# Fish Head Turning Black?



## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

This is kinda urgent... I don't want my fish to all die if it is an ammonia thing.

I just did a small water change (like 20% or less) and added a bit more Prime than I needed to.


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## Aqguy (Oct 30, 2013)

Did you test ammonia to make sure its at 0 ?


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## fraviz (Dec 7, 2012)

I had a black head bosemani this weekend... I though I have a huge epidemy.... I did water change and isolate the guy... he seems to be recovering.... but still not sure.
I look around the web... and this black head issue.. could be ammonia, lose of control in nervous system, myco, columnaris... and the list goes on.
Try to keep on your water changes... and see how it goes...


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

This morning I found the fish dead with a huge worm coming out of its stomach. Netted it out and flushed it. 

Gonna have to change my dwarf puffer source. I've lost 3/5 from the place I've been getting them from. The place I was at yesterday had them for $1 more but they were in much better health.


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## Virto (Dec 6, 2012)

Sorry for the loss, always sucks.

As a note, when you have a fish with an obvious parasitic infection, do not flush them - dispose of them in your normal trash. There's always a chance that the parasite can continue to live or spread in the sewer system.


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Good point, I'll do that next time.

The two puffers that are left are much less shy now... They're swimming around the tank with each other most of the time. They don't bother the neons or the endlers. They've been slowly swimming through the plants picking at snails, but most of the ones I have are fairly large.

I'm did another 15-20% water change today and I'll do one again tomorrow before I start feeding the tank again, just to make sure ammonia levels are ok. I've been mixing the water for the water changes with Prime, so that should reduce ammonia too. I siphoned out some of the detritus on the sand.


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

We had a goldfish at the shop who's head started turning black. The owner checked the water and the ammonia was high. After a couple of big water changes the ammonia went away and so did the black head....


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

All of the fish are doing fine today still. Guess it was just a weak one. Plus it was a puffer, so it had delicate skin with no scales to protect it from ammonia burn.

The two I am left with (one is darker with more black spots, one is lighter with a few dark gray spots) seem to be getting along really well. They never nip at each other, and it seems like they're almost pairing or something. They swim around with each other most of the time, and one flares its tail and they both swim slowly in a small circle. Maybe it is a territory thing, but it looks a lot like what my clownfish did when pairing minus the submissive seizure shaking dance thing.


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## Kat12 (Aug 11, 2013)

Did you run an ammonia test?


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Kat12 said:


> Did you run an ammonia test?


Even if the ammonia level was 0 it would still show up where it used to be. I used a lot of Prime in my water change water, and that changes ammonia to a non-harmful compound which is still read as ammonia by most test kits.

I'll check tomorrow before doing my water change. Everything looks okay though.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

My understanding is Prime binds temporarily ammonia for about 36-48 hours. That's it.


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## Virto (Dec 6, 2012)

Soothing Shrimp said:


> My understanding is Prime binds temporarily ammonia for about 36-48 hours. That's it.


It's something like that. Heavy-dosing Prime works well in an emergency, but it's no solution to the problem.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

Maybe you should treat the tank for parasites if you found a huge worm in the one that died?


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

The surface of the water where I was seeing all the cloudiness has cleared up. I can see through to the back wall well now.

I'll do a small water change again today.


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