| I noticed this on one of my tosai's tail fin 3 months ago after it arrived from Japan and was still at my dealer's centre. A whole cluster of these "bumps", in fact. As it happened, Shigeru Mano from Dainichi chanced by one weekend so I took the opportunity to ask him what it was and how to get rid of it. He said it's a parasite and whilst not altogether common, he has seen this on his koi in Japan before. He wasn't sure what the English name of the parasite was, but he said it was "not a big deal". One apparently has to wait for the "bumps" to harden and turn whitish, then scrape them off with a scalpel or fingernail. If you scrape them off before they harden and turn white, they will come back again. As to how long it takes for them to harden and turn white, I'm not sure and I'm still waiting myself. Apparently this parasite is localised and does not affect the health of the fish, nor does it do long term damage to the tail fin. Kind of like barnacles!
Just my 2 cents worth, I'm no expert on these things. Perhaps the experts can chime in? |