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Black Spots on African Cichlids

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Lynn and/or Chris

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Oct 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/16/96
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I have four Lake Malawi cichlids that have a seemingly untreatable disease.
The visible signs are small black spots that slowly grow larger. I have tried
various types of medicine icluding; medicine for external parasites,and
fungal and bacterial diseases. None have had even the slightest effect on the
disease. I am looking for any suggestions or advice on how to cure this
proble. Thank you.

Lynn McRoberts


Ron Golubosky

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Oct 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/19/96
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Lynn

Are these spots just under the skin? If so it could be digenetic flukes.
If this is the case then there is no known cure. These flukes typically
occur in newly improted fishes and take 2 forms. black spot is caught from
snails that release cercariae, larval forms that penetrate the skin of the
fish. These black spots may also appear as red (especially in the eyes).
The other form is threadworms, which you would not see the spots. I had to
research this information. The book I used to get this information doesn't
say if it is fatal or how long this can stay dormant (if it can). I'm
sorry that is all I can tell you. I have seen these spots on gouramis. A
friends fish caught them in his planted tank. Must have come from the
snails.

Ron


Lynn and/or Chris <dugm...@nas.com> wrote in article
<541qtq$6...@barad-dur.nas.com>...

Hong-Chang Liang

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Oct 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/20/96
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"Ron Golubosky" <rsg...@olg.com> writes:

>Lynn

>Ron

Lynn and Ron and whoever else is interested,

I have the same problem with a beautiful Victorian flameback
(Haplochromis nyererei?) that I bought 2 months ago. The spots keep getting
more numerous and bigger also. I've looked through many books and found
very little information. What I have found is: In Loiselle's "The Cichlid
Aquarium" book, he writes about the digenetic flukes responsible for
these black spots, "In time, the cysts drop off, ending the infestation
for good. it is therefore pointless to treat affected fish." And in "The
Manual of Fish Health" by Andrews et al, the authors write, "In most pond and
aquarium situations, it will be impossible for such a complex life cycle to be
completed. Therefore, these parasites rarely build up and cause problems to
fish hobbyists. Although the larvae in the fish are long-lived, they will
eventually die, to be consumed by their host's immune reponses." During
the discussion they also talk about these flukes' life cycles which involve
not only snails but also fish-eating birds.

Unfortunately I couldn't find anything about HOW LONG it would take
for these larvae to die off.

Anyway, good luck and I hope your fish (and mine) will shake themselves
of these black spots soon!

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