# Tiny black marks? Illness?



## cichfeeble (Jan 12, 2010)

Two of my red zebras seem to have developed some tiny black "fleck" marks. One has maybe four or five sparsely on its side. The other has one or two, with one near body/tail intersection. Size is about the size of a mark that the tip of a sharp pencil would make on a piece of paper.

They seem normal. But wondering if this is a known disease or parasite sign.

If so, help!

My water:
pH 8.2
kH: 11 drops API
GH: 17 drops API
NH3 0ppm

nitrate 40ppm (doing weekly 30% tomorrow)

tank has been up for 3 weeks.

Zebras are about 3 - 3.5". One male one female.

Have one more zebra that does not have the dots.

Thanks!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Mine had this and they eventually disappeared. But it took years. No treatment seemed to hasten the disappearance.

I think it was a parasite called black spot. It will eventually die and disappear because in order to complete it's life cycle it needs snails and herons, etc. Fish raised in outdoor ponds in places like Florida get this. I did not find that it harmed my fish, they are four years old now.


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## Cognition (Oct 14, 2009)

Thank you, one of my aceis has the same thing


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

Are you feeding spirulina? 
Tiny spots can be just extra pigments caused by a diet high in spirulina.
Black spot parasite is raised like flecks of black sand, AKA black ich. Normally with external parasite the fish will "flash" against the rocks or subsrate to try and get rid of it.
If you could post a pic, someone may be able to recognize what's wrong. Might be a fungus of some sort or just simply pigment.


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## ChromisNZ (Jul 30, 2008)

bulldogg7 said:


> Are you feeding spirulina? Tiny spots can be just extra pigments caused by a diet high in spirulina.


That'd be my bet. I've seen it on my Red Zebs when feeding a food high in spirulina.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I feed NLS and read about the same spirulina thing. I thought spirulina was more blotches than specs. But I've always fed NLS and the spots did go away. I had no flashing...just specs. Not sure what it was, but my fish are fine. FWIW.


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## Wolffishin (Sep 9, 2009)

There was a long thread on this in the Illness section, one member even had a biopsy done on it if I remember correctly.

The spots being discussed there were not "black ich" these were more like piment spots, not raised or anything.

Some say they can be caused by stress but nothing definative was found. Again, from what I remember.

I have a red Peacock that has these spots on the tail and anal fin. Just one spot on each fin, dark black not raised and they're irregular shaped. Just recently the spot on the tail has gotten progressively smaller and I can see where the spot has vanished the fin area has no pigment, it's clear.

I've had the fish for about 4 months and he arrived with the spots.
Hopefully the spots will continue to shrink and ultimately disappear.

You can clearly see the spot on the anal fin in this picture, the one on the tail is obscured because of the way it's bent.


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## ChromisNZ (Jul 30, 2008)

This is what mine had......








The spots gradually disappeared when I reduced their spirulina intake.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I have like 6 fish that got'em, Aceis, Socolofi and Greshakeis. Some have little dots and some look like someone took a pen and wrote on them, all marks are small but big enough to be an eye sore.

I have been feeding marine algae, algae wafers, Hikari pellets and blood worms every now and then.

I don't know why they got them but none of my yellow labs have any.


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## Sbrace (Jan 31, 2010)

One of my Zebras developed around 4 small black dots as well, fish are absolutely normal, its just a pigment defect, you have nothing to worry about


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

I had alot to do with the long post found in the illness section about this problem.

I'll start by saying i have always fed NLS.

My latest occurance of these spots happened in my female rostratus which i still have. About 2 months ago it was real bad. She was in an all male hap tank. In the last 2 months i have have moved out 90% of all males to start breeding again leaving 3 breeding groups (not Rostratus). I have also started feeding frozen brine shrimp. The female rostratus now has no signs of black spots or blotches, it has completely disappeared.

I'm still an advocate for the stress thoery but im also wondering if the addition of the frozen brine may have contributed to the disappearance of her spots.

Either way, these spots are not fatal just ugly and should disappear over time.


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

I should also add that the biopsy that SupaDM had performed on hid fish ruled out bacterial and parasitic infection.

Here is the link to the page:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... c&&start=0


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## cichfeeble (Jan 12, 2010)

ChromisNZ said:


> This is what mine had......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The photo you posted is EXACTLY what I am seeing on my Zebras. Same color, same patterning, everything. Thanks to everyone for the follow-ups.


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## Eskimette (Jun 7, 2012)

If the spots are similar in size but raised on the fin (not so muh on the body) what would the course of action be? - trying to fix an issue in my tank - am afraid that black ich came in on ocean rocks that I thoroughly cleaned, but unsure if that can survive in fresh water aaquarium etc


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## aprildawn (Sep 8, 2010)

My dragonblood has the same marks. He has had them for over a year. They don't hurt anything.


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