* Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? Unknown
Nitrite Level? 0 ppm
Nitrate level? 80 ppm
Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? Ph 6.4
Ph Level out of the Tap? Unknown
* Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 44 gallons, last moved 1.5 years ago, running for ~3 years
* What is the name and size of the filter/s? 2 filters 1 Eheim canister filter, 1 Emperor 400, Eheim is going to be phased out when I have time.
* How often do you change the water and how much? 1 per week, 25% (sometimes once every two weeks)

# How many fish in the tank and their size? 2 Black moors, one 2” body, the other 6” body
# What kind of water additives or conditioners? salt (5tbl spoons, before last water change), stress coat
# Any medications added to the tank? No.
# Add any new fish to the tank? Newest was a couple of months ago.
# What do you feed your fish? Sinking Pellets, frozen spinach, frozen peas, very occasional orange slice
# Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt",
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? Biggest fish has frayed fins, but not active fin rot, both have slight cotton spotting, smallest has one scale on side with white protrusion coming out of it
# Any unusual behavior like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..? They've been more sluggish lately, but not acting sick otherwise

I hope that I've covered most of it. The background is that I have had a large black moor for 3 years now and he's been through a lot, but seems somewhat stable now. I added another black moor a couple of months ago and he's been growing pretty fast as well. Last week the smaller black moor developed a raised scale with a white protrusion coming out from underneath it. The protrusion changes in length and does not look like anchor worm. I've been keeping an eye on him and he's not been flashing or acting much differently, perhaps a little more sluggish than usual. The large black moor has been developing cotton spots a bit more often than usual.

Within the last two months I added a piece of driftwood and a couple of plants, which doesn't seem to have done much to my water levels and take energy away from the algae that used to try to take over the tank.

Anyway, I've been looking around to find out what I could do about the raised scale/protrusion and found this forum so I thought I'd ask! Thanks for any help you can give me.

Hi helicopter and

My first suggestion would be to do one massive waterchange (ie. 70%) to get those nitrates in a nice healthy range... Also, is your pH stable at 6.4? Would you be able to test the pH out of your tap water and post the number? 6.4 if stable is borderline but if it drops any lower, could lead to pH crash but won't go into that until you reply

With the protrusion - does it look like a pimple growing from under the scale?
How long has it been there?

I think the first thing that'll help with the fin rot is water quality - nitrates of 80ppm is considered quite high so getting them to <20ppm will be a good place to start and if you can post back on your pH and the growth, it'll help understand what the problem may be.

PS. Is there any way you can post a clear pic?