White Spot In Marine Aquarium

[timmystood]

Hey Guys

I'm pretty sure my Domino Damselfish has a touch of whitespot (i've been trying to make out if it's sand... but i'm pretty sure it's whitespot).

How would I go about treating whitespot within the marine environment, because my standard whitespot treatment will not work in the marine aquarium (according to the packet).

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Many thanks

 

[SkiFletch]

Diseases in marine aquaria are significantly more difficult to deal with since copper is deadly to invertebrates which most of us keep in our tanks. Quarantining and treating with copper is the most successful method of treating whitespot. The trouble is deciding when to do so... Many forms of "whitespot" in marine aquaria are actually just a stress response of the fish and not life-threatening. A good garlic-laced diet and removal of stressors can allow a fish to cure slow-moving versions of "whitespot" itself. If you see it spreading significacntly quickly then I'd quarantine and treat with copper. If it just has a spot or two that doesn't multiply or progress, feed it well

 

[rhysiboy]

the reason it probably wont work is coz it has copper in. copper = dead inverts so thats all corals and shrimp and snails out of your tank permanently and most things on LR will be damaged by it too. copper based treaments are great if you have a hospital tank but otherwise dont do it

 

[andywg]

FW whitespot treatment won't work as it is a completely different beast that just shares a very similar life cycle.

Look here for all the info you will need.

 

[Mr.September15]

Garlic helped with the immune system with my clown, after 3days the whitespot just vanished.

 

[andywg]

Ok. the "garlic helps against everything" theme is starting to show here. So I'll quote from my what my earlier link has to say on garlic:

My biggest problem with the use of garlic is the mythology that has developed regarding it. This all began quite simply and innocently. Kelly Jedlicki was studying the use of garlic as an intestinal dewormer. For those who don't know who Kelly is, she is affectionately referred to as the "Puffer Queen" as they are her favorite fishes and oftentimes are brought into the trade polluted with various worms. As I said, she was examining the effectiveness of garlic against nematodes and cestodes on impacted puffers when she noticed a general decrease in Cryptocaryon irritans incidence. Later on, she proposed feeding garlic to fish as a preventative for Cryptocaryon irritans. From there the legend of garlic has spread. Feeding garlic to fish is now an accepted cure for Marine Ich by some individuals. Furthermore, I have read of people merely hanging cloves of garlic in their tank in an effort to ward off the parasites, like some sort of bad vampire movie. And lastly, I have recently heard of a surprising number of hobbyists who soak their corals' food in garlic in an effort to combat possible pathogens when target feeding them. It goes to show that garlic has become an all-purpose wonder drug in some peoples' eyes based on little more than anecdotal observations.

Treating an outbreak of whitespot with just garlic is not a great deal better than just sitting and preying.

As to the best treatment for marine ich, I would recommend a hposalin treatment if at all possible. No need for copper, though to be fully successful you would have to remove all the fish for a period. 1.014-1.016 will be fine for almost any marine fish for a short term (up to 2 weeks) and should wipe out the osmo-conformist parasite.

 

[Ehudd]

Just a little story
When i first started Marine Aquaria (about 5 years ago now) I rememeber getting whitespot in my 20gal.
I had no idea so i put FW meds in my SW.
No joke in 1 day it was gone. Do NOT do this method. Just a thought really. I did not think it woud work but i have to much money in there and was willing to try ne thing. I did not loose a fish.

 

[timmystood]

The Domino Damsel has died overnight This leads me to believe that it wasn't whitespot at all. I'm thinking down the route of an internal bacteria infection of an internal parasite. His eyes has gone quite cloudy and I noticed this morning when removing his body that he was very bloodstreaked under his gills. The other 3 tank mates (Ceylon Puffer, Tomato Clown and 3-Stripe Humbug) all seem a little placid and the 3-stripe humbug and clownfishes eyes also seem a little cloudy.

Any ideas?

EDIT - the anti-internal bacteria treatment i've got can be used in marine tanks... should I try this?

 

[timmystood]

The 3 Stripe Humbug has died overnight The clownfish looks very ill. Leaving just the Ceylon Puffer, who still seems very healthy.
What is it that is killing all my fish?

 

[QuotheRaven]

I know very little about marine but merely posting to say sorry for your losses.

 

[sianeds]

Really sorry to hear about your fish

Cloudy eyes is a sign of bacterial or parasitic infection. The treatments you can buy for infections are only effective if treated early. I think if you've already lost fish it may be a bit late to start treating. But you can try, it might work. Just be careful to check if there is any copper in the medication.

Perhaps a freshwater dip for your remaining fish would be a good idea.

Good luck.

 

[timmystood]

Perhaps a freshwater dip for your remaining fish would be a good idea.

How does this work?

 

[sianeds]

Get some plain old RO in a clean container. get it to the same temp and pH as the water in your tank. Put the fish in for no longer than 10mins. It may lie on it's side but thats ok and it may swim a bit funny. If the fish starts to look panicked then put it back in your tank.

The bacteria causing the problems will not survive in the non-salt water. It works because water will tend to flow to areas of higher salt concentrations. Because the bacteria is small and salty the water will flow into it much quicker than it can handle and it will basically burst from osmotic shock.

 

[timmystood]

Oh Ok! I'll give that try. My clownfish is definatley infected I think so i'll dip him. My Pufferfish doesn't seem affected - should I still dip him?

Thanks very much

 

[sianeds]

It's your choice if you dip your puffer. You need to decide whether it's worth the stress to the fish if it's not showing any signs of infection. It will not prevent it getting infected, dipping will just kill any bacteria already on the fish.

You could try lowering the salinity of the entire tank for a week or two. This could help to kill off the free-swimmimg bacteria