White Spot On Plecs

[TiffanyJayne]

I recently lifted my fish buying ban after my bad experience with an unknown problem in one of my main tanks, i ended up with 5 otto's, a royal plec (panaque), a twig cat, 2x hoplo's and a clown plec. I don't normally go so daft on large purchases but it's been 4 weeks since i've been allowed to buy anything so i sort of needed a fix
Of course these didn't all go in the same tank but the otto's seem to have picked up white spot quite quickly although the tank i placed them in doesn't appear to have it and the clown and hoplo's seem to have it also, my first thought was they already had it but i visited 2 different shops the ottos and clown came from one and the others from the second.
I use to use king british but found it no longer does the job so i moved onto ws3, it stains everything, it's dyes my tank and it seems to take 3 series of full treatments to actually start working by which time it can get quite bad in the tank.....i now use a marine treatment which i won't name as it's not recommended by the makers for use on tropicals, me concern is my plecs, there not overly cheap and they don't seem to take well to ws3 and i'm unsure as to whether the otto's and hoplo's are scaleless (they don't look big enough to own scales)
What do people use for plecs with whitespot?

 

[VickiandKev]

Hi...

We use esha exit and 2000. They are fantastic and are not harsh on the fish... As a vet student I feel though that it is my duty to ask if you have tried the more natural approach? By this I mean increase the temp to around 30c over a period. At the same time increase the aeration as the increase in temp will remove some of the o2 available for the fish. Also treat with saline (salt). Dose 0.25g/L... this should clear the problem if not then you can use the meds

Don't mean to patronise if you already tried this lol Just we will start to see/ are already seeing resistance toward white spot meds...

Hope that helps

 

[TiffanyJayne]

Completely understand i'd rather someone point out the more obvious than assume i've already done it.

I have done everything mentioned but i was told never to use salt with soft bellied fish such as plecs,loaches, frogs ect. So i'll get doseing in the morning.
I too believe the less we can use treatments the better however i feel for some it's a quick fix solution instead of researching other methods. Oh well i'm sure one day common sence will rules the world once again

 

[VickiandKev]

LOL! Speaking of common sense why are we still both up at silly o' clock!!! Yea people do tend to worry about salt dosing and quite rightly to as the wrong dose can really mess with the fishes osmotic abilities but the dose I mentioned will be fine... I can't believe I am still coherent and this time! GO ME!!

 

[drobbyb]

I also use the salt and heat method. It works as well as or better than the commercially available stuff in my experience.

 

[star4]

Try Protozin get a 500ml bottle its usually double strength with raised temperature