Does Anyone Know What Might Be Wrong With My Fish?

[Wanderer]

I have one garra rufa fish who strangely has a white growth on top of the area near the head. It was very difficult to take a picture as this type of fish moves so fast, however I manage to take the one below, although not as clear as I had hoped. The growth has increased slightly since I took this picture. I am not too sure if it is a disease or some type of ulcer as none of the other fish have it, and they do get pretty close to one another when feeding (they go into a kind of feeding frenzy when fed). I bought some Seachem Paraguard, which says on the bottle you can use in different ways- smaller doses in the whole tank or larger for "hourly dip". I wanted to do the hourly dip treatment so that I didn't have to expose all the other fish to the medicine, although it sounds mild as Paraguard is filter safe (although chemical filtration media best be removed or the treatment won't be as effective- another reason why I wanted to do the hourly dip). However, catching the single infected fish was impossible due to the speed that this type of fish swims. I don't have a hospital tank btw, another reason why the temporary dip thing was better to try, if it had been possible. So I used the Paraguard treatment in the tank for a few days, however I didn't notice any difference at all, and no-one on here seemed to know how long this treatment takes to work, so I stopped using it in case the fish might simply have some type of ulcer, especially as none of the other fish were showing signs. It doesn't look like white spot because it is only in one area. I just wanted to know what you folk think it might be....if you would be so kind?

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite. nitrate, and ph.

Sorry. But I can't make much out in the pic.
Can you describe hat you see on the fish head in more detail.

Ulcers are red, or pink, with a circling of dead white tissue around the edges.

Does the white blemish on the fish look fluffy.
Does the white blemish look smooth like a raised spot.
Does the white blemish look like a cluster of eggs, or cauliflower.
Does the white blemish look hard, or soft filled with fluid.
Any redness, or pink areas on the white growth or blemish.
Is the blemish ulcerating away into a hole.

 

[Wanderer]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite. nitrate, and ph.

Sorry. But I can't make much out in the pic.
Can you describe hat you see on the fish head in more detail.

Ulcers are red, or pink, with a circling of dead white tissue around the edges.

Does the white blemish on the fish look fluffy.
Does the white blemish look smooth like a raised spot.
Does the white blemish look like a cluster of eggs, or cauliflower.
Does the white blemish look hard, or soft filled with fluid.
Any redness, or pink areas on the white growth or blemish.
Is the blemish ulcerating away into a hole.

No, the blemish doesn't look fluffy.
Yes- it looks smooth like a raised spot.
It doesn't look like a cluster of eggs or a cauliflower- just a raised spot.
It could be soft as there is a slight line in it, very faint- it doesn't appear very solid as the colour is ever so slightly transparent I think. The raised spot appears to have increased in size but is not perfectly symmetrical; it is like two overlapped ovals.

No redness or pink areas, just the slight inconsistency in colour I described- the faint line going accross it.

I did have problems with the water- nitrate and ammonia- but this has now been resolved.

 

[WILDER]

Can you isolate the sick fish and use an internal bacteria med?

 

[Wanderer]

I was just hoping someone on here might have some ideas regarding what could be wrong?

If the problem were infectious, surely the others would be showing signs by now, it has been there for several weeks and this is the only fish visibly affected. Maybe I should not worry; perhaps it's just a syptom caused by an injury or stress from previous water conditions.

It would cost a lot of money to buy another aquarium to set up as a proper hospital tank with filters, air pumps and heaters. I need to be a bit careful for a while as I have already gone a bit overboard with the purchase of this tank, fish and everything I have bought to help improve things.

There is no way to catch this fish other than draining the water out to give them less space to swim and create a tight a space as possible and then try really hard to pick this one out from the rest. Garra rufa are incredibly fast swimmers and much more active than other fish. Stress is really bad for the fish so I would only want to do this as a last resort when necessary.

 

[WILDER]

If there been no improvement with the spot it would be far better to try a bacterial med.
Is the spot filled with pus, or fluid. As we don't want it bursting.