Outbreak of Whitespot (ich)

[George&Ade]

Hi.Unfortunatly i cant seem to get rid of the whitespot in my tank.
Ive read in other posts that its best to raise the water temperature a little to help kill the infection in the water,but im not sure how high i should go,and for how long.
The black moors seem to be the worst affected at the moment.
Other fish i have include,Orandas,Ryukins,Ranchu.
I do regular water changes (roughly 25% every 10 days or so)
All fish seem to be swimming around quite happily,and their appetites are ok.
Just some advice about the temps please.
Oh...all water levels are fine.......checked weekly.

 

[black angel]

hi
what you have to do is either go with the salt method or the med method, as you cant use both together.

the salt method.
do a water change of around 50 % and then slowly raise the temp to 80f over a couple of days. turn it up a notch every couple of hours, stop when the light goes on and then check temp and leave for a couple of hours then turn it again. the high dosage of salt gets rid of the old slime coat and helps to build up a new thicker coat, so helping to repel parasites.
add 1 level teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon or 1 level tablespoon per 5 gallons to give you a solution of .1%. do this again 12 hours later to get a .2% and again 12 hours later to get .3%. every 3 days do a thorough gravel vac and change about 30% of the water remembering to replace the salt. keep doing this for two weeks then hopefully the ich will have gone. lower the temp slowly to around 72f for a while to keep the fishes immune system up. i would actually keep the temp at this permanently.
if it has cleared then go back to doing a weekly water change and gravel vac to get rid of the salt. after a month or so redose the salt to .1% for a couple of months.
if you have any plecs or other types of fish that arent gf then you will have to move them out.
add extra aeration.
the meds
if you want to follow this route then raise the temp to 80 and remove the carbon from the filter. remove the plants as well if they are real. cover the tank and turn off the light and add the meds as instructed. protozin is the best i have used. use it for an extra 2 days than what it says. do a good gravel vac and big water change when the course has run and add fresh carbon. if the spots have gone then slowly lower the temp to 72 and leave it there, again for the immune system.
you will need lots of extra aeration.

you also may want to add some salt to .2% for a week to help the slime coat thicken.

hope some of this helps. good luck

 

[George&Ade]

Thanks for the reply and advice Black Angel.
Im going to go with the "meds" i think.
Im slowly raising the temperature,(up to70 at the moment)
I would imagine it should reach 80 in a couple of days.
Many thanks once again

 

[bribones]

no quick cure for this one im afraid ,its only the free swiming parasites that will be killed by the meds,the whole idea of raising the temp is to speed the life cycle of the trophont and get them into the water so they can be killed

An alternative treatment is prolonged salt immersion at 1-2 ppt (parts per thousand), i.e. 1-2 grams per litre

is there any chance you can move the fish to a clean tank while you treat them

there is a second type of white spot that is bacterial and not parasitic it might pay to take one of the fish to your lfs and have them take a look just to be sure

 

[George&Ade]

Hi Bribones.
Unfortunatly i dont have a second tank at the moment.
Ive now reached 76 degrees and have added the correct amount of whitespot treatment and will continue to slowly raise temp. to 80.
Ive removed plants,and carbon filter,but after adding the meds (it turns the water blue) the water appears to return to a normal white colour after a few hours.
Does this mean that something is "filtering" the meds and its no longer in the water???

 

[bribones]

what treatment are you using i normaly use tetrafin
ill have a guess and say your using Methylene blue which to be honest i dont care for as its got a wide variety of uses and i prefer one that targets a specific cause

which ever one your using id repeat the treatment every 5 days

can you pin it down to being the parasitic whitespot or the bacterial ?as the former is a pure nightmare to get rid of ,the spots vanish ,but the tank isnt cleaned it just means the parasite has emerged into the water and begins the cycle all over again each time getting worse

several chemicals kill the bug once it has left the fish. Malachite green, methylene blue, quinine hydrochloride, and mepracrine hydrochloride are all effective, and are available under several brand names.
Although nothing kills the parasite once it has entered into it's fish host,hence the need for multiple treatments

good luck

 

[George&Ade]

Im using something by "Interpet"...."anti whitespot plus"

Oh well...ill try this one ..and re-treat after 5 days and see what happens.

If i see no sign of improvment,ill try the "tetrafin" one.

I understand i should give the gravel a vacuum after treatment and do a couple of water changes.

Was also recommended to keep temp at approx.72 degrees after......if it helps....then that may be a good idea

 

[bribones]

not sure about keeping the temp raised ,but during the treatment it speeds up the cycle of the parasite and makes the treatment faster ,hoover the gravel yes to remove any parasites and id salt dip any plants and orniments as well ,water changes will help to dilute the parasite numbers,fingers crossed you should see results in about 14 days if not then the treatment isnt working

let us know how you get on

 

[George&Ade]

Got the pemp up to 79 now,and the fish dont seem to be acting any different,but i think i will drop back to about 70 after treatment.
Hopefully,all will go well,and will keep you informed of the outcome.....fingers crossed

 

[black angel]

if you do water changes while doing the meds, change about 30% with a gravel vac before adding the next lot of meds.

 

[George&Ade]

O.K Black Angel....thank you