Disappearing white clouds/ Danio parasite

Riso-chan

Riso-chan

The Blue Girl
Jan 17, 2005
322
0
0
41
Florida, USA
Okay, I'll start with the white clouds since that is the most recent thing. My fourth whit cloud wasn't doing so well, being skinny, having not much appetite, although I had gotten him to eat some medicated food. It seemed to help a day or two, then one morning I wake up to find him resting on a stem of hornwart, not swimming. I tried to see if he would move, he did but slowing and unbalanced, then he landed back to his resting place. I decided to keep an eye on it, since xmas shopping had to be done. I think he must've fallen off the stem and ended up on the bottom, then later that day there's no sign of him. Now before this, I've had another white cloud vanish, which was shortly after I' added the redtail shark. I have no clue what happened to this one.
This explains why I'm going to setup a q-tank soon. And yes, I'm feeling guilty of not having one before. :sad:
The second issue is with some zebra danios. One, a fancy tailed zebra, has had a small dot sticking out from one nostril for a while. I tried a salt bath to see if it would fall off, then tweezers to try a pull it off. It seemed to have grown back, and I'm not sure of what it is. Now, I've spotted one other zebra that is looking like he might be developing the same thing. Does anyone know what this is and how I treat it?~Angela
 
For the white clouds--could be unhappy with the warmer temps. White clouds tend to do better in cooler tanks--65-72 is where mine thrived. Warmer temps, and then tend to have problems.

The danio--what do you mean by 'nostril'? Danio's are supposed to have little barbels around their mouth--but since fish don't have nostrils, I'm not sure where this is growing.
 
Well, the dot-thing appears to be growing right above the mouth of the danios. As for warm temps, I do live in FL, but my tank averages out at 72-74 degree F. That shouldn't be too warm, is it?
 
72 will be the upper limit for them to really thrive, IME. But, I know others have kept them at warmer temps with success, so it could just be harrassment from the shark.

On the growth--is there any color change? The barbels will be to the sides and bottom around the mouth, and can be hard to see--but they should be above the mouth. Did it bleed when you removed it previously?
 
No, I don't think it did bleed when I removed it. If it did, then it wasn't much I don't think. I don't see any rapid growth with it though, no real color change, though the dot-thing is a little darker than the rest of the fish.
 
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As I said--just sharing my experience with white clouds, YMMV.

Honestly, it sounds like the danio has a small tumor. I'd probably leave it be--it doesn't sound like it's causing the fish any problems, and unless it grows large enough to impede feeding, it's probably more cosmetic than anything else. Since it didn't spread when broken open, it's probably not contagious. Small growths can be really tough to treat in smaller fish like danios, so if it's not causing problems, I'd just let it be.
 
Okay, I'll keep watchful eye on them. Is this normal for small fish to occasionally have small tumors? I've heard of it occurring in goldfish eventhough they were in healthy conditions, possibly due to something hereditary from breeding maybe.
Everybody seems happy and are constantly chasing eachother, so I can see it doesn't appear to be causing much distress.
Thanx very much for the info. ~Angela
 
I've seen it in a couple of fish, but it's not truly common. Another possibility is that it's cauliflower disease--this is a viral infection, not lethal, just ugly. Some conditions bring it out, but it's more common in glass fish than danios--and typically, not on the body of the fish, but rather on the fins. I'd just monitor, and not worry too much.
 
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