black dots... harmful or not???

[equidae9854]

I have some sunfish kibbies in my pond, but i noticed that a couple of them have small, black spots on them. They are mostly on their fins and on the bases of their tails, but some of them have them all over their body...
Could they be some sort of parasite or insect eggs?
They are completely black all throughout, and about the size of a pen tip. They seem embedded in the body, but some of the ones on the fins and tails are on the surface, firmly attached, and can only be removed by damaging the fins/tails. I had to tear a tiny chunk of the tail off of one of them to "inspect" it. After playing around with it with my finger nails, I was able to remove the black dot from the rest of the tail...
I also have some koi, comets, and rosy reds in the pond, but they so far seem unaffected by them...
Would you guys advise that I take these "affected" sunfish out?

[girth vader]

If if is paracytical, then I would suggest treating the pond. If more then one have it, chances are the eggs are hatching as we speak. That is if it's paracytes. maybe over exposure to the sun and they have skin CA. lather them up with sun block jk.

[flamingo]

EQ, those are parasitic, but theres not a huge chance of them spreading in a tank, etc. They are also impossible to treat. I've come across this about a thousand times with wild caught fish from a certain creek down here. I've treated with various meds, salts, etc. and it does nothing to them.

Odd part about them, out of all the hundreds of ponds, rivers, etc. i've been to where I live, only one little creek has them.

[yukalaeli87]

Thanks guys. So flaminghot, how harmful are these to the fish? You said that I don't have to worry about it spreading in the tank? How will it affect the fish - is it lethal? Any info would be great. Thanks in advance!

[flamingo]

So far from what i've seen they don't spread in an aquarium/pond setting. Most fish will live with it and never have any problems. It only gets bad when they are pretty much fully covered in it.

If there are a few spots don't worry about it. Hope that helps.

[komodbeam]

the disease you are talking about is creatively called black spot "disease". It requires three hosts, a bird, a snail, and a fish. Unless the fish in question is covered very badly, if you put it in your aquarium it should go away in time. It cannot pass onto your other fish.