New To Fish Keeping, My Big Journal

[Sharm]

also, would a UV steriliser help?

 

[seffieuk]

also, would a UV steriliser help?

Not really, there really are only two ways forward, both as 1entra said. Some people may talk about a third option, which you could try, a fresh water dip, but never heard a success story with this one!

a small tank (with a lid, as fire fish jump) is quite cheap to set-up, most pet shops sell small ones, small filter cansiter (which you may already have, most of us fishkeepers never throw anything away ) and heater - just put in salt water, something for the fish to hide in (not live rock) and then treat with cooper

Be aware that fish sometimes get what looks like white spot but is actually stress!

Seffie x

 

[Sharm]

hmmm okay then, I have also seen her drive down and brush herself with the sand....

How can I tell the difference between white spot and stress?

 

[seffieuk]

hmmm okay then, I have also seen her drive down and brush herself with the sand....

How can I tell the difference between white spot and stress?

You probably can't Sharm, looks very similar - Tina had the problem a little while back with a new fish - it got what she thought was ich, she left it alone for a few days (on the advise of someone) and it cleared up

however:

need to warn, may have been iche and the parasites fell off into the sand!!

Seffie x

 

[1entra]

Just to add on what seffie has already mentioned sharm, you dont even need a 'tank' if your looking for a cheap option, a large bucket or container that is normally food grade (not been polluted with anything thant can cause harm to the fish) can be used as a quick temporary fix for quarantine and treat the fish. simply add a heater and a small filter of some sort to premixed salt watr, a small pump can be added if need be but isn't necessary. also whilst treating the fish a small water change of maybe 10% is recommended maybe every few days (some do a 10% everyday). Jts make sure fish are active and feeding happily.

As already mentioned a FW dip is also another option but it is not one that I would personally use as IMO it causes quite a bit of stress to the fish which surely cat be good when the fish's immune system is already down due to the parasite. The dip would have to be repeated every few days and even a few days after the parasite is no longer visible.

But if you are going to treat or do a FW dip then you may have to treat all your fish and leave the DT free from any fish for a few weeks in order to make fully sure any remaining parasites in the water die off! However if you leave to let the 'ich' pass over the way IMO if all the fish make it through then it wll toughen their immune systems to better deal with any future parasites.

Keep us updated

 

[Sharm]

quick update, checked on her today and the white spots are lot harder to see when its day light, even though we have a blind in the room, so I wont be sure how they are doing until later. She has just had some food and seems active and well. I feed her flakes this morning so ill give her some brimeshrimp later.

I'm on nights all this week, so that means I can keep a close watch on her. I'm going to do a water change today as well.

 

[seffieuk]

keep us updated - maybe it was stress spots

Seffie x

I do agree with 1entra, I wouldn't do a fresh water dip either

 

[scott133]

hi hows the tank and is the fire fish okay

regards scott

 

[Sharm]

my firefish has been doing okay until today. She has been eating well and acting normal, but today I found her on the sand, really weak and breathing very fast.

 

[scott133]

how is the tank testing and what is the temp

regards scott

 

[seffieuk]

Oh no, how is she today?

Seffie x

 

[Sharm]

Sorry for no update for a long time....... Sadly flow my firefish died a day after my last post. The water was fine so I'm putting it down to the white spot .......


...... since then both my clown fish got it, but not as bad as my firefish, and the have seemed to pulled through it now with the help of my 2 cleaner shrimp which I got. I have also got my first coral now, it's a soft coral but I can't remember what the shop keeper said it was, so I'll take some pictures. But thats doing well anyway.

I'm going to give it a week or two, to make sure mmy clowns are over the white spot, then I was thinking of getting a new fish. I was think about a dwarf angle (not sure which type), a royal gamma or a Goby (not sure which type). What do you think?

 

[eltz21]

I am thinking of changing my tank from a fresh water to a salt water tank and have read your journal from start to finish. Very interesting and i have learnt a lot. Some of the jargan i still need to learn but im sure i will pick it up like i did with my fresh water tank.

Hope all is going well now for you.