White Spot on Cardinal Tetra

[nerdelish]

Today while feeding my fish I noticed that one of my cardinal tetras had a small white spot on its head. After about a half an hour of trying, I finally caught the fish and placed it in a small 1/2 gallon container I use to drip acclimate fish. It will have to stay in there because my qt is currently full of a school of harlequins to add to my tank. I added two plastic plants, an air stone and some stress guard to the container. I will do daily water changes.

This tetra was in a 29 gallon planted tank with 8 other cardinals, 5 harlequin rasboras, 3 guppies, 6 hatchet fish and about 20 blue velvet shrimp. I do weekly 50% water changes, I am always sure to temp match the water. The tank has been cycled since June and is pretty heavily planted. The cardinal is a new addition to the tank. It was added about two weeks ago after being in my QT for 3 weeks.

The spot is small and somewhat fuzzy looking. It is only one spot so far and it is pretty small. The fish is a little duller in color than the others but otherwise has not "acted" sick at all. As mentioned above, it was a devil to catch. I will try to attach a pic. I just have my cell phone to take pictures and the spot is really small.

Preliminary Google searches lead me in all directions, according to what I read I got that it could be columaris, ich, tetra disease, a slime coat issue or nothing at all. I don't know enough about fish keeping or diseases to figure it out alone.

Any ideas anyone?

Tested water:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites:0 ppm
Nitrates: 15 ppm

 

[coralbandit]

Observe fish for till it shows more clearly.
I see the spot but can't really tell myself.
Good catch though.
Hopefully it is nothing(could be a real possibility)?

 

[nerdelish]

Thanks for the reply bandit!

I will definitely keep an eye on it and will update as things go along. So far the cardinal is acting 100% normal. Perhaps I am an overzealous fish Mom but I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[nerdelish]

Well the spot is still there, the color is the same (a little faded but mostly there). It is also pretty active. I will still keep an eye on it for awhile. I am definitely hesitant to move it back into the tank.

The other fish in the community tank seem fine. I am not noticing any change in behavior or any symptoms in the 29 gallon.

I did almost overdo it on the co2 yesterday , thankfully I was home and noticed the fish all moving to the surface. I bought a new regulator and am still getting used to the settings. I didn't lose any fish but I did lose at least one shrimp (however there were many more actively swimming around and cleaning after I switched off the co2 and started an airstone).

So, if there is a disease in the tank I would expect to see it soon since I would imagine the co2 incident was pretty stressful for them.

 

[nerdelish]

Well, so far no losses in the 29 gallon! Also, no new symptoms on the isolated cardinal tetra. The spot seems to still be there but it hasn't grown. Is it okay to put it back in the community tank?

Since it's in a 1/2 gallon container I imagine putting it back in the community tank would be better for its health in the long run?

I've been doing daily water changes and adding conditioner and stress guard.

 

[coralbandit]

If spot hasn't grown,multiplied,or fallen off it is not ich IMO.
The fact it is idle would indicate is may be ok to re introduce if you want.
I think the main tank is better for the card also.