Flipping White Spot

[fenwoman]

I should have worn my specs when I put the fish in yesterday. I was looking at the fish earlier and noticed that the blue coral platys all have ruddy white spot. Have just raised the temperature in the tank and put med's in. When will it start to take effect and how much water should I change when I know it has worked?

 

[MHunt]

I'd leave it for a good week and see if the whitespot reappears on any of your other fish. You did the right thing by treating immediately. I held out with my first bout and lost several fish. Had a bit after adding some cherry barbs to the tank a couple of weeks ago. Added interpet 6 (i think that's right, the whitespot treatment anyways.) straight away and didn't think about it again as the spots went from the fish within days, and never reappeared.

 

[bobbicus]

hiya

oh no...........seems problem after problem

i had ich when first started - i followed this.......http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/whitespot.htm


at least i undestood the life cycle- helps to kill the darn thing when ya do!!!

i did a 33% w/c when finished the meds and popped in a carbon filter pad to remove excess - but does kill off beneficial bacteria though!!!!!! SO BE WARNED!


rob

 

[fenwoman]

hiya

oh no...........seems problem after problem

i had ich when first started - i followed this.......http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/whitespot.htm


at least i undestood the life cycle- helps to kill the darn thing when ya do!!!

i did a 33% w/c when finished the meds and popped in a carbon filter pad to remove excess - but does kill off beneficial bacteria though!!!!!! SO BE WARNED!


rob

it's a flipping nightmare. The platys seem to look worse every hour. I hope the increase in temp' and meds do the trick. I can't use salt because of the loaches either.
Not much I can do about killing the beneficial bacteria is there?

 

[bobbicus]

ahhh well thats's a real bummer...........shame as you took sooooo much time in research and planning!!!

is a point - but if the platys are ONLY showing these whitespots then they are ready for dropping off and multiplying.........could you remove just the platys before the ich gets really going???

rob

 

[fenwoman]

ahhh well thats's a real bummer...........shame as you took sooooo much time in research and planning!!!

is a point - but if the platys are ONLY showing these whitespots then they are ready for dropping off and multiplying.........could you remove just the platys before the ich gets really going???

rob

Too late since the fish have been in the same tank for 48 hours. According to what I read about it, most lfs have a kind of joint filter system going and if one tank has it, the others will have it in the water too. I would rather treat the tank and be sure of killing it, than hoik out the platys, thus stressing them further, treating them and finding I still have white spot in the tank. One platy in particular is covered with it. I got 5, can only find 4. Seached the tank this afternoon in case it died somewhere but still cannot see it. One downside of a heavily planted tank. So With the increase in temp and meds I know at least that I will have killed it all. I am fully expecting to lose these platys which pees me off a lot since I cannot get any more locally. All the lfs around here stock the same old boring stuff.

 

[MHunt]

ahhh well thats's a real bummer...........shame as you took sooooo much time in research and planning!!!

is a point - but if the platys are ONLY showing these whitespots then they are ready for dropping off and multiplying.........could you remove just the platys before the ich gets really going???

rob

Too late since the fish have been in the same tank for 48 hours. According to what I read about it, most lfs have a kind of joint filter system going and if one tank has it, the others will have it in the water too. I would rather treat the tank and be sure of killing it, than hoik out the platys, thus stressing them further, treating them and finding I still have white spot in the tank. One platy in particular is covered with it. I got 5, can only find 4. Seached the tank this afternoon in case it died somewhere but still cannot see it. One downside of a heavily planted tank. So With the increase in temp and meds I know at least that I will have killed it all. I am fully expecting to lose these platys which pees me off a lot since I cannot get any more locally. All the lfs around here stock the same old boring stuff.

Unfortunately once fish in the tank have whitespot you just have to treat the tank. Sooner or later the other fish will come down with it too so all you can do is treat the tank and be patient. You can give the gravel a good vac to help the meds out as the parasite can reside there in it's free floating stage.

I must admit i haven't had much luck with platy's, they are meant to be really hardy fish, and for me they have been more fickle than most.

 

[confusion]

The good news is that raising the temp works really well, in my experience. I ended up at 91F before I killed off my ich last summer.

 

[andywg]

I can't use salt because of the loaches either.

All fish (including loaches, catfish and tetras) can survive short term dosing with salt to get rid fo the pathogen. Having salt in the water does not "burn" fish that do not have scaels. The reasons for not using salt in FW set ups is because the fish are not geared up for maintaing their internal salt/water balance when the salt is in the water being taken on.

For the best advice on ich make sure you read the skeptical aquarist's page on ich.