White Spot or Sporozoran?

I need a few opinions and some advice!

I have two loaches (Nimrod who, despite his name, is very loved and probably my favorite, and Priz). I had them for about three weeks in my planted tank when I noticed white spots form on their fins and sides. Originally I thought it was Ich (even as a total newbie I knew about it) and set to start treating it right away. However, about several days later, I noticed that literally none of the other fish had contracted the ich at all. Not a single spot on them-- just these two. Of four Gourami and a zebra loach (whose two buddies did not make it) only the Gold Zebras had the white spots, and the spots have not gone away at all from the time they've had them. They do the typical skirting/rubbing behavior characteristic of fish with ich, but I can't help but wonder if it really IS ich as I recently read a few articles about white spots on fish that aren't ich. I'll attach a photo or two of Nimrod and Priz as they are now. Please tell me what you think! (Photos taken 5 or so days into medication process as the heat method did not work)

[waters are tested and perfectly fine except for the nitrite level being slightly high but I've just done a 26% & 1 50% water change three times over the course of a week to help get rid of any potential ich floating around so the levels are good now.{

What are you treating them with?

One of the fish looks really skinny, you can see its ribs.

Some of the spots look like white spot and some look like excess mucous, which can be caused by poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), or medications.

M!NK said:

waters are tested and perfectly fine except for the nitrite level being slightly high but I've just done a 26% & 1 50% water change three times over the course of a week

Click to expand...

26% and 150% water changes???
can you explain that?

If you are going to do water changes to dilute nutrients or disease organisms, just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day.

Colin_T said:

What are you treating them with?

One of the fish looks really skinny, you can see its ribs.

Some of the spots look like white spot and some look like excess mucous, which can be caused by poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), or medications.


26% and 150% water changes???
can you explain that?

If you are going to do water changes to dilute nutrients or disease organisms, just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day.

Click to expand...

I'm treating them with a medication called Ich-X.i can post a picture of the listed ingredients if it'll help.

The one that's really skinny is Nimrod; he's been refusing the wafers so I've been giving him diced cucumber, but he only nibbles it occasionally and only seems to want the Gouramis' food that only floats downwards occasionally.

I meant to post 25%, sorry. I did 25% changes on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today, and then the 150% was actually 1-50% meaning one 50% water change on Wednesday. Sorry, I made that pretty confusing to read.

Try feeding the loaches with bloodworm, brineshrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia, prawn/ shrimp and marine mix. These are all frozen foods available from most pet shops. Defrost the food first and offer a little bit at a time. The other fish can eat it too.

Colin_T said:

Try feeding the loaches with bloodworm, brineshrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia, prawn/ shrimp and marine mix. These are all frozen foods available from most pet shops. Defrost the food first and offer a little bit at a time. The other fish can eat it too.

Click to expand...

Alright. Thank you very much! Was this probably the result of a deficiency of nutrients provided by the frozen food? I'd like to know for future reference if it isn't too much trouble.

The white bits on the fish are probably from something in the water.

The skinny fish can have worms or other parasites, or it's from lack of food. But since the others look good, I would say internal parasites like intestinal worms.

Try feeding them up for a couple of weeks and if the fish doesn't gain weight then treat them for worms.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

Update:

The loaches are now clear of white spot and excess mucus!! Nimrod (Loach in the wisteria) has also gained back his weight and is parasite free!

[ps, super excited!! They'll be getting some real cool friends I've had planned to arrive for a while, and a LOT of plants to provide more hiding places. Keep an eye out for when I post their arrival ]

Make sure you quarantine any new fish and plants to prevent diseases being introduced into the tank.

Yep! They've all already been quarantined for a few days, but I'm gonna give them an extra two days with the recent scares I've had with the tank just to make sure

All new fish should be quarantined for at least 2 weeks and preferably 4 weeks before being added to an established aquarium.

Some fish diseases (mainly protozoan infections) can take a week or more before the fish show any symptoms.

It's also a good idea to deworm all new fish while they are in quarantine.

I know

Their 2-week quarantine is almost finished, and I've had the plants in quarantine for longer than the stock so I added them in tonight to let them sit and adjust a day or two before the fish join.