I Need Advice !

[jacden]

My tank completed a ten week fishless cycle three weeks ago. I decided to lightly stock initially as some of the fish i want need the tank to be more mature. I put in 3 male guppies, 3 female and one male platy, 6 zebra danios, A few days later i added 6 glowlights from a different Lfs. twenty four hours later i noticed a glowlight with a white spot on its body, knew it was white spot so commenced a course of protozin ,raised temp to 30.c. I followed instructions to the letter, despite this all glowlights developed whitespot. vacuumed gravel and ran activated carbon for 24hrs, did approx 40% wc. and commenced another course of protozin also added melafix as fins looking shabby. Today is the last day of meds and the glowlights still have white spot, plus a platy and zebras are starting to flick. throughout all this tank stats have been

ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm
ph 7.8
tank is 83 imp.gals ( 48x20x24 ins) with sump .
Filtration is 2x trickle filters containing sponges and bioballs.

tank is well planted. Today a glowlight died.

What do i do next? I thought to do a gravel vac. 25% wc. run carbon for a day and commence a course of british king ws3. and melafix. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Jackie

 

[Colin_T]

when you worked out the volume of water to treat did you include the sumps/ trickle filters?
did you have carbon in the filter when you were treating the fish?

Keep treating the fish for a week after the spots have gone. The whitespot parasite has 3 stages to its lifecycle.
1) the white spots on the fish
2) 2) the spots fall off the fish and multiply in the gravel
3) 3) the cysts in the gravel rupture open releasing thousands of new parasites to re-infect the fish.
The parasite can only be killed during the 3rd stage when they are free swimming and before they attach to a fish.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

Work out the volume in the tank and the sumps and treat the total water volume.

If you do a big water change and a complete gravel clean then that will reduce the number of parasites in the tank. Then treat it. Protozin should do the job.

 

[jacden]

when you worked out the volume of water to treat did you include the sumps/ trickle filters?
did you have carbon in the filter when you were treating the fish?

Keep treating the fish for a week after the spots have gone. The whitespot parasite has 3 stages to its lifecycle.
1) the white spots on the fish
2) 2) the spots fall off the fish and multiply in the gravel
3) 3) the cysts in the gravel rupture open releasing thousands of new parasites to re-infect the fish.
The parasite can only be killed during the 3rd stage when they are free swimming and before they attach to a fish.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

Work out the volume in the tank and the sumps and treat the total water volume.

If you do a big water change and a complete gravel clean then that will reduce the number of parasites in the tank. Then treat it. Protozin should do the job.

Thanks for advice , Idid not use carbon during treatment, when calculating vol of the tank i did include filter ,used the calculator on this forum but with hind sight i have not included the sump which holds another10 -15 gals. I will do a large wc. and gravel vac tomorrow. Do you think it will be ok to use the ws3 as i have used two courses of protozin and have none left now. The glow lights are still showing white spots so am i right in thinking the meds are not effective until spots have left the fish?

Thanks jackie

 

[Colin_T]

yes just do a water change and gravel clean tomorrow, then treat the tank with the British King whitespot medication.

The parasites can only be killed when they are free swimming. They cannot be killed while they are on the fish or while the cysts are developing in the gravel. You just have to keep treating the fish until all the spots have gone and been gone for at least a week.
Make sure there is plenty of surface turbulence as the medications will reduce the oxygen levels in the water.

 

[jacden]

yes just do a water change and gravel clean tomorrow, then treat the tank with the British King whitespot medication.

The parasites can only be killed when they are free swimming. They cannot be killed while they are on the fish or while the cysts are developing in the gravel. You just have to keep treating the fish until all the spots have gone and been gone for at least a week.
Make sure there is plenty of surface turbulence as the medications will reduce the oxygen levels in the water.

Thanks so much will do that tomorrow. That makes sense to continue after all spots disappear, if the parasites are lying in the gravel. I am surprised the protozin do not state this as the course is actually only 3 doses , two free days then final dose. Well i will keep my fingers crossed this time. i really appreciate your help
Jackie