# Black spot disease



## [Phishman] (Mar 12, 2015)

I think I have a fish with black spot disease. I'm pretty sure thats what it is, little black specs on his body and fins. How bad is this and will I need to treat it? I have a sand substrate. A fluval canister filter and my water parameters are perfect. Its on a pink convict


----------



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It may be diet related, what are you feeding?

Also, how long has the tank been set up, how long have you had this fish and what are the exact water test readings?


----------



## [Phishman] (Mar 12, 2015)

My parameters are PH-7.0 Ammonia-0.02ppm Nitrite- 0ppm Nitrate- 10ppm

I feed them floating shrimp pellets (Cichlid Gold) and the occasional minnows (which is what I think it came from) The tank has been setup for over 5 years and the pink convict has been in since the start. Just started noticing the black specs on him and read up about it. Learned that black spot disease is a parasite that lives in the substrate, just wondering if its something that will go away eventually or if I need to completely empty my tank and clean it out and replace the sand. I've read that it's not peticularly life threatening for the fish. Just ugly. But is that true? Or should I do something about this. And what should I do if so. I'm a semi experienced fish keeper and I'm almost certain this is what it is. I'd upload a picture but idk how to since I just joined this forum. I'll try to figure that out to speed up the process. Thanks for the help. Let me know


----------



## [Phishman] (Mar 12, 2015)




----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Any snails in the tank? These parasites are unable to reproduce without a mollusk in the tank. In any case, you can attempt treating with praziquantel orally with food. Unfortunately, the dosage is geared towards fish farming and I can't predict the effects, positive or negative that they may have on your fish. You can find the powder at Ken's Fish, jehmco, drsfostersmith, Amazon, etc.

Oral for digenean metacercaria
a. Feed 50 mg praziquantel/kg (= 23 mg/lb) of body
weight (Langdon 1992a ). This dose reduces the
number of Diplostomum spathaceum metacercariae
in trout and sculpins (Bylund and Sumari 1981 ).
b. Feed 330 mg praziquantel/kg (= 150 mg/lb) of
body weight once. This dose eliminates 100% of
Diplostomum spathaceum in carp (Székely and
Molnár 1991 ).

And as I'm sure you already know, stop feeding live food.


----------



## [Phishman] (Mar 12, 2015)

I don't have any snails in the tank. So does that mean it's not black spot disease???? Can you tell by the picture? And if I were to fill another tank with the water from my main tank would it automatically have the parasites? Or would I be ok as long as I didn't use any of my sand from my main tank? I just need to know if this will kill my fish


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Hard to say what it is without a sample to view under a microscope. It could be pigmentation. These parasites aren't known to be fatal. A water transfer is unlikely to contaminate another tank.


----------



## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

Those spots look very similar to spots on a lighter colored Dragonblood I have. Those spots developed after I switched to food with Spirulina in it. I have several fish, all lighter colored, that developed this to a greater or lesser degree. Some only have one or 2 spots, but my dragonblood has quite a few more.


----------



## [Phishman] (Mar 12, 2015)

Alright well it hasn't seemed to effect them much. They are all very active and eat extremely well so I'm gonna not worry about it for now. Thanks a ton guys for the help. I can rest easy for now.


----------

