Quarantine Or No Quarantine?

[Russell13]

hi i am having to treat one of my fish (my siamese fighter) for white spot disease i have checked all the other fish in my tank and they are all fine and not infected by the disease. and i was wondering whether i should treat the fighter in my quarantine tank or treat my hole tank and what should i use to treat the disease???

 

[rdd1952]

You should always quarantine a fish for treatmment if at all possible as some medications will kill the bacteria colony. What size tank is he in and what other fish do you have in it?

 

[Russell13]

he is in a 10g tank with 5 neons 4 danios and a unknown tiny pleco

 

[donna123]

you will have to treat the main tank,
white spot have a stage of being in the water after the spot falls off the fish, then it finds another host fish and so on until millions of these are in your tank water, white spot meds will not kill off your good bacteria.

 

[loachman]

You'll have to treat the entire tank, so quarantining him isn't really all that beneficial.

Ich parasites will be present in the main tank and need to be destroyed. Treat it all.

 

[Russell13]

he is in a 10g tank with 5 neons 4 danios and a unknown tiny pleco

 

[Russell13]

Thanks guys goin out to get some white spot remover stuff tomorrow thanks

 

[rdd1952]

How long has your tank been running? That's a lot of fish for a 10 gallon tank. If it's a new tank, high ammonia and nitrite levels could be the reason for the white spot. It is brought on by stress.

 

[Russell13]

Out of intrest how and why do fish catch white spot disease???

 

[rdd1952]

As a general rule the organisms that cause Ich are always present in the tank and all that's needed is something to trigger it. Usually, that is stress which, in a new tank, is usually high levels of ammonia or nitrite because the tank isn't cycled. It can also be caused by being with incompatible tankmates (danios and bettas aren't a good match as the danios will nip the bettas tail). Bettas also don't like a lot of current either which can cause stress. Basically, anything that causes stress can bring on white spot.

 

[zukimoo]

Ok, I've got the same problem right now with ich and as per direction used some meds (can't remember the name). Directions say to wait 48hrs retreat and then do a 25% water change. How long before the white spots start to go away? I also put the tank up to 80-82 degrees. I'm going to do a water check tonight, If I find that the ammonia or nitrate is high will a big water change affect the use of the meds.

Last thing is I've got a frog in there....will this kill him or are they able to take some meds like that?

Sorry about getting in on your post, I just figured that we could use all the info we could get.

 

[rdd1952]

I'm not certain what the time frame for ich is. I've been fortunate and have never had to deal with it. Also, it's nitrIte you should be testing for, not nitrAte. Nitrate is almost alwys present in the tank as the end result of the nirtifying process and is only harmful at very high levels (100 ppm or higher). If you do the big water change, yes, it will affect the meds as you will be removing most of them from the tank.

 

[mark.w.jones]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=7092

Your ich has almost certainly been caused by over stocking your tank too quickly. Even if you are successful in treating the outbreak it will more than likely come back again or you will soon get numerous other probalems unless you remove some of your stock I'm afraid.

What is the complete stocking list?
How was tank set up before adding fish?
How long has tank been running with current stock?
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings?
How are you cleaning the tank and filter?