White Spot But Possibly Something Else In The Tank!

[neil1963]

Hello all,

I am into week 9 of keeping tropical fish. I completed 6 weeks fishless cycling before I added 6 Zebra Danio's. I waited a further 7 days then added 6 Harlequin rasbora's and 2 golden sucking loaches.

Last week, I added 6 Cardinal Tetra's and two small bristlenose catfish. The two catfish died within 48hrs of being put in the tank. They showed no outward sign of disease nor could I find any sign of disease on the bodies. My Tetra's then started to show signs of whitespot which, then began to spread to the Harlequin's. The Danio's and Loach do not show any sign of the disease. I upped the tank temprature to 80c and started to treat the water with Pets at home white spot treatment. I did a 50% water change prior to the treatment commencing on Wednesday this week. The white spot seems to be slowly disappearing. Only a couple of the Harlequins now show signs of white spot. What I am concerned about is now one of the Danio's seems to be swimming eratically, on its side at the front of the tank. It is not gasping for air and does not show sign's of white spot or any other disease. Could another organism be at work in the tank?

Tank size: 260 litres, 50"x21"x19" External Filter with spray bar.
pH:7.5
ammonia:0.0
nitrite:0.0
nitrate:0.0
kH:8 dkh
gH:12 dgh
tank temp:30c (Usually at around 27c)

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):As above

Volume and Frequency of water changes:20% water changes weekly (50% prior to white spot treatment)

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:Soft sand substrate with smooth gravel covering, Live plants, bogwood

Tank inhabitants:As I write, 6 Zebra Danio's, 6 Harlequin Rasbora's, 2 golden sucking loach

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):None

Exposure to chemicals: None

I feel like I am going to lose all of the fish at the moment and I can't see what I am doing wrong! I feel that the catfish or the tetra's introduced the white spot but I am at a loss as to the problem with the Danio.

 

[WILDER]

Need to treat another week once spots have gone.
Have you increased aeration with the high temp and med.
Temp needs to be 30 for whitespot.
Fish will cope with the high temp if there plenty of aeration in the tank.

Fish can erratic swim with parasites.
How do his gills look do they look red and inflamed, or pale with excess mucas.

How long did you climatise the catfish and what was the ph of the tank to the lfs tank they came from.
I always test the bag water in ph to see how long to climatise.

 

[neil1963]

I have increased the aeration in the tank with two airstones. The temp is at 30c. Should it be any higher?
There is absolutely no outward signs of illness on the Danio. I may be over reacting as he only swims as described when he is at the front glass panel. Just concerned as I have suffered these recent losses.
I aclimatised the catfish for an hour..adding tank water at 5 minute intervals after 30 mins. I did not thing to check the PH of the water that they came in. Is the PH of 7.5 too high for bristlenose's?

 

[WILDER]

Not sure on ph for bristlenose you could check in the plec part of the forum.
Once the parasites invade the gills they never seem to make it once they start gasping.
I would put the erratic swimming down to the parasites.
Also over dosing of meds can cause erratic swimming, did you add the correct amount of med to the tank.

 

[neil1963]

I am adding the correct dose of meds, on fact half the recommended dose as I was told it may affect my loaches

 

[WILDER]

All you can do is keep going with the med and hope there no more deaths.
Good luck.

 

[neil1963]

Thanks for your suggestions, much appreciated

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.