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White Spot: Ich: Disease: Treatment


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Hi everyone,

I just discovered small white glistening dots on my fish (cichlids,carachins mainly). I have never had this in a year and a half of keeping fish. I have looked into it and am using white spot remedy with Malachite Green. Im aware the treatment is only effective on the tomite stage of the life cycle. YesterdayI began treatment with a half dose as there some pllecos, salmontails and clown loaches in the tank. I have raised the water temp from 26 to 28 degrees.

Im just wondering if anyone who has experienced this so called comon fish ailment can comment on my approach and suggest things to look out for now while treating. My water quality would have to be be flawless I clean once a week (4ft tank). I take all the precautions I can.

Thanking any advice in advance

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I forgot to mention that I have added salt.

I now use Sea salt instead of the salt from aquariums (cost over $20). How much salt should I generally use and how much more should I add when treating White Spot.

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Ich article and analasys

I use a very mild medication called Anti Parasite(Interpet) as it is very mild, very cheap and very easy to use. It is also available at Bunnings, in Bulk, for those too tight to get it from their LFS(if they stock it). dry.gifwoot.gif

Raise the Tank temp to 30c(lot-a-air too specially for Tanganyikans) and treat with 2.2ml/100Ltrs. Treat daily for a fortnight then do a water change.

If you want you can do a water change B4 treatment but the medication is very mild, this means that you can treat Loaches(I have) and BN's(I have) and all dithers(I have) without much concern.

HTH

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Thanks for the top link and tip mazimbwe. thumb.gif

I now wonder how my fish could have got this infection?? It may be possible that my Salmon tail cats could have had it (got last week, but no white spot visible at time). When you dont have a quaratine tank I suppose you can only be cautious. Articles I have now read attribute Ich to poor water quality and/or maitenance. I clean my tank every week (cos i enjoy doing so). I suspect that maybe it could be due to temp fluctuation ie, hot and cold weather and a had a poor heater (Resun) which I replaced yesterday.

Maybe ammonia spikes from too much cleaning. I cleaned twice because I had cloudy water and visitors were coming over . I have three red devils which are causing a bit of grief in my tank. They are about 10-12cm and I think are getting to the stage where they may become a problem to the community.

What I really want to know is 'where does the parasite come from?' I now know how the lifecycle is triggered. Did I bring it into the tank in one way or the other?

Too many questions tongue.gif

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there are many different theories but mostly tanks can become contaminated when new fish are bought and just added to the tank without a quarantine period. i'd recomend thoroughly checking your fish at the lfs or wherever they are purchased but this is not a 100% foolproof way to detect ich as the parasite may be invisible at that stage. the good news is that once the fish get over white spot they build up a good tolerance and very often they do not contract ich for a long time (maybe never).

make sure you supply the tank with as much air and surface movement as possible, and try to keep an eye on them for a while as you complete your treatment and afterwards.

by the way EcHo2134 i'm pretty sure that raising doesn't stop the breeding process, it is supposed to speed it up so that the parasites get to a stage where they are vunerable to the various treatment methods.

it has been recommended to me and i will pass it on ' keep a quarantine tank' it is a small price to pay for the wellbeing of you fish. i have an empty 2footer that i set up every time get new fish i fill it with water from my other tanks and a filter that is usually running in another tank i treat this water with the tinyist ammount of potassium permanganate (enough to send the water a tinge of purple) and this has worked for me and several of my friends including a reputable discus breeder who told me this in the first place.

cheers guys

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Im with reddevilman, most fish carry it, but stress and or temperature fluctuations make them vulnerable(lose their protective slime coating) which is when they contract it.

How else can u explain whitespot developing when nothing new is added to a tank?, not in this case but from my own experience.

KB

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