Any idea what this white mark is?

[akaseth]

It doesn’t really look like Ich to me. Discus is healthy and active and eating well. It just seemed to appear in the last few days. It is just one somewhat raised lump towards the rear of the fin. At first I just thought something from the tank was stuck to him

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...BDB17B729.jpeg

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...B4F65A94A.jpeg

https://youtu.be/feeQUeymSFc


Many Thanks

[LizStreithorst]

I can't say for sure but it looks like water quality issue to me. What is your WC schedule and what are your water parameters? Nice pattern on that fish.

[akaseth]

Thanks for the fast reply. 50% water change every 2 days and 75% once per week. Filter clean once per month. 60 gallon tank with a flu allergy 407, lightly stocked at the moment, just 4 4.5-5in discus and around 8 Cory sterbai that I have had in there for about 1 year with no issues to date. Use Prime conditioner. Parameters seem stable, PH around the usual 7.4, no ammonia or nitrates/nitrite. Kept discus for about 3 years never seen anything quite like this. Had Ich on other fish in a different tank about 2 years ago but that looked fairly obvious and just not quite like this, smaller and more numerous specs. Not sure if related but I notice the ends of the trailing fins also a bit whitish.

[LizStreithorst]

It's for sure not ich unless you are negligent and keep the tank below 82. To me it looks like a normal Discus pimple which is almost always due to below acceptable water params.

Just to humor me, tell me what the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) is in this tank. I'd also like to know if you age your water and have ever tested it in a bucket for a pH swing.

From your short video, it looks like you have a pair forming.

[akaseth]

Didn’t detect any nitrate, nitrite or ammonia this morning. I’m going past the aquarium shop shortly, going to buy a new kit and test again. I don’t age my water, put Prime in the tank and fill slowly from the tap. Never really liked doing it but don’t really have a choice. In a few weeks will be upgrading to a 6ft 180gal tank that will have a 4ft sump so that won’t be an issue for much longer thankfully

[14Discus]

I agree....a pimple. Do as Liz suggests regarding checking for a PH swings and keep good WCs coming and I’ll bet that pimple disappears in a few days. I am a bit puzzled, however, that with the bio stock you mentioned in the tank, the NO3 nitrates are 0.

[LizStreithorst]

Me too. There should always be a nitrate reading in a cycled tank. Something ain't right. My LFS will test my water for free on the spot. In any case, buy a new test kit.

[akaseth]

Alright new test kit. Before that can I just say thanks again for actually taking the time to respond, very good of you! Should have used these forums more over the years. Not much diff but do get a nitrate reading. Interesting I noticed while doing the reading that the lump looks smaller, not sure if that would be obvious from the vid. Sry I go crazy trying to take clear pics, video seems easier. I guess as you say, keep doing water changes and keep an eye on it. Would have a slight issue if I had to separate him cause I have 2 discus only 1 week into a 3-5 week quarantine.

GH: 30
KH: 0
PH: 7.3
N02: 0
NH3: 0
NO3: 5ppm

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...91E3CB371.jpeg

https://youtu.be/jSbh7qESrrw

[14Discus]

Not to be a pain, but a reading of 0 KH is indeed a concern. One must have some KH to avoid PH issues. Your nitrate is fine/good.

[akaseth]

Absolutely not a pain at all I readily do appreciate it. Truth be told kH is not something I’ve ever monitored. Old test kits didn’t have it, new set of test kits does. I will read up on it and monitor it. For the pH I noticed that too but because it’s a completely new set of test kits I’m not sure how much I can rely or directly compare prior readings. I will monitor the next few days and make sure it isn’t actually fluctuating.

[14Discus]

Great....glad to hear. IMHO, KH is more important to the drastic health of fish than GH is. My primary two commonly done tests are for KH and NO3 since my tanks are all established. If I were setting up new, obviously PH, NH3 and NO2 would also be done frequently. Your being on top of this is a blessing to your fish.

[akaseth]

Just to close this off in case others have something similar. The lump went away then came back. The trailing streamer dorsal fin did eventually drop off but it has been growing back and that was just with water changes. He is the more blue one at the start of the video. The discus was fine though, he is one of the more dominant ones. In fact he paired off and they spawned but it’s a community tank so no interest in raising fry. Hasn’t happened to any of the other discus and I never bothered moving the discus to quarantine. Got a better GH/KH test kit as clearly strips were rubbish. GH 89.5 KH 53.7. Ph stable at 7.2. So no idea what it actually was still, I guess just one of those things. They are settling into their new tank, this one has a sump so conditions should be even more stable. Flow was too strong on the initial setup you see here but that has been corrected https://youtu.be/6Uu4_v8-_oQ Thanks again