# Black Spot Disease?



## Franceschi

Hi there;

It's been one and a half month already since one of my fishes started showing some black spots; it all started with a black stain on one of its fins, and then all of a sudden it started spreading over the entire body;

My tank is a 300 Liters (around 72G), and when I first noticed those spots I had another 3 fish, 1 socolofi, 1 cabro and 1 acei;

The tank is cycled, It's 2 months old and I cycled the tank with these 4 fish in it; Ammonia levels never raised over 1ppm, Nitrite had a 1ppm "peak" and right now I have:

ph:8,4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5ppm
GH: 6
KH: 5
Water temp: 25 C (77 F)

I have a canister, an Eheim 2078 Professionel 3e (1850 Liters per hour), with 4L of Siporax, 100ml of Seachem Purigen and Ista Carbon foam;

The fish never seemed to be sick and nothing seems to be unusual with the other fishes; it's eating normally, and the only difference I can tell is the size of its poop, from 1 week to now it's huge!

I feed them Tetra Cichlid Mini Granules once a day and I skip one day every 2 days; once a week I feed them with Tetra Veggie instead of the granules;

I added other 2 albino zebras 3 weeks ago and yesterday I added 6 tiny yellow labs, and so far the Zebra is the only one who developed it;

I went to the LFS to ask if the guy knew what it could be, and he doesn't have a clue; but I noticed he has another fish (actually the exact same species) with the same spots on its body, but according to the LFS guy, "some cichlids develop this and there is nothing to do about it";

I am just a little sad because right now it's starting to change color and is getting truly beautiful, except for those satins all over its body...

Here are some pictures so you can see it for yourselves;


































And the poop:


































So, should I do something about it?

Thanks!


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn

first off, its completely harmless,

the general consensus is that its related to high levels of spirulina in the diet.

give it time, it'll probably go away.


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## Franceschi

I'm trying not to freak out with this, but it seems like it's getting worse; the two types of food I'm giving them, do they have a high concentration of spirulina? Should I change the food?
And the poop? Could it be normal or should I keep an eye open to it? No chances of bloat, right?


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn

they look healthy, dont worry.

personally wouldn't have thought the foods you listed to be high in spirulina (cant find a list however)

just relax, keep the water clean, maybe swap to something like NLS or similar high quality diets


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## DJRansome

Although the poop is attached in a long string, it is not thready. Fish that have bloat excrete a very fine, thready mucous instead of food waste.


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## Franceschi

Thank you for your opinions!! In fact, except for the stains and the long poop, the fish seems extremely healthy;

Is there something to do to about the poop, maybe to make it return to the "normal" size? It's like this almost everyday, and it DOES NOT look good...


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## Daisybelle929

I'm just curious...Did your fish end up dying or surviving? Every time mine have ended up with these black spots, they eventually quit eating and die and no one seems to know what it is or how to get rid of it...


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## DJRansome

I have never had a fish die of black spot.


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## Daisybelle929

I appologize, I'm not sure why it reposted my first comment...Im not sure why the few of mine that got it didn't survive...I isolated two more recently for that reason and one died while the other seems to have gotten completely better


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