"Lost pigment" on Johanni Cichlid...What is it?

[DJTank]

I know it is frshwater but hoping someone knows.

My Johanni seems to have "lost pigment" on his lip "overnight".... litteraly in 12 hours when he came to feed last night he was fine. I thought it was a scrape or bite this morning but closer look there is no damage to skin. I really don't think it is fungal as the skin itself is clear and looks healthy, just lacking color.

Really want to know if I need to treat for something I am missing. The 50 some others seem perfectly healthy, water parameters are perfect except my nitrtes jumped from 10 to 30 ppm for a while because I got behind on water changes but did 3 in last 15 days and back about 10. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[DJTank]

I know it is hard to see on zoomed in picture and the angle but the rest of his color is strong. See added picture.

 

[GraniteReefer]

My blood parrot cichlids will get black spots on them when stressed. Even something minor like readjusting their scape or doing a large WC can trigger these stress spots IME. The spot on your fish almost seems raised though, also a freshwater forum may yield better answers

 

[DJTank]

It is on the "beak" or lip when I look really close on fish it is not raised but I can see what you are looking at in picture.

I have heard quite a bit on the black spots, especially if stressed. Those that I have heard of are actually a worm that makes the spot but doesn't really affect the fish. You can treat for those but some feel the treatment is harder on the fish than the worm. I had some once because of feeding raw shrimp to them but it was very limited and the two that had it got rid of it quickly and has not returned although I added garlic to food for a while which may have helped treat it, not proven though. It does help thier immune so may have helped them kick it.

Do you know of reputable freshwater forums? I see a lot of bs opinions on many of them, some good advice but lots of poor guidance also.

 

[pbienkiewicz]

How is his lip looking today? So it is not ripped open from a fighting with another Cichlid or look like cotton on his mouth?

 

[DJTank]

Looks the same. No cotton, skin is smooth and looks healthy. Forst though it was from fighting but skin has no damage.

 

[DJTank]

Spot is shrinking, all fish are healthy... still no clue why it happened. Nothing on searches either

 

[cfittz]

This was probably from another male "locking lips" especially if you have other males of the same size. Johanni are fairly aggressive mbuna.
chuck

 

[DJTank]

Thanks Chuck, using hind sight I agree. It is healing out quickly and no other signs of any issues in the tank. Brand new babies are doing great also. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that could spread through tank.