Giant White Spot

[jasonskillz]

when i was feeding my fish i noticed a giant white spot on his head. i dont know what it is. It is about 1cm in diameter. It seems perfectly fine and healthy. i am not sure if he bumped his head a few days ago. my gourami is pink all over so the spot is really noticable. i havent turned on the heater for a while now since it has been so hot in my house and when i checked the temp it felt like around 75 or so degrees. my water levels are pretty normal so i dont think its the water. i always have my UV on so chances for bacteria are slim.
please help

 

[sylvia]

If you had not mentioned the UV then I would have immediately suggested columnaris as that's usualy triggered by a rise int emperature and you said it had become realy hot.

Is the spot 'fuzzy' at all? Could you perhaps get a pic?

 

[jasonskillz]

there is no real rise in temperature
my heater cant be controlled so i just turned it off so it wont get hot
the spot just looks like normal skin
like you already know my gourami is pink so it looks very different
is it a possible lost in color?
it got scared a few days ago and hit himself somewhere and that might be the place

 

[sylvia]

It is possible that it's an injury - can you describe it some more? You say it looks like normal skin - so are there any scales there like normal? Is the color in that area actualy white or just a lighter shade than the rest of the fish (ie: a light pink or maybe a little yellowish?). Does the patch protrude a lot or is there absolutely no difference to the fish in profile? Also, is he acting normaly? IMO, it's probably nothing serious and you certainly need not worry for the time being unless you see the fish behaving lethargicaly or the area grows in size.

As for it being a simple color change, that's not impossible because, as these fish grow, they tend to develop a pronounced nuptial hump on their foreheads - if that's what is hapenning, the color change may be due to that. On the other hand, if there's no difference in shape in this manner, it would be unusual for any color change to be starting from this point. I think you've established your gourami's not dyed so it realy would be strange if he lost color from his head first .

Once again, a picture would be helpful.

 

[jasonskillz]

he has grown a kok so what you said may be possible
he has somewhat lost some appitite but still have some if you know what i mean
he also doesnt come up to the me and try to attack me anymore (more like asking for food)

 

[jasonskillz]

heres a pic
its the white dot right above its kok
http/i12.photobucket.com/albums/a235/jas...lz/IMG_0230.jpg

 

[sylvia]

Hmm... I'm not shure - in the pic it just looks like he's lost a bit of color. I gather it doesn't protrude and isn't getting larger? If so, I wouldn't worry too much. But if it starts expanding or protruding, assume it's flexibacter and treat for it immediately. Keep up with water changes meanwhile.

 

[jasonskillz]

its not getting any bigger but for some reason it does have a small little red mark on it
it looks pretty harmless, looks kinda like a blood vien in a way
i havent done a water change in like 2 weeks since iv been so busy lately
i plan to change the water soon then again i can just do it right now since i have some time
having to change 2 130 gal tank is a lot of work

 

[sylvia]

If there's any red you need to start worrying Do a water change and keep up with them. If that red spot gets even a tiny bit larger, you may have an ulcer on your hands and you need to treat immediately with antibiotics.

 

[jasonskillz]

its starting look like its natural color is coming back

 

[jasonskillz]

i am now positive that the white spot was just a lost of color, a wound, or missing scale
it has now regained its natural color back so i am sure it was not any kind of infection or sickness
8)

 

[sylvia]

That's excellent news!