Help

[ecro83]

i have a cold water fish tank and about a week ago i noticed the start of whitespot. i used my medication as instructed and yesterday was my last dayof using the medicine. However today when i woke up, my fish where covered with whitespot, to the point where it was so bad that one of my fish has a deformed tail and another one;s fin on the top has shrivled and is not there anymore! i put more medicine in this mornng, but nothing seems to be working. please can someone help me and get back to me fast as i feel my fish are suffering!!

 

[Colin_T]

are you sure it's whitespot and not excess mucous on the fish? It's just that goldfish don't normally get whitespot. They can get it but it is unusual.
Poor water quality will cause fish to produce excess mucous that can cause the fins to clamp up nd the body look white and patchy. If the fins are starting to disappear then it is possible they also have fin-rot. That is usually brought on by poor water quality too.

Whitespot needs to be treated for a couple of weeks in coldwater tanks because the cooler temperatures slow the parasite's lifecycle and makes it last longer.

How long has the tank been set up for?
Does it have a filter and how long has the filter been running?
How often do you do water changes?
Have you tested the aquarium water for PH, ammonia & nitrite?

 

[ecro83]

are you sure it's whitespot and not excess mucous on the fish? It's just that goldfish don't normally get whitespot. They can get it but it is unusual.
Poor water quality will cause fish to produce excess mucous that can cause the fins to clamp up nd the body look white and patchy. If the fins are starting to disappear then it is possible they also have fin-rot. That is usually brought on by poor water quality too.

Whitespot needs to be treated for a couple of weeks in coldwater tanks because the cooler temperatures slow the parasite's lifecycle and makes it last longer.

How long has the tank been set up for?
Does it have a filter and how long has the filter been running?
How often do you do water changes?
Have you tested the aquarium water for PH, ammonia & nitrite?

its a 15Litre Biorb! it has a filter, filter was running for a week beofre i put fish in and i have had 3 goldfish for 3 weeks, only started off with 2then went on to have 3!
do watr changed once a week, last one was about a weeek ago now.
not done any water tests yet however i will do some this week asap.Was going o do a 50% water change tomorrow! what is mucous, ive never heard of that. It looks like my fish have been rolled in sugar, there is no other way to explain it!
How do i cure this! i only have whitespot and fungus medicine, when i went to my pe shop they told me it sounded likewhitespot and they gave me that medicine!

 

[Colin_T]

Fish have a thin layer of mucous (clear slime) over their body. When they are stressed they produce more of it and this can make them look like they have a cream or white film over their body and eyes.
If their bodies look normal coloured but there are little white dots on them, then it is probably whitespot.

Whitespot is caused by a parasite that has 3 stages to its lifecycle.
1) the white dots on the fish
2) the whitespot falls off the fish and sits in the gravel for a few days to a week multiplying.
3) the cysts in the gravel rupture open releasing thousands of baby whitespot parasites that reinfect the fish.

You can only kill the whitespot when it is free swimming during the third stage.

In a coldwater tank the lifecycle will take several weeks so you will have to keep treating the fish for at least 2-3 weeks, probably more.

Because your tank is relatively new there is a probability the filters won't be fully developed yet. Any fish food or waste in the water will be breaking down and releasing ammonia. This gets consumed by good bacteria and turned into nitrite. More good bacteria eat the nitrite and turn it into nitrate.
It can take a month or so for the good bacteria to build up in high enough numbers to do this properly. During that time you get ammonia & nitrite readings and this will stress the fish out. The more fish you have and the more food being fed, the faster the levels go up.
You do partial water changes to keep these levels low. In a new tank it is usually a good idea to change part of the water every couple of days or even every day. The new water gong into the tank should be free of chlorine.

I am not sure how often the whitespot medication needs to be added to the tank but you should continue to add it when it is recommended. I would also suggest doing a partial water change today and each time before you re-treat the tank. This will help to lower any nutrients that are in the water.

You might also want to look for a bigger tank in the future because yours is a little small for 3 goldfish.