White Spot

[N4T4SH45]

We've noticed that two of our black balloon mollies have what looks like white spot. We have bought something to treat them but just wondered if anyone could tell us what actually causes white spot?

 

[jimbooo]

how long have you got....

in short it's a parasite that lives in the gravel. it has various stages of life, one where it's dormant in the gravel, one where it's free swimming in the water and another where it's attached to the skin of your fish.

there is a continious debate going on in the fishkeeping world as to wether or not it is always present in the aquarium.

the problems start when your fish is stressed. as soon as you move a fish, change the tank about, let the temp drop or any other kind of stress your fishes immune system is weakened. at this point the fish are vulnerable to attack from the parasite. the signs look like someone has dumped a load of table salt on your fish. white spots everywhere.

while the parasite is attached to the fish (while you can see spots) it is feeding on the fish (eating it alive, sorry), in this stage meds will not kill it (although you should begin treatment ASAP). after 3/4 days the parasite drops from the fish and enters the free swimming stage, looking for another host fish to attach to. at this point the medications will be able to kill the parasite. fail to medicate and the parasite will either find another host fish or return to the dormant stage and go back to the gravel. (this is the reason people say it's always in the aquarium, once you have it you can never be totally rid of it.)

however if your water parameters are good and you have healthy fish the parasite will not be able to attach to the fish hence you wont see the signs of infection.

hope that makes sence and goes some way to explaining things.

for a more complex explination type "whitespot" into google

note: in case you dont know white spot is also called "ich" as the fish seem to ich /scratch themselves against gravel, wood etc when infected.

 

[N4T4SH45]

thanks for that....

We are having big problems with the ammonia levels and Nitrite levels at the mo, and although we are doing water changes every day it just doesnt seem to be dropping

Ammonia = was reading 8.0!!! but we think we may have left the test too long
Nitrite = 2.0

 

[N4T4SH45]

We also think that our little Jack Russell may be stressing them out because she is absoutely facinated by them and tends to try and "catch" them through the glass when we are not in the room!! Which is obvioulsy making them swim for dear life!!!!

 

[jimbooo]

thats your cause then! (the water, not the dog )

i'd say 30% water changes every day until it drops. ammonia and nitrIte should be 0 although i guess you know that already. how long has the tank been running?

 

[N4T4SH45]

The tank has been running about 4 weeks now.... we have been doing 30% - 50% water changes every other day for a while now but its not dropping.

We have

6 balloon mollies
6 neon tetra
6 glowlight tetra
3 silver tipped tetra
3 glow tetra

We have been told before that we may have too many fish, which was down to the shop giving us wrong information.

Do you know why the levels are not dropping even though we are doing constant water changes?

Will the dog add to the stress???

 

[big mick]

How big is your tank?

You dog chasing your fish will definatly stress them out, can you not keep him/her in another room when you're out?
My dogs and cats couldnt give a monkeys about my tank....the cats dont even look at it.

 

[jimbooo]

quite simply too much wee/poo. as soon as you change the water to dilute the ammonia the fish wee and poo and bring it up again. you should have cycled the tank for 4 weeks, added 2-4 fish, waited another 2 weeks, another 2-4 fish etc.... not that it helps now and i dont blame you, you should have been informed of this by the store.

the only way your going to get the readings down is by more water changes (it will get there eventually) or by moving some of the fish temporarily (if thats an option)