Large white spots on head = ick? pics

[jamie907]

I always thought that ick was small white spots all over the body, but my flame angel has me scared.

What could those large white spots be? They're only on one side if his head.

 

[beth]

No, that is not ich. Are those spots raised, or flat against the head? Are they getting bigger?

 

[jamie907]

They're flat against the head and they're relatively new additions, so I don't know if they're getting bigger or not, I'll watch them. The flame still has a good appetite and loves letting my cleaner wrasse clean him.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yeah, as Beth said, they are definitely not ich.
What are you feeding these fish? Are you using garlic and vitamins in thier food?

 

[beth]

My impression is HLLE. Take a look at the pictures of HLLE in the Diseased Fish Thread, and tell us what you think.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yeah, I did not think of that, but that is definitely possible. Telling us the diet you have your fish on, along with water quality (pH, nitrates, salinity, temperature, ammonia, nitrite, kH), will help us determine whether it is or not.

 

[jamie907]

Well I don't have the angel on much of a "diet" yet because I just got him, probably four days ago. Yes I know, quaranteen the fish before you put them in but I don't have one set up right now. Anyway, I feed the tank prime reef and omega one flakes, but I bought some Formula Two today for the angel and it has garlic in it, so should that help? All water parameters are normal, although I am having some problems with temperature fluctuations that I'm trying like hell to get squared away.
Thanks for the help, you guys.

 

[beth]

What is your nitrate reading? You will need to maintain a stable temperature. HLLE is addressed with quality care of fish environment and food. If you have not done so already, install a grounding probe.

 

[jamie907]

My Nitrates are 0. How can I keep my temperature stable? The room temp in my house fluctuates because we live in Florida and while we keep it set to the same temp all the time, the air just doesn't seem to get there during the day, but at night it's freezing. I was experimenting with it to try and see how I could get it stable and I tried just leaving the heater off and letting the lights take care of it, and that didn't work -- I swung from 77 at night to 85 during the day. Now I'm leaving the heater on at night and turning it off during the day, but the lights still creep my temp to 84+. Today I propped my tank cover open and blew a fan into it and got it back down to a pretty constant 80.5, but this will not be possible for very long -- I'm leaving for vacation on the 19th. I'm going to order new heaters that actually turn off when the water around them is at the proper temperature, but I still don't know what to do about the lights creeping up the temp. I can't have someone constantly baby-sitting the tank and a chiller is out of the question right now. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[theappe]

do you have a canopy? if so you can build a cooling system with computer fans. I had the same problem and now my temp is stable at 80 always!

 

[jamie907]

Yeah, but my canopy's pretty small. I wouldn't give it 5 inches of height...
I am looking into fans, does anyone know of any really small ones that I could clip to the back of the tank?

 

[watertite]

Try a chiller if you have temp problems. I swing a little on a 55 from 74 to 76 right now at 75. But I am only a novice hobbiest and Have covered two textbooks on aquariums and my purple tang survived ich and possibly marine velvet. But anyway I know how scary it can be to watch a specimen you took into your care deteriorate before your eyes and you are told that it is only a fish. But it is imperitive you get your parameters under control.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by watertite
Try a chiller if you have temp problems. I swing a little on a 55 from 74 to 76 right now at 75. But I am only a novice hobbiest and Have covered two textbooks on aquariums and my purple tang survived ich and possibly marine velvet. But anyway I know how scary it can be to watch a specimen you took into your care deteriorate before your eyes and you are told that it is only a fish. But it is imperitive you get your parameters under control.

74-76 is still low!!!! Why do you post such things. Honestly. Temp should be 78-80 with little to no fluctuation. The main reason for marks like that are, as mentioned above HLLE. Make sure he gets the proper diet and the water parameters are correct and it will heal itself.

 

[michaeltx]

I have to agree with sepulation on this one the temo is on the low side the only need for a chiller is when you can get the temo to stay below 80 no matter what you try to do.
watertite if I might ask what 2 text books are you looking at. It might be they are way out of date or a specific region of the ocean that the books are talking about.
Mike

 

[lion_crazz]

Chiller's are an expensive way to solve a temperature problem. They are not neccessary at all times. You do not need your temperature down at 74-76. 78-80 is a perfectly fine temperature and is one where the fish will live perfectly content.
Besides all of that, this thread is 5 months old. This person is no longer having the problem with the fish. The person's main problem was that the fish was stressed and was not getting a proper nutrition and the temp was swinging drastically. A few point swing will not do anything to harm the fish if it is gradual.