White spots on pleco gills

[Emma and the angelfishes]

I checked my tank this morning before my weekly water change and I realised my older bristle nose catfish has like a white rocket looking thing on one side of his gills it is one the other but not anywhere near as bad I would appreciate and diagnosis or treatment suggestions thank you

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

I would also like to add that there is another pleco in that same tank and it too has a metallic shine in its body on the tail area both catfish have a metallic shine( is this normal) but just one has the white rocky spot things on its gills

 

[Colin_T]

Male bristlenose catfish have a small cluster of short bristles on the side of their face, where the grey/ white thing is. The bristles are normally dark.

If the fish has the same coloured patch of bristles on both sides of the head, I wouldn't worry about it.

If the bristles are white on one side and black on the other side, it could be fungus or excess mucous.

--------------------
Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If the white becomes bigger or more noticeable, post another picture.

--------------------
re: the metallic shine/ sheen. When the tank light is off, shine a torch on the fish and see if they have a gold sheen over their body.​

Post pictures pf the fish showing the metallic shine.

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

Male bristlenose catfish have a small cluster of short bristles on the side of their face, where the grey/ white thing is. The bristles are normally dark.

If the fish has the same coloured patch of bristles on both sides of the head, I wouldn't worry about it.

If the bristles are white on one side and black on the other side, it could be fungus or excess mucous.

--------------------
Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If the white becomes bigger or more noticeable, post another picture.

--------------------
re: the metallic shine/ sheen. When the tank light is off, shine a torch on the fish and see if they have a gold sheen over their body.

Post pictures pf the fish showing the metallic shine.

Thank you the tank water has a lot of tannins in it from the wood is this a problem ?

 

[Colin_T]

Tannins are fine and safe for fish. Tannins help reduce bacteria and fungus in the water and this can reduce the chance of disease outbreaks.

 

[angelcraze]

Yes my brown BN plecos have a metallic shine on the lower end of their bodies, that is normal, but the clusters of growths on his face are not. It almost looks like Lymphocystis, but lesser order fish like catfish are supposed to be immune (not sure how much I believe that, but anyway), could be some type of bacterial ulcer or tumor/growth.

Here is one of my plecos, the pics don't capture the metallic sheen so well, but the tips of his scales look a bit golden in person.

Does it look like that?

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

Yes my brown BN plecos have a metallic shine on the lower end of their bodies, that is normal, but the clusters of growths on his face are not. It almost looks like Lymphocystis, but lesser order fish like catfish are supposed to be immune (not sure how much I believe that, but anyway), could be some type of bacterial ulcer or tumor/growth.

Here is one of my plecos, the pics don't capture the metallic sheen so well, but the tips of his scales look a bit golden in person.
View attachment 99998View attachment 99999
Does it look like that?

A little yes about the gills the other side only a small portion of the gills are white and they like go out then come back in they look like spikes when they go out I didn’t explain very well but is this normal too the image is the other side it is the side with more white that goes in and out it looks like worms I have a video but I can’t figure out how to attach it ignor all the poop and uneaten bloodworm this was taken right after feeding and before a water change

 

[Colin_T]

Upload the video to YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube.

The white bump on the fish in the latest picture does not look normal. It could be fungus or excess mucous. It doesn't look quite like fungus but could be.

I would add some salt and see how it goes over the next few days.

----------
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons 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, 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 but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

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.

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

Upload the video to YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube.

The white bump on the fish in the latest picture does not look normal. It could be fungus or excess mucous. It doesn't look quite like fungus but could be.

I would add some salt and see how it goes over the next few days.

----------
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons 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, 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 but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

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.

Thanks for the help I only have cardinal tetras ,guppies ,platties , Angelfish and BN pleco sin the tank so will do lower dose rate is flake sea salt ok to use ?

 

[Colin_T]

YEP

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

Here is the video

 

[angelcraze]

Upon a second look, it looks bacterial and related to his bristles. I know at one point, my male BN pleco above wore his bristles down. I just noticed one day how short some of them had become. But those pics were taken after they grew back, so I know they rejuvenate sort of like fins....
I'm currently dealing with a different type bacteria, and i'm not familiar with the type that cause white growths, but I am also using aquarium salt to treat it, so good luck!
Edit: I just watched the vid. They have spikes on the sides of their heads there. They use them to fight away other fish. They can actually do some damage with them if they have to. Your male's spikes have eroded away on that side. Also it would be similar to when you see barbell erosion with cories.

My tank that i'm treating is a QT tank, it's bare-bottom so I have no mulm trapped anywhere, but when you do your water changes, do you siphon the detritus? I don't know your WC schedule, but I like to increase them to every other day when I see any issues. It's really amazing what they can do! There's so many things to consider with certain types of bacteria including redox balance. Water changes replenish the good and dilute the bad.

Anyway, I also use capatta leaves (Indian Almond Leaves) to add antibacterial and antifungal properties to the water. When using in a hospital tank, I put them in a media bag in the filter flow so it doesn't make a mess of the tank and dissolves the leaves quicker.

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

Upon a second look, it looks bacterial and related to his bristles. I know at one point, my male BN pleco above wore his bristles down. I just noticed one day how short some of them had become. But those pics were taken after they grew back, so I know they rejuvenate sort of like fins....
I'm currently dealing with a different type bacteria, and i'm not familiar with the type that cause white growths, but I am also using aquarium salt to treat it, so good luck!
Edit: I just watched the vid. They have spikes on the sides of their heads there. They use them to fight away other fish. They can actually do some damage with them if they have to. Your male's spikes have eroded away on that side. Also it would be similar to when you see barbell erosion with cories.

My tank that i'm treating is a QT tank, it's bare-bottom so I have no mulm trapped anywhere, but when you do your water changes, do you siphon the detritus? I don't know your WC schedule, but I like to increase them to every other day when I see any issues. It's really amazing what they can do! There's so many things to consider with certain types of bacteria including redox balance. Water changes replenish the good and dilute the bad.

Anyway, I also use capatta leaves (Indian Almond Leaves) to add antibacterial and antifungal properties to the water. When using in a hospital tank, I put them in a media bag in the filter flow so it doesn't make a mess of the tank and dissolves the leaves quicker.

Ok I will add the salt and do water changes as normal is this salt ok

 

[angelcraze]

What is the ingredient?

 

[Emma and the angelfishes]

Upon a second look, it looks bacterial and related to his bristles. I know at one point, my male BN pleco above wore his bristles down. I just noticed one day how short some of them had become. But those pics were taken after they grew back, so I know they rejuvenate sort of like fins....
I'm currently dealing with a different type bacteria, and i'm not familiar with the type that cause white growths, but I am also using aquarium salt to treat it, so good luck!
Edit: I just watched the vid. They have spikes on the sides of their heads there. They use them to fight away other fish. They can actually do some damage with them if they have to. Your male's spikes have eroded away on that side. Also it would be similar to when you see barbell erosion with cories.

My tank that i'm treating is a QT tank, it's bare-bottom so I have no mulm trapped anywhere, but when you do your water changes, do you siphon the detritus? I don't know your WC schedule, but I like to increase them to every other day when I see any issues. It's really amazing what they can do! There's so many things to consider with certain types of bacteria including redox balance. Water changes replenish the good and dilute the bad.

Anyway, I also use capatta leaves (Indian Almond Leaves) to add antibacterial and antifungal properties to the water. When using in a hospital tank, I put them in a media bag in the filter flow so it doesn't make a mess of the tank and dissolves the leaves quicker.

Will moving around some of the plants and decorations cause any issues as I think I will do a 50-75% water change and move around some of the Decorations before I treat with the salt ?