# Grey or Black spots on Algae eater



## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

just this past week I noticed my gold chinese algae eater develop this greyish not black nor white spots on its body. fins and gills are fine. It looks like a loss of color on the scale. It isn't like a regular circle spot , but more of a discoloration going with the shape of the scale. Is it Black Ich, or a fungus? Other fish in the tank are fine. Hard to tell if the algae eater behavior has changed. He was out in the open sucking the rock just a few hours ago and now he is back in hiding. The other day he seemed like he was rubbing up against one of the ornaments, but today didn't really see that. so hard to say. I tried taking a picture , but I can't get a clear well focused pic to show. Best I can describe it is a greying of scales. Any ideas?


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

I'm no expert on CAEs...does it look like a whiteish/grayish film over the body? Could it just be some slime coat coming off?

-Zeke



AFishNamedCP said:


> just this past week I noticed my gold chinese algae eater develop this greyish not black nor white spots on its body. fins and gills are fine. It looks like a loss of color on the scale. It isn't like a regular circle spot , but more of a discoloration going with the shape of the scale. Is it Black Ich, or a fungus? Other fish in the tank are fine. Hard to tell if the algae eater behavior has changed. He was out in the open sucking the rock just a few hours ago and now he is back in hiding. The other day he seemed like he was rubbing up against one of the ornaments, but today didn't really see that. so hard to say. I tried taking a picture , but I can't get a clear well focused pic to show. Best I can describe it is a greying of scales. Any ideas?


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## AFishNamedCP (Oct 7, 2012)

I'll assume it is slime coat coming off (or other skin cells infliction). I noticed some areas have gone away as new ones appear. It really takes the shape of the scales. Some good signs are he was eating well in the middle of the tank today and fins are flawless. No other signs or symptoms. I'm wondering if my phosphates were too high , since I use phosphate buffer for ph when changing water from the tap. thanks for the help. Ill keep an eye on it and see.


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