Black spots

Recently I have noticed tiny black specks on the fins/near the mouths of a few of my fish. Info I've found online leads me to believe it may be a trematode (reference here under "black spots": http://www.fish.stat.../fish/worms.htm). Does anyone have any experience with this...any advice?

Yep, your fish have black spot (black grub) disease caused by a larval digenetic trematode typically belonging to the genus Diplostomum. The good news is they are mostly harmless even in very large quantities (your fish seem to have an extremely minor infection).

The definitive host is a typically a fish eating bird like a heron, kingfisher, etc.... which passes the parasitic eggs in its feces and then goes to an intermediate host of a freshwater snail then into your fish where they migrate to the scales. You can easily treat it with copper sulfate but frequent water changes and time should allow the larvae to die off and never be seen again unless you have fish eating birds visiting your home aquaria. If you have live plants in your aquarium do NOT use copper sulfate.

Best,
Blake

yeah blake nailed it. i had a a south american eartheater that had it bad. ill see if i have a pic of it. it was horrible. but they do not transfer to anyone else.

http://www.monsterfi...=1&d=1239745577
http://www.monsterfi...=1&d=1239746530
http://www.monsterfi...=1&d=1239746530
http://www.monsterfi...=1&d=1239746530

Thanks both of you for the info. Relieving to hear it isn't an emergency. Additionally, I saw that snails might be a part of the parasite life cycle. A week or so ago I did add two snails (which I obtained from the same stream) to the tank in hopes of some detritus management. Wonder if there is a connection.

mostly harmless

Isn't that a Douglas Adams line?

It's a book by him.