# White spot on head, harmful or harmless?



## SonicsDC25 (Jul 29, 2013)

One of my Jalo Reef has a white patch on his head. It's not fuzzy or anything, it just looks like there's no color in that spot. He's still very active and eats often, which makes it even more confusing.

:!: What size is your tank and what SPECIES of fish do you have?
- 55 gallon, 6x Cynotilapia afra Jalo Reef and 6x Pseudotropheus Saulosi. All are juveniles and are either 2 inches or smaller.

:!: How long has it been set up? Is it CYCLED?
- 3 weeks and yes it's cycled.

:!: What are your water parameters: Temperature, ammonia (NH3/4), nitrite (NO2), pH, GH, KH and nitrate (NO3)? 
- 80 degrees F, 8.0 pH, 11 GH, 10 KH, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 20ppm Nitrate.

:!: How long have you had the fish and what symptoms do they have? What do you FEED them? Have you introduced any new fish recently? What is your MAINTENANCE schedule, and what product/s (if any) do you use to neutralize chlorine or chloramines in your TAP WATER? 
- Had the 12 juvs for 3 weeks or so and one of them has a white spot on its head. It's not fuzzy or anything, it just looks like there's no color there. He's still active and eats well, which makes it more confusing.
I feed them New Life Spectrum cichlid pellets twice a day (before work and before bed) and a cucumber treat every 1-2 weeks. No new fish, I added them all together when I got them shipped to me. I add water conditioner during water changes and also Epsom salt + baking soda to buffer the water.


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## SonicsDC25 (Jul 29, 2013)

SonicsDC25 said:


> :!: What are your water parameters: Temperature, ammonia (NH3/4), nitrite (NO2), pH, GH, KH and nitrate (NO3)?
> - 80 degrees F, 8.0 pH, 11 GH, 10 KH, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 20ppm Nitrate.


Typo, my pH is 8.2.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks ok to me from what I can tell in the pictures. I'd certainly keep an eye on it. There are some fish that will lose coloration, particularly banding in that area as they mature but I don't think afras are one of them.


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## SonicsDC25 (Jul 29, 2013)

Thanks I really appreciate your opinion on the matter, hopefully it really is nothing


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## Austinite (Jul 27, 2013)

I had a maingano that had this exact thing last month. My water parameters were spot on, I check them every single week before my regular water change, but even still, I began changing out water daily for a week straight after I saw the white area on his head. 40-50% water change every day for one week. It's my solution for most ailments in the tank because it always seems to work? The white spot is gone and the fish is fine. Haven't seen any other fish with it. It must have been something, because it's now gone.


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## SonicsDC25 (Jul 29, 2013)

Interesting, thanks for the input! I do notice my 2nd Jalo male having a similar white area on his head, but not as big. I'll try doing the same thing and see how it works out, really an odd abnormality O_O it doesn't affect the fish whatsoever, this vid was from last night and the one staring me down the entire vid is the fish in question :-? Hopefully those water changes will get rid of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=deskt ... QjQVdWyEo8


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## surfersrevolution (Mar 4, 2014)

I have a Peacock that will periodically get a small white spot on his head, in the same location. It doesn't seem to bother him too much, and it does go away after a few water changes. At first I chalked it up to injury from scraping against the live rock or fighting with a tankmate since it didn't appear to be any kind of fungal infection, but after the third time it showed up I just couldn't figure it out. My tank is fully cycled and has been running for six months, and all the water parameters look fine as do the other fish. He doesn't seemed stressed and eats/interacts with the tank normally so I don't worry about it too much, just keep up with my water changes. Hope this helps and good luck


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## Austinite (Jul 27, 2013)

Any updates on that fish?


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## SonicsDC25 (Jul 29, 2013)

So far so good, not really going away, but he's still the tank boss controlling traffic in the tank.


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