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Ok, I know this is not Ick. The white spots are limited to the part of the gill plate that is under the head. There are 2 distinct lobes under there and that is what is turning white. The lobes are about 1/4 inch long and 1/8 inch wide and almost comletely turn white. At first, it was just the male that showed it and it was only on one lobe, now the female is showing the same thing on both of her lobes and the male shows this same thing one the same lobe. It does come and go but I am worried it is a problem and possibly an infection that they fight and comes back.

What is wrong with my BN and how do I treat it?

1. Water parameters
a) 78-82
b) 6.6 pH
c) 8 dGH
d) 7 dKH
e)Ammonia - 0 Nitrate - 20, Nitrite - 0 PO4 - 1.5
f) 50% weekly

2. Tank set up
a) 10 gallon
b) Gravel
c) AC 20 HOB
d) Driftwood Lots of plants
e) 2 C. trilineatus, 9 neon tetra
f) 1 year 3 months running
g) Last fish added 3 month ago
h) Flakes daily, algae wafers twice a week, zucchini 1-2 times a week, Shrimp pellets 1 time a week, Green beens in occassion.

Sorry to be difficult, but I think this requires a photo to see what it looks like.

There's nothin apparent in your list of water parameters or fish content.

I think a 10g tank is a little bit on the small side for two bristlenoses of adult size, so I would expect that you'll want to move them to a bigger tank eventually, but again, it shouldn't be a problem in the short term [they just will make the water dirty quicker the bigger they get].

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Mats

Well the male is 5 inches and the female is 3 inches. Only other tnak mates are 2 small corys, 1 inch and 9 neon tetra. Heavy planted but I have been told they might not like the small tank.

Anyway, I will get a picture of it when it happens again. Both of them have lost the whiteness but I am sure it will come back sooner or later. I has for the past 2 months or so. Will get a picture when I can.

Here is a picture of the normal lobe turned white. It comes and goes on both the male and the female. Other than that, they never show any other signs of stress. It is also only on one lobe and the other one never turns at the same time.

I add nothing to my tanks that effects the numbers except for MgSO4 for my GH. My gravel has some small pieces of shell and coral in it that affects my KH. I do not alter my KH at all. I did just recently get some calcium to add so that might help them as well.

As for water quality, nitrates never over 20, never have any ammonia or nitrites. The tank is rediculously heavily planted but the BN love to run in and hide in the plants.

Tap water sucks! KH and GH <1. No calcium, no Mg, pH 7.0. I am beginning to think it is from the swings in either or both the KH and GH.

Adding MgSO4 isn't going to stabilize your water, you want something that adds carbonate/bicarbonate to the water (Calcium- or sodium(bi)carbonate are both OK), the Calcium variety is more difficult to dissolve tho'. MgSO4 would probably not change anything but the actual hardness - and the fish you've got problems with would be fine in soft water, so it would really be better to increase the KH (and the GH as a side-effect), so as the pH stays stabile.

You say that your tap-water sucks, but I'd gladly swap a few million gallons with you..... It's much easier and less expensive to ADD minerals to the water than it is to REMOVE them - yes, you can't just take water from the tap and shove it in the tank if you have to add stuff to it, but at least you can "just add it" - and you have full control over how much you add and what you end up with... My tap-water is around 20 GH (never really bothered to measure it exactly, as it's WAY off the ideal for the fish I like), plenty of KH and the pH around 8.5... Just to make the set complete, it's around 30ppm Nitrate too (I did measure that after I found one of my tanks at over 100ppm despite quite regular water changes)...

Sorry for my ramblings, as my misery doesn't realy solve your proplems - but I feel better now that I got that off my chest...

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Mats