Diagnosing White Spot

[Stephanie87]

Hi there,

I think one of my white tip tetras may be suffering from white spot. It has only appeared today, and although he doesn't seem to be 'itching' himself up against things, there is is a very noticeable single white spot.
I will try to upload some pictures ASAP.

If it is white spot what shall i do?? Will i have to remove my carbon filter for the treatment?

Thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

You will have to remove your carbon for any treatment, yes. Carbon will absorb any medication you put in, so it wouldn't be able to work.

I have to say, it doesn't sound like white spot. Having one white spot, on one fish would be extremely unusual!

I'd keep a close eye on it, keep your water quality really tip top and see how it goes rather than trying to medicate if you don't know for sure what's wrong yet. Don't worry too much, if it is white spot it won't kill otherwise healthy fish very quickly; you'll have plenty of time to get meds and start treating

 

[karin]

Ich or whitespot looks like tiny grains of sand sprinkled on the fish.

But I agree, watch it for now as it may just be something stuck on the fish. I agree with previous post, keep water perfect, inspect fish regularly. If it is Ich, check out the link in my signature for help with medications.

Good luck.

 

[Stephanie87]

Thanks guys! I wasn't 100% convinced that it is white spot, because like I said it is just a single white spot and it is quite a bit larger than I'd expect ich to be.
I will keep an eye on it.
Thanks again for your help

 

[OldMan47]

If you have a large and spread out spot of white color, try looking up columnaris instead of ich. Ich is a parasite that has a consistent size about the same as a single grain of table salt. Larger area problems showing white color are often either a fungus or columnaris.