PlanetCatfish.com

I have a farlowella catfish that has suddenly developed a spot on his back and I'm not sure as to what it is. Can any of you guys help me out?

Heater burn, perhaps? Or some sort of fungus/bacterial infection?

It's hard to say, really.

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Mats

I've seen similar problems on a number of my corys since moving house. I think the stress of moving and possible temperature fluctuations associated with that weakened them.
The first case was in my favorite fish and after trying a number of different medications my LFS gave me a bottle of Ruby Reef Rally, which cured it in less than 48 hours.
When it resurfaced on another fish in a different tank I had no more Rally and neither did my LFS, it seems to be pretty hard to find, possibly due to its cost. I asked him to get more but in the 2 weeks it took him I had managed to cure it with a reduction in temp and salt combination. I dropped the temp to 74C and slowly added 1 tbps salt per 5g over the course of 24 hours. All have recovered within 48 hours with this treatment.
Catfish are supposed to be sensitive to salt so you should watch it carefully but personally I've only ever seen Brochis react negatively. (I dont have any farlowella though)

Moved to Loricariidae forum - missed that it wasn't in the right place earlier.

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Mats

Any update on the present condition of the Farlowella and specifics of treatment?

That does look like a heater burn. They have the tendency to sit near the heater for long periods of time. I had to turn the heater down quite low because one female lives there permanently. She refuses to move. She and the male guard eggs there.
Amanda