glittery gills?

Question
hey Rachel,it monika. you're so good at answering questions that i just keep  coming back to you for advice. Anyways, today, i was just checking up on my fish, when i noticed that one of my red velvet swordtails had some glitter on it. it goes on either of him (or her, i can't tell) and goes around the tail and near his (or her's) back, is this a normal thing? that's what i read on the internet, at first i thought it was a sign of ick (or is it ich?) but it looks more glittery than white spotted. On the day i went to but the aquarium, i saw some piranhas; they also had glitter on them, all of them had it, the fish with glitter sometimes goes into a corner, but then comes out. so, what is this symptom? well, please get back to me! by the way, thanks for getting back to me fast. hoping for you answer!

Answer
Sorry I have taken so long to get back to you, I have been super busy working. Maybe the "glitter" is in fact thier scales? I say this because I have two silver dollars and on thier tops they have what looks like someone sprinkled silver glitter on them. Possible? Is it colored? Does it look like salt, raised from the body? If it looks like salt raised from the body and sprinkled ALL OVER, than it is ick. If not and it looks more colored and part of the fish and the fish is acting normal and eating, than chances are it is the scales. When I first saw this on the silver dollars I thought it was so pretty, I knew it was not a disease or parasite. I also noticed that not all of one species has the "glitter" on them. It seems like only a select few have the added beauty. If it does not sound like the scales, let me know and I will attempt to figure it out for you. Again, sorry I have been so busy. I try to get back the day of the question but sadly have been very busy lately and have the questions building up, so I am trying to knock them out. Let me know if you need more assitance. Always glad to answer any questions!