Weird black spots on fish

[cacichlids]

A few months ago I began noticing these weird, irregular black blotches on many of my fish including festae, salvini, etc. I have no idea what it is. It's obviously not part of their coloration and they didn't have it when I bought them.... but they behave normally, eat normally and show no other symptoms... the spots come and go on their own. My water parameters have been stable Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0 and Nitrates 5 ppm for months now.

Diet is krill, bloodworms, nls pellets, omega one pellets, live crayfish, live shrimp, live red wrigglers.

This is what it looks like, my fish have a lot less spots on them but you get the point





I've been researching and found a few possible causes:

- the black spots are actually healing injuries - would make a lot of sense since I house different aggressive species together and they do fight.

- harmless black spot disease from eating farm raised snails (snail eats bird poop, fish eats snail... cycle ends unless a bird eats your fish and poops in your tank). This would make sense too since I keep a lot of farm raised snails (mostly nerite) and every now and then I find empty shells in the tank which means fish are eating them.

- fungus (?)

- diet

I also use seachem stressguard that supposedly acts like a "band aid" by binding to exposed wounds. This could be the cause too?

Any input? thanks in advance. I have been researching for months and haven't been able to find a solid answer. None of my fish has died or acted sick.

 

[spot]

That is really strange... I did a little searching, but every cause I've run across would cause other symptoms; loss of appetite, scratching, etc. Sorry to say I couldn't find an answer, but I did try! I'd be interested to see if anyone else knows what this is.

 

[C L O W N K N I F E]

They could possibly be suffering from "Black Spot Disease"

What I've found out about this disease,

"A disease caused by the larvae of parasitic digenetic flukes, Cercaria and Metacercaria. A common disease in earthen bottom ponds and lakes, this disease is caused by a parasite (larval trematode) that burrows into the skin of a fish causing the formation of a cyst approximately one millimeter in diameter. This parasite has a complex life cycle that requires fish eating birds or mammals, snails, and fish at different stages in order to survive.

In general, even heavy infestations of these parasites do relatively little damage to the fish. There is some evidence that heavily infested juvenile fish may experience excessive blood loss, physiological stress, and even death. Also, fish with heavy infestations on the eyes may be blinded.

The term "Black Spot" refers to the formation of small cysts in the muscle and skin around which the parasite lives. The cyst accumulates black pigment cells. These cause little harm to the fish. Young fish have growth problems if heavily infected. The first intermediate host is a mollusc. The fish is the second intermediate host and the final host is a kingfisher or heron."

Cure:

"Black Spot is fairly easy to cure. First and foremost, remove all snails from the aquarium. And that's about it! The parasites can not mature further so eventually die. If any of the sites of attachment get infected by bacteria, use a mild antibiotic available from your local aquarium store. This rarely happens however, so is not usually necessary. "

Prevention:

"Be careful when adding new fish. Black Spot, or diplopstomiasis, often follows the addition of new aquarium fish. All fish are susceptible, especially the Silver Dollar and Piranha. It is fairly easy to diagnose and treat."

 

[C L O W N K N I F E]

So...all in all, I would just be careful when adding new fish & next time you go to the fish store try and look for a product that will help get rid of it (And if you have any snails in the tank, get rid of them)