Black 'fungus' or Black spot on fish

[AzFish]

Hi,

I've already treated this but figured I'd ask if anyone else has come across this type of disease before.

3 weeks ago Male furficer starts to get black markings on the tip of ONE of his ventrals, this grows half way up but the fin does not fall off, just looks dead. At this stage I thought it was ammonia poisoning, checked everything and ammonia poisoning was thrown out as a cause. Left the fish as is, it was eating and breeding so I was not worried.

A week later black spots appeared on his face, left hand side, from his mouth to his gills. Completly half his face is covered in a black fungus looking thing within a week. Does not appear to be anywhere else on the fish, just the half of his face. At this point a total lack of interest in food is observed and the fish now hides and does not attend to his bower. Another thing to note, the black growth/fungus is not evident on any other fish in the tank, only this one male.

Started treatment (whole tank) with prima-fix. Dosed for a full 7 days with the black markings completly gone by day 8.

I couldnt get pics as this was going on, phone pics are crappy and would not of served to help anyway!

Searched the net for black spot, black velvet, black everything and nothing seems to fit the bill of what my furcifer had.

Has anyone else seen or experienced this sort of growth/disease?

Cheers,

Az

[Noddy65]

Hmmm...does it look like a growth (something on top of the scales) or a change in colour?

I do know you can get changes in pigment on fish (scales turning white or black) but the pathophysiology escapes me at the moment. Trauma or burns (heat or chemical) spring to mind but Ill go and try and dig up something a little more detailed.

From memory the pigment changes can be temporary or permamant depending on the cause.

Mike

[AzFish]

thanks Mike. Couldn't be a change in colour as the growth has gone. The best way to describe it is it looked like black alage growing on his face.