Pictus Catfish White Spot

[Gidge]

Yes all the fish survived thank god! We had very minimal sleep that night haha. How are your fish going?

 

[dfield]

Sadly I lost 3, the Gourami with Dropsy, the Loach with the white spot and my red tail shark dissapeared without a trace so I am assuming he died and was eaten. None of them were really surprising, but very sad all the same.

I think trying to move the fish from their old - new home stressed some out so much it left them vulnerable. Still on the upside the catfish look a lot better, one is completely white spot free, the other has a few spots left, but most are gone (I am sure we can clear that up). All the other fish look really healthy and my water tests now read

PH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0 - 10
Nitrate - 20ppm

I have 3 pregnant fish, 2 mollies and 1 platy and I have a tank ready for them if I manage to save any from the kribs. My other tank with the Neons and baby mollies in is doing fine, and they are getting much bigger now.. that will be my next problem to solve. My daughter thinks we should get rid of one of our sofas and put in a whole wall of tanks

 

[Gidge]

Sadly I lost 3, the Gourami with Dropsy, the Loach with the white spot and my red tail shark dissapeared without a trace so I am assuming he died and was eaten. None of them were really surprising, but very sad all the same.

Sorry to hear

Still on the upside the catfish look a lot better, one is completely white spot free, the other has a few spots left, but most are gone (I am sure we can clear that up).

That's good news! Keep up those white spot treatements until all the spots are gone, and then do 1 treatement just to make sure!

My daughter thinks we should get rid of one of our sofas and put in a whole wall of tanks

Oh I like that idea! haha.

 

[colleen0309]

** My daughter thinks we should get rid of one of our sofas and put in a whole wall of tanks**

And a fish room is born!!!

 

[dfield]

** My daughter thinks we should get rid of one of our sofas and put in a whole wall of tanks**

And a fish room is born!!!

lol, yes and my hubby is not happy!! I already have 3 tanks and only had the fish since July... I darent tell him my new hospital tank is rubbish so I need a bigger one Its a big room and could fit more in.. well without all the other furniture that is.

Sadly I lost 3, the Gourami with Dropsy, the Loach with the white spot and my red tail shark dissapeared without a trace so I am assuming he died and was eaten. None of them were really surprising, but very sad all the same.

Sorry to hear

yes I was really sad about that, also my last Loach now has a couple of whitespots on it... I think he's lonely. I really really need a bigger tank to get a whole shoal of them lolololol

My daughter thinks we should get rid of one of our sofas and put in a whole wall of tanks

Oh I like that idea! haha.

Move over sofas!

 

[colleen0309]

My house is so crowded right now. 8 aquariums set up, and our teenager came home last year and announced she was having a baby. With the baby and tanks, there is no room to turn around. I told the hubby to build me a room( I didn't dare call it a fish room) and I would put all of my tanks in there and it would free up alot of space in the house. The room is almost ready to be painted. If I called it a fish room, he would of had a fit and never built it, so I call it my office.

 

[Gidge]

I told the hubby to build me a room( I didn't dare call it a fish room) and I would put all of my tanks in there and it would free up alot of space in the house. The room is almost ready to be painted. If I called it a fish room, he would of had a fit and never built it, so I call it my office.

HAHA nice work!

 

[onidrase]

I guess I'm probably late to the party, but I, personally, would -never- use medications which have malachite or copper in them. Those will kill any scaleless fish faster than the ich will. (All loaches and catfish are scaleless. So if you have either of those, watch what you put in your tank)

A majority of medications have malachite and/or copper in them as an active ingredient in curing whatever disease you have. There are apparently scaleless fish safe medications, but I have never seen them in my LFS.

Lowering the dosage of the medication isn't going to help much, it's still going to torture your scaleless fish, and you'll be lucky if it doesn't kill them. I have rarely ever seen success stories with scaleless fish being treated safely with medications, especially pictus, usually losing their whiskers and deteriorating greatly from it.

The safest way to do it, to my knowledge, for any kind of fish, is to add about 1-5 tablespoons of salt per 5 gallons of water. raise the water temperature a bit, which will make the life cycle of the ich go faster, so the salt kills it faster, and lower the water level if you don't have anything airing the pump to increase oxygen flow, as the raised water temperature and salt will decrease the oxygen in the water.

The copper and malachite aren't just murderous chemicals to scaleless fish, either, they also cause a lot more stress to scaled fish than salt will. Some people have upped the dosage of salt to about 3 tbsp per gallon in extreme cases, with little casualty. They're quite resilient to it.

Often, your scaled fish may have ich in the gills, but do to their scales, it's not as visible as it is on your scaleless fish. You can tell if they potentially have ich if they are flashing (rubbing against gravel or aquarium decorations) which is a sign of other things as well. Never will healthy fish do this, it means that they are itchy, and is typically a sign of ich or other parasites (I think sometimes ammonia might also do it)

Hope this helps a little, even if I'm late.

 

[dfield]

Well the update is the pictus are now white spot free, and the remaining loach has about 2 spots on its tail... plus the last 2 days has started to show itself around the tank and seems much happier.

I spoke to my LFS and they said take his ornamental (inca)head home out and see if that gets him out and about... well it did, there are still plenty more hidey holes so he could still hide, but he hasnt tried and is now happily munching on the daphnia that I put in today... all the fish loved those.

Funny thing was when I took that head out I noticed that the outer paint was coming off with light scratching, and when I looked inside the paint had come off there too!!! I am no sure if that was causing the loaches to be sick or anything, but there is such a marked difference in the loach since I took it away it has really got me wondering.

I took it back to the shop and they exchanged it without question, I have another similar "ruin" in the tank and that was fine, so am hoping it was a one off.

HAHA about the Fish Room!!! I am sure I'll be working up to that.. I can see how you'd get there though..

 

[onidrase]

Well the update is the pictus are now white spot free, and the remaining loach has about 2 spots on its tail... plus the last 2 days has started to show itself around the tank and seems much happier.

I spoke to my LFS and they said take his ornamental (inca)head home out and see if that gets him out and about... well it did, there are still plenty more hidey holes so he could still hide, but he hasnt tried and is now happily munching on the daphnia that I put in today... all the fish loved those.

Funny thing was when I took that head out I noticed that the outer paint was coming off with light scratching, and when I looked inside the paint had come off there too!!! I am no sure if that was causing the loaches to be sick or anything, but there is such a marked difference in the loach since I took it away it has really got me wondering.

I took it back to the shop and they exchanged it without question, I have another similar "ruin" in the tank and that was fine, so am hoping it was a one off.

HAHA about the Fish Room!!! I am sure I'll be working up to that.. I can see how you'd get there though..

I don't think it's a recommended idea to pull decorations out just because the bottom feeders are sticking around it. Often, loaches and catfish are nocturnal, and will hide oftenly during the day. through my experience, they'll often pick a "favorite" hiding place (my raphael catfish's being a tacky plastic log) and always be in that spot during the day time, despite the other hiding areas, even if the other hiding areas seem even more favorable (I've also got a less tacky log and a large cave for him. He still sticks to the tacky log.)

If I take said tacky log out, the raphael will be certainly more active around the tank, but I know that's not necessarily how they're supposed to be, being a shy and nocturnal species. I don't know much about clown loaches, though.

The paint chipping is unfortunate, and a good reason to take it out, but I don't think that could have caused the disease, since it's usually picked up from stress.

 

[dfield]

Well lets hope that decision was a good one... he certainly seems happier, I do have lots of caves in the tank..and he has been out all day.

I have another dilhema now to add to the big tank.. my pregnant female Platy was really stressed today and the guppies were relentlessly bullying her, she was due to birth and I thought maybe I'd put her in the hospital tank for a while.

I had made sure that the temps were matched, but the tank is only tiny and .. well.. pretty rubbish and so after an hour in there I started thinking I'd made the wrong decision and put her back.

So this evening I was looking at the tank as my daughter had broken the "plastic" top (thats how good it is )and I noticed these things flicking around... baby platys!!! They are so much smaller than my molly babies were when they were born.. I am wondering if they are premature.. they are about 6mm..

I guess there were probably more in the big tank as I know when the mollys birthed it was over a few hours... the platy babies are tiny and I have lots of plants they could squeeze into but the big fish couldnt..so they may have a chance.. but I would hazzard a guess thats why the fish are very interested in the undergrowth today!

I honestly thought the platy fry would be a similar size to the mollies so assumed I'd be able to move them to my baby tank, ready for the next expectant mum.. but I think the big babies will most likely eat the little ones... gahhh! I can definitely see how you can end up with 8 tanks! lol

 

[Gidge]

I noticed these things flicking around... baby platys!!! They are so much smaller than my molly babies were when they were born.. I am wondering if they are premature.. they are about 6mm..

I don't think they are premature. Platy's are smaller then Mollies. Just today I was trying to catch a fish when I noticed I had a baby platy! And he was tiny! Probably only 5 or 6mm. So I wouldn't stress too much. Although, if I'm incorrect, I'm sure someone will be along to correct me.

I honestly thought the platy fry would be a similar size to the mollies so assumed I'd be able to move them to my baby tank, ready for the next expectant mum.. but I think the big babies will most likely eat the little ones... gahhh! I can definitely see how you can end up with 8 tanks! lol

I honestly leave my baby fish to natural selection. If they were meant to survive then they will. Unless it was an absolute miracle that my fish had babies,then I would for sure separate them. Maybe wait until the babies become a bit bigger, and whichever ones have survived you can scoop up and put them with the mollies. I don't really know enough about mollies to answer whether they would eat the platy babies or not

 

[dfield]

I honestly leave my baby fish to natural selection. If they were meant to survive then they will. Unless it was an absolute miracle that my fish had babies,then I would for sure separate them. Maybe wait until the babies become a bit bigger, and whichever ones have survived you can scoop up and put them with the mollies. I don't really know enough about mollies to answer whether they would eat the platy babies or not

I think that will happen anyway, the platy still has more to come I am sure... but the guppies will absolutely not leave her alone.. so I dont know if shes holding off (or if they can even do that) but either way no more. I did take some of the water out of the tank today and was really careful around the plants, but couldn't see anything. I expect the Kribs have eaten them .. or the catfish, or the gourami etc..

Well I am glad to hear you also have a platy baby of the same size!!! I've counted 10 so far and she does still look pregnant. I think I'll be able to put my molly babies straight in with the bigger mollies.. they were much bigger than the platy one. I have a really peaceful black molly and I know I can put her in with the molly babies and she wont eat them as she didnt eat the first lot.. the white molly is really bossy and for sure she'd eat anything that could fit into her mouth.

We had about 60 molly babies at the start and some got eaten, others just didnt grow and died.. so I guess we have about half that now.. the weird thing is the black molly babies were bigger than the white ones when born and now the white ones are almost as big as my neon tetras. Some are starting to show spots and are really cute!

Update on the White Spot, Clown Loach has a few minor spots on his tail today plus I have a ram that has 1 single spot.

The pictus were looking miserable after all the chemicals, so I decided to try dosing with salt I am not sure if reading all the forums its the lesser of two evils, but I have been dosing the tank for weeks with chemicals to get rid of this blasted whitespot and on that one fish its just not working. I know they are sensitive to the meds, so I am hoping this may work.

Funnily enough the corys and the pleco didnt seem bothered at all by the meds.. anyway I am keeping a very close eye on them and will see how this goes.

 

[fishyfeet]

Are the guppies that bother the mollie male by any chance, do you have female guppies, di

 

[dfield]

Hi

No I have 4 male guppies., no females.

They are really pretty fish, but they constantly hould the platy's and I think its really stressing them out. Everyone else in the tank has the odd scuffle but mostly its really peaceful in there... but those Guppies, who technically should be pretty inoffensive are constantly at it.. I've watched them appear to "check out" and sniff any fish that doesnt chase them off quickly enough, presumably to see if they are female.

I think they will probably make it easy for me to sex whats in my tank