Is this ick

duanes

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This is ick.

I agree with Tom. What your fish has, (at least what's visible in the photo) looks like either Lymphocystis ( a viral infection), that no meds really are effective against (think common cold)), or the beginnings of something bacterial. This raised puffy area on the nostril is what stood out to me.
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If there is ick, the salt can only help, but needs to be at least 3ppt to be effective (not a problem salinity for heterospila).
If it is bacterial, raising the temp will only serve to make bacteria more virulent.
So as others stated, lots of water changes, with vacuuming to get rid of detritus, and salt (3 lbs per 100 gallons)
 
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duanes

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Although salt may kill certain plants, it may not harm others.
Java fern, and vallisneria are somewhat salt tolerant.
I just treated the tank below with 3.5ppt salinity (using 18 gallons of sea water, in a 180 gal tank), the val. and Hydrilla were unaffected, an Anubis melted back a bit, and an Amazon Sword, stopped growing for a while.
fullsizeoutput_1536.jpeg
the photo above is from yesterday. I treated for ick about 3 weeks (maybe a little longer)
 
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LBDave

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Although salt may kill certain plants, it may not harm others.
Java fern, and vallisneria are somewhat salt tolerant.
I just treated the tank below with 3.5ppt salinity (using 18 gallons of sea water, in a 180 gal tank), the val. and Hydrilla were unaffected, an Anubis melted back a bit, and an Amazon Sword, stopped growing for a while.
View attachment 1376933
the photo above is from yesterday. I treated for ick about 3 weeks (maybe a little longer)
Like I posted recently, salt can be detrimental to plants but not necessarily kill them. When treating ich (which it appears is not the case here), a relatively strong salt solution is used for about 2 weeks. My plants got some brown leaves but lived through it. Yes you could loose some of the more non robust varieties.
In this case, new water and some salt may clear up what you are seeing quickly. But keep an eye on the fish.
 

cichlidfan77

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Jul 26, 2018
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Although salt may kill certain plants, it may not harm others.
Java fern, and vallisneria are somewhat salt tolerant.
I just treated the tank below with 3.5ppt salinity (using 18 gallons of sea water, in a 180 gal tank), the val. and Hydrilla were unaffected, an Anubis melted back a bit, and an Amazon Sword, stopped growing for a while.
View attachment 1376933
the photo above is from yesterday. I treated for ick about 3 weeks (maybe a little longer)
I was told this is jungle val not sure but it is the only thing plant wise that hasn't died on me20190618_230739.jpg
 
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