Its my bronze catfish, it has two white growths on its head, nowhere else, I dont think its whitespot, as it looks more like growths than spots, but I am a newbee and dont really know.

I have taken him out of the tank, looked as closely as I can to my albino (sorry folks cant spell) catfish but cant see anything wrong with him. Or the others.

In my tank I have three discus and three neons also so am a bit worried about what to do next. Am I able to do the salt water to kill any bugs with my discus in the tank????

Any help or suggestions would be great...

thanks

as far as i know, discus don't mind salt water.

Salt is one of those things that i would keep for extreme emergencies... So much so that i have never used it.

I would suggest heading down to your LFS and getting some Melafix - a teatree based solution that seems to fix everything. its a tad costly, especially compared to salt, but if you try it and like it you can easily make a very similar solution yourself.

Advice for Melafix - plants eat it, and at its price it is best to quarantine the fishy in a small place so you don't have to use very much in treatment.

Recipe:

take one 2.75 litre container, add 25ml of Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca sp/alternifolia - available at your local pharmacy) + top up with purified water. Shake well. Consider that you are adding oil to water; it will not mix immediately. This can be solved by leaving it in the sun or adding a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid (the more natural/biodegradable the better). Dose as advised on the Melafix bottle, or 5ml per 40-50l per day until a week after symptoms are cleared.

Works out at about $12-15 for nearly 3 litres as opposed to $30-40 for 500ml.

Quick Comparison;

Home Made: $15 for 3 litres

Melafix: $180 for 3 litres

(3 litres should treat a total of 22000 litres of tank water)

This recipe is still a work in progress. No warranties are extended or implied. Batteries not included. Any comments (especially on the math) welcomed

You have already isolated the sick fish - Good, medicate the sick fish only.

As for the main tank, i believe that most bugs and nasties are present in the water most of the time, same as there are pathogens in the air around us all the time, best way to deal with this is keep the fish as strong as possible and better able to fight off infection themselves. This means regular water changes, good food in moderation, good enviroment, not overstocked etc, so they do not feel stressed.

This is not meant to suggest your care is lacking, as infections still happen in the best of tanks, just that keeping a healthy community tank and isolating any sick individuals for care is better than dosing the whole tank. (cheaper too)

Thanks for the recipe Dark - just something for those how may not want to make there own and have larger tanks - buy the pond strength Melafix instead. Why - the price is not that much different compared to the aquarium strength but it's 5 times as strong (ie 5ml Melafix for 200L water).

Thanks for the tip Rob. I will remember that when I need some.

Thankyou so much everyone, I did not end up using the salt as I wasnt real sure or happy about it.

I am now off to get some melafix and treat my other catfish which look like they are starting to get the same thing but in a different place... round the gills.

My eyes have almost turned inside out trying to see if my discus and others are getting any signs. But none yet thankfully.

Once again many thanks !!

Good Luck Mouse