HELP!

[nataliemc]

Hi there!

I need urgent advice. I spotted white spot on one of my clown loaches last week so bought Protozin and started treatment immediately. It requires treatment to be added to tank water on days 1, 2, 3 and 6. I am due to do the last treatment tomorrow (day 6) however I can't see any improvement, the white spot has got worse. My other clown loach now has it, and other fish are flicking themselves against rocks and hanging around at the bottom.

To be honest I'm a bit unsure about what I should be doing, I asked for advice when i bought the treatment but i was promptly told that it tells me what to do on the bottle!! Perhaps you may be able to shed some light!

Now it says on the bottle to remove carbon and zeolite filters. Only problem is I have no idea about what filters I have as it all came together with little information. I have what looks like 2 box filters at the top of the tank. In one is a block of black sponge and in the other are stones (I can only describe these as looking like giant polos only a beige/stone colour!).

Should I be removing one of these filters??

Also should I still be leaving the tank light on for 8 hours a day or leaving the light off?

If you could give me advice asap I would really appreciate it as I really don't want my fish to suffer any more than they have.

Many thanks.

 

[glolite]

Hiya.
Haven't had to treat whitespot (yet) thank goodness but just read up on it and it seems repeat treatments are often necessary due to the cycle of the disease.
Remove the black filter. This is carbon and reduces effectiveness of medications. You will need to put anew carbon filter back in once treatment is finished to remove excess medication.
Don't worry about lighting.
If all else fails, seek advice from a vet.
Good luck.

 

[nataliemc]

Hiya.
Haven't had to treat whitespot (yet) thank goodness but just read up on it and it seems repeat treatments are often necessary due to the cycle of the disease.
Remove the black filter. This is carbon and reduces effectiveness of medications. You will need to put anew carbon filter back in once treatment is finished to remove excess medication.
Don't worry about lighting.
If all else fails, seek advice from a vet.
Good luck.

Thanks for the advice... what should I do after the last treatment that i give tomorrow?? My clown loach is still covered in them and from what i can figure out when the parasites fall off the fish the cycle starts again so do i have to re-treat?

Shall I do a 50% water change and do the treatment again?

 

[BobK]

I think you should. Most things I've read is that you should continue treatment for 3-5 days AFTER all the white spots disappear. Once the white spots leave the fish they are in their free-swimming stage and this is the time they are vulnerable to the medication. Now, not all the spots will disappear at once but if you continue treating 3-5 days after all the spots are gone you should be good. Raising the temperature speeds up the ich life-cycle and will kill them faster. Some strains of ich can't live in water above 86F. You need to be really careful and research each type of fish you have as to how sensitive they are to heat and ich medication. Also, raise the temperature gradually, not more than one degree every 2 hours or so.

What type of fish do you have. Certain fish can't take the medication at full dosage. I know tetra's, pleco's and corydoras catfish are sensitive and should only be exposed to medication at 1/2 strenght.

I had a nasty bout of Ich in August and I had to treat the tank twice as long as it said on the bottle before the outbreak was finished. Unfortunately I had a tank full of corydoras and different kinds of tetras and lost all the tetra's and 3 cory's because I didn't know they should only have the medicine at 1/2 strenght. Don't forget to vacuum the gravel thoroughly when you perform your partial water changes as you can remove a good deal of the ich parasites that are in the gravel bed.

 

[sylvia]

Just a note on the half strength thing - I've always used the full dosage and have never had problems with cory cats or any of my tetras so it may not be this that killed them - or maybe you use a different product that is considerably stronger?

 

[BobK]

It was Kordon Rid-Ich. Just ran through the tetra's horribly. Got every last one of them, bleeding hearts, black neons and red minor's. Killed 3 of my 4 panda cories too. I didn't treat them fast enough either.

 

[Rodders]

Turn temp up to 30c. That will sort it.
I dont bother with medication for white spot, i've not needed it, just turned the temp up.

 

[sunflower]

Turning the temp up will help to speed up the lifecycle of ich.

If you are continuing with treatment the best thing I can advise is patience. There is no quick cure for ich, keep on medicating (and try to stop stressing).

The best cure I used was King British White Spot Control but can't remember what country you're from so not sure if you'll be able to get it.

Good Luck! I'll keep my fngers crossed for you.

 

[fufanu360]

Turning the temp up will help to speed up the lifecycle of ich.

If you are continuing with treatment the best thing I can advise is patience. There is no quick cure for ich, keep on medicating (and try to stop stressing).

The best cure I used was King British White Spot Control but can't remember what country you're from so not sure if you'll be able to get it.

Good Luck! I'll keep my fngers crossed for you.

there is a quick cure for ich, i bought some when i had ich problems, it said quick cure on the bottle, it was the name of the brand acually it worked very well, except it turned the water/ silicon sealing blue

 

[Talleyrand]

Jungle and Wardley's stuff didnt work for me, Kordon's Rid Ich did the trick though. I think it has a different formula than others Fisharefun, my loaches were already dead but it did kill a single cory at full dose. The half dose didnt seem to have knockout power.

My two clown loaches just kept getting ich over and over and eventually quit eating and croaked. Once the loaches were gone I had one more flare up of ich then it disappeared. I have given up on trying to keep them also

 

[nataliemc]

Hey! Thanks for all your advice/comments.

I did try to turn the temp up last night but unfortunately it has jammed so it won't budge.

These are the fish I have... 2 clown loaches, 2 silver sharks, 4 guppies, 2 platies, 1 black molly, 1 yellow molly and a siamese fighter.

Actually i say 2 clown loaches but one of them died last night. And surprisingly it wasn't the one that started with the white spot, it was the one that only just got it a couple of days ago. I noticed he was swimming upside down so opened the lid to get a closer look and he darted from one side of the tank to the other and just died. The one it started with, who's had them for about a week, is still alive.

How long does it take for them to drop off??

All the fish are acting a bit odd to be honest, I'm terrified I'm going to lost the lot.

So after I do the water change should I carry on with full doseage?? Am a bit worried there may still be some left in the water so don't want to overdose.

 

[newfishies]

i used mardel's maracide and upped the temp for ich a few months ago...good results...

 

[Candyco]

Don't mean 2 worry u but i got 3 Clown Loaches about 3 weeks ago 2 help tacle a huge snail problem in 1 of my tanks, they got ich which i l8r found out they r prone 2 and get it very badly.... i lost 2 of them but after much treatment and lots of tlc i have a survivor who is @ this moment in time making his way through a chunk of cucumber!
I know it's not much help but i thought i'd share that with u!!!! Kaz

 

[Leslie]

Ich-X, if you can get it, is by far the best medication for Ich. It's a 4 day treatment with water changes each day. Since using it we haven't lost a Clown Loach in the shop and yes, they are very prone to it, unfortunately. Just the stress of shipping causes an outbreak with them many times.

 

[nataliemc]

Hi

Thanks for your comments... well so far I have lost 2 clown loaches, 2 silver sharks, a platy, and 2 guppys.

I have managed to get rid of the white spot but now there's something else wrong. All my other fish look seriously ill, they're not eating and just lying on the bottom of the tank.

I think the problem occurred because i took my black sponge filter out because i thought it was carbon, it was out for a few days. now there's a slimey cotton wool on some of the fish and there are patches of it on the rocks and plants. Part of my siamese fighter's tail has vanished too and there's a brown stain on it.

Any suggestions what i can do?

I did a 50% water change last night and cleaned the rocks, but i still woke up to 2 dead fish this morning.