Sick Platy?

[x-sarah-x]

hi guys, i have a 60l tank with 3 platys, 3 neon tetras, 2 plecos and 1 corydora's.

about 1 week ao i notice that one of my female platys had a blackish mark on her right side just above her anal fin, it was only small and i didnt take too much notice of it really. A few days later and the spot had turned into a small blackish lump. i checked ammonia and nitrate and everything was fine, temp was in safe range. However, not the black lump has turned white as theres sormething sticking out of her scales. also, a few of the scales on her caudal fin are a little pale and look as though some may fall off, but nothing has happened yet.

ive only recently changed my tank so the set up is new, but i cycled the tank using fish food and bactinettes, i used the same fitler/gravel/ornaments and some water front my previous tank and have not have a problem with and spikes while the fish have been in the new tank. All my other fish are fine, ive checked them everyday and nothing is showing up on them. shes alos swimming and feeding fine at the moment, no unusual behaviour at all. Ive tried to research it on the net myself but didnt have a lot of luck. her other scales are not sticking out like they do with dropsy, unless maybe its the early stages?? only thing i think it could mybe be is a parasite of some sort but ive never seen anything like thing on any of my fish before and dont have any experience with parasites or fish lice at all. but it doesnt look to me like lice or any sort of parasite, but like i said ive no experience so not sure if i should be able to tell with a naked eye?

ill upload a photo (a bad one) my fish are very camera shy and this i the best i could get... any one have any ideas???

 

[WILDER]

What type of pleco are they as they are massive waste producers.
How often do you maintain the tank.
What are your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Neons need to be a shoal of no less than six.

Black patches or black marks can be ammonia burns that are healing.
Is the lump hard or soft like filled with fluid.
Any redness to the lump

Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Any excess mucas on the fish gills or body.

Fish lice will be disc shaped with legs.

 

[Colin_T]

It could be the start of an ulcer.
Ulcers are normally caused by poor environmental conditions (lots of gunk in the water, substrate & filter) and this encourages bacteria like Aeromonas sp. The fish's immune system gets a bit run down and this allows the Aeromonas to infect the fish and start multiplying.

Try doing a 50% water change and gravel clean each day for the next week. Clean the filter too if it hasn't been done in the last week.
If it hasn't cleared up after that then try adding some Melafix and Pimafix and see if that helps.

 

[x-sarah-x]

thanks for the response...

all my readings were fine, i checked the filter too and its ok. the white thing is totally gone today... i have no idea what it was??? ill do a water change anyway and if anything else happens ill have to maybe ask again here or at the fish shop or something. theres nothing else wrong with the fish so i dont want to cause more damage by poking about and causing more disturbance and stress then i need too... i guess ill just have to keep an eye on things.

thanks a lot

sarah
x

 

[Colin_T]

if it has gone then it was probably excess mucous.
If a fish is injured they will produce a bit more mucous over the damaged area. When the area has healed the excess mucous is shed and the fish looks normal again.

 

[WILDER]

Glad she back to normal.