Lace syno - hole in head?

[jlavie]

8 year old lace syno is dark grey/brown - lives in a cave shared with a spotted Raphael in a 55 gal tank. Suddenly has white patches above both eyes, nostrils, and bright white dots along mouthline. Fish is behaving as usual - eating, etc. Other fish in long established tank appear fine, no illnesses or deaths in last year. Can't get a picture without removing cave and don't want to stress the syno or the Raphael more than necessary. Any ideas or suggestions on treatment? Thanks.

[Birger]

To start with go through this thread and follow some of the links http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=20518

[jlavie]

Birger - Thank you. Those posts made me feel a little better about prognosis. This fish is a sweetie and one of our first catfish. It is in a 55 gal "catfish" tank (lots of caves, logs, etc.) which looks empty in the day time unless you look closely at the bottom. I was confused because the websites said hole in head was primarily a cichlid problem but it sounded like what I was seeing. I feel better now - thanks again.

[Mike_Noren]

Assuming it's hole in the head disease and not, say, columnaris... Try getting vitamin C (ascorbic acid) enriched food, or enrich it yourself, and feed with that. It is anecdotal, but both I and another researcher have come to the conclusion there's a link between vitamin C deficiency and hole-in-the-head/lateral line erosion in cichlids.