if possible, and just leaving the wen exposed. This helps stop the fish panicking and wriggling, and also makes it much easier for you to hold. Even so, hold the fish over the tank so if it does get away from you it will simply splash back in harmlessly. Gently swab the spot with the coated Q-tip, holding the fish head-up so no iodine runs into its eyes, mouth or gills (another reason for using a washcloth - it helps stop that). Give the iodine a couple of moments to 'soak in', then release the fish back into the tank. Don't worry that you'll harm it by holding it out of water - you've got at least 2 to 3 minutes before the fish really needs to go back in and the swab should only take 30 secs or so.

Hope this helps.

That helps A LOT! I appreciate having step by step instructions- less opportunity for messing up.

I've been talking to DataGuru about it and I'm starting to wonder if he might have flukes- maybe the white spot is a fungus infection in a spot where a fluke opened up his skin?

There are just too many possibilities!

Oh yeah, and his poop is white and very stringy. Doesn't that mean an internal problem or parasite?

This morning there was another white growth on his head. However, when I fed him, he swam around so much that he knocked it off. There is a faint whitish spot where the growth was. The original white growth is still there. My husband says that it looks larger- but I'm not sure (maybe just wishful thinking on my part).

Behavior is still normal.

Water quality is ok, except for ammonia. It comes out of my tap at 1.0, and no matter what I do (add amquel, cycle) I can't seem to get it down below .50.

I have ammonia in my tap too - I never had any luck with Amquel+ so I switched to Prime & never looked back!

Jenn

OK, so each day there is a new white growth on his head now. They all seem to fall off (except for the first one) or just go away. He's behaving normally. And the only other problems in the tank are that the ammonia is too high .50 is a low as I seem to be able to get it to (tomorrow I will start trying Prime).

Could they be like pimples?