Is this white spot?

[lparis]

I rescued a tank with some severum and flag cichlids and the severum seems to have these white things kind of breaking out of his skin. I think it's white spot but is it so big because he's a big fish? They look like big white heads but then the skin breaks and it looks long. I can't explain too well but I have added pictures x

 

[lparis]

Sorry. I think he's a flag cichlid x

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post a picture of the whole fish?

It looks like a festivum cichlid that has hole in the head disease. This is caused by Hexamita and occurs in dirty tanks with dirty filters and high nitrates.

You can try adding salt but it might need medication (Metronidazole) if it doesn't heal up after a week or two of salt. Normally salt and clean water and clean tank/ filter will work, but if there's no improvement after 2 weeks with salt, get some Metronidazole.

Before you add salt, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean, clean the filter, wipe the inside of the glass down, and increase aeration.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.