Help! white spots!
- Thread starter Shoto^Guy
- Start date
benzonar
Fish Crazy
Well whitespot has hit me know as well.
I introduced some cherry barbs on Sunday and they have come down with Ich. My Siamese Flying Fox also now appears to be suffering, all the other fish look nice and healthy though, especially my Red Kribs who look ready to breed.
I read somewhere that once a fish has been infected with Ich and survived, it is then immune to it. Is this the case? I hate putting any forms of chemicals in my tank so if I just let the Ich go through the motions without adding any treatments, but I be considered as cruel.
I know that you can never really get rid of Ich and it could always reappear, so do I just accept it as one of the trials of fishkeeping, and those fish who appear to be suffering should be disposed of humanely?
I introduced some cherry barbs on Sunday and they have come down with Ich. My Siamese Flying Fox also now appears to be suffering, all the other fish look nice and healthy though, especially my Red Kribs who look ready to breed.
I read somewhere that once a fish has been infected with Ich and survived, it is then immune to it. Is this the case? I hate putting any forms of chemicals in my tank so if I just let the Ich go through the motions without adding any treatments, but I be considered as cruel.
I know that you can never really get rid of Ich and it could always reappear, so do I just accept it as one of the trials of fishkeeping, and those fish who appear to be suffering should be disposed of humanely?
S
smb
Guest
Shoto^Guy, are you sure it's ich and not fungus? You mention the word "patches" a couple times and ich isn't patchy. It looks like granules of salt whereas fungus is patch-like. You should see a decrease in ich spots after 2-3 days and this has me wondering since it's not decreasing at all from what I read from your posts.
If you use carbon in your filter, are you taking the carbon out? The carbon will take the meds out of the tank and can't be used while you are medicating.
No, not at all. Ich is very easy to get rid of. It's in the water and as long as fish aren't stressed they can easily fight it off. Just get some ich med from your lfs and do a water change before you med and you should be fine. I would med for at least 10-12 days and preferably 14 days even if you don't see any sign of ich.
If you use carbon in your filter, are you taking the carbon out? The carbon will take the meds out of the tank and can't be used while you are medicating.
No, not at all. Ich is very easy to get rid of. It's in the water and as long as fish aren't stressed they can easily fight it off. Just get some ich med from your lfs and do a water change before you med and you should be fine. I would med for at least 10-12 days and preferably 14 days even if you don't see any sign of ich.
no...they are white spots.....though now it seems kinda more obvious and getting mroe and more on my cherry barbs...sigh...the poor barbs are dying on eby one...anyway if its fungus, then what are the symptoms>? I dont see any white patches, just white spots...though kinda lot of them on the fish body though..
T
tribalsilver_shark
Guest
ich i know alot about
there are many types please dont get confused
many people start getting all confused but there are easy ways to make sure what type you have
you can get 3 types for saltwater
and 2 diffrent types for freshwater
also to confirm you say you have fish with white stuff not spts IM SORRY THATS FUNGUL desease pls pls get a treatment asap 1st off did it start on nr there head or fins if not keep an eye on this
if you would like more info exactly what ich it and how do you treat it please reply and tell me ill make a thread on ich the complete story
thanks and good luck
(The shark)
also can i add MY OHO stop seaching for answers for the moment treat your fish with NUMBER 8 anti fungus and finrot treatment by interpet (by this i mean treat them asap as it really sounds like fungus and if caught fast you can save them
lso i cnt add pic here but ill add pic in the section and put link up (from the box)
fungus and finrot symptoms
there are many types please dont get confused
many people start getting all confused but there are easy ways to make sure what type you have
you can get 3 types for saltwater
and 2 diffrent types for freshwater
also to confirm you say you have fish with white stuff not spts IM SORRY THATS FUNGUL desease pls pls get a treatment asap 1st off did it start on nr there head or fins if not keep an eye on this
if you would like more info exactly what ich it and how do you treat it please reply and tell me ill make a thread on ich the complete story
thanks and good luck
(The shark)
also can i add MY OHO stop seaching for answers for the moment treat your fish with NUMBER 8 anti fungus and finrot treatment by interpet (by this i mean treat them asap as it really sounds like fungus and if caught fast you can save them
lso i cnt add pic here but ill add pic in the section and put link up (from the box)
fungus and finrot symptoms
eh...ok some of my cherry barbs are recovering....only a few are still affaected....i dun think its fungus....coz only white spots dat seems to be big and they are so near togther that i desxribe them as patch...but oh well...lots of my cherry and neons died though...urgh...
T
tribalsilver_shark
Guest
How to Treat ICH (The Important Stuff)
1. Check your water quality!!!!!! 9 times out of 10, the fish can do fine with a few Ichthyophthirius in the water, but when they are stressed by anything, like questionable water quality, it makes it much easier for the little buggers to set up shop in your fish's skin.
2. Do a 50% water change, just to be safe.
3. Add 3 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon to your tank. This reduces the osmotic stress on the fish caused by the invading organisms, and may adversely affect the organism as well.
4. Pick up an ich medication of your choice at the local fish mart. Most of the ones that are sold are more or less effective. My personal favorite is a malachite green/formaldehyde combination sold under the brand name "Quick Cure". ("RidIch" has the same ingredients.) Note: Most people recommend halving the dose of Malachite-containing medications if you are treating small catfish, any scaleless catfish, or tetras.
5. Disregard the instructions on the bottle!!!!! Use the DOSE written on the bottle, but treat like this: Treat every 3 to 4 days for 4 treatments, changing 50% of the water before every treatment. Do NOT treat once or twice, like the directions will tell you! You need to treat over 12 to 16 days in order to get all the little guys when they are vulnerable. (See life cycle diagram for explanation)
(Excuse the digression here, but this is my chance to vent my frustration at the aquarium trade -- I think they purposefully give poor medicating information so that the consumer will treat only partially, and knock down the parasite burden only enough to temporarily cure the fish! Because not all the organisms are dead, they will bounce back in a few weeks or months, and the poor consumer has to run out and but more of the ich medication! What a scam!!)
Other things which may help:
6. Raise the temperature in the tank above 85 degrees for 5-7 days. The tomites do very poorly at these temperatures, and it also speeds up the life cycle so more organisms are vulnerable to killing at any time.
7. You can use a diatomaceous earth filter to decrease the number of infective tomites.
8. Move fish to a clean tank after 7 days. This reduces reinfection by tomites left behind after the initial treatments
1. Check your water quality!!!!!! 9 times out of 10, the fish can do fine with a few Ichthyophthirius in the water, but when they are stressed by anything, like questionable water quality, it makes it much easier for the little buggers to set up shop in your fish's skin.
2. Do a 50% water change, just to be safe.
3. Add 3 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon to your tank. This reduces the osmotic stress on the fish caused by the invading organisms, and may adversely affect the organism as well.
4. Pick up an ich medication of your choice at the local fish mart. Most of the ones that are sold are more or less effective. My personal favorite is a malachite green/formaldehyde combination sold under the brand name "Quick Cure". ("RidIch" has the same ingredients.) Note: Most people recommend halving the dose of Malachite-containing medications if you are treating small catfish, any scaleless catfish, or tetras.
5. Disregard the instructions on the bottle!!!!! Use the DOSE written on the bottle, but treat like this: Treat every 3 to 4 days for 4 treatments, changing 50% of the water before every treatment. Do NOT treat once or twice, like the directions will tell you! You need to treat over 12 to 16 days in order to get all the little guys when they are vulnerable. (See life cycle diagram for explanation)
(Excuse the digression here, but this is my chance to vent my frustration at the aquarium trade -- I think they purposefully give poor medicating information so that the consumer will treat only partially, and knock down the parasite burden only enough to temporarily cure the fish! Because not all the organisms are dead, they will bounce back in a few weeks or months, and the poor consumer has to run out and but more of the ich medication! What a scam!!)
Other things which may help:
6. Raise the temperature in the tank above 85 degrees for 5-7 days. The tomites do very poorly at these temperatures, and it also speeds up the life cycle so more organisms are vulnerable to killing at any time.
7. You can use a diatomaceous earth filter to decrease the number of infective tomites.
8. Move fish to a clean tank after 7 days. This reduces reinfection by tomites left behind after the initial treatments
I did raise the temp to what u all have mentioned...but i think some of my neons couldnt take it...and died....now my cherry barbs are still struggling....though some seems better, there are some who seems to be on the brink of death...sob sob
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