interpet white spot treatment and application

[AlanDalon]

Hello,

I ve got a biorb 30 and have two snails , two shrims, one betta, 4 glowing small fish and had two burbs (now one)

following the loss of one burb i noticed that two of glowing fish(barrons?) have some very small while spots ...

having read a bit I thought i d change the biorb filter to remove any bad bacteria and did a big water change....

the question i have is about the application of the Interpet treatment and if on my biorb I should remove all media, filter plants etc ..which logistically leaves the fish in an empty tank... or if it would be ok to apply the treatment straight on?

any thoughts would be much appreciated
thanks

 

[Essjay]

With a biorb, there are two parts to the filter. The one you change is a small box containing carbon and zeolite, and if this is the one you changed you will need to remove the box as the carbon will adsorb the medication. The other part of the filter is the rocks on the bottom of the tank. This is the biological filter where the good bacteria live and these can stay in the tank.


But before you treat the tank, does the medication say anything about shrimps and snails? A lot of whitespot medication contains copper which will kill shrimps and snails.
I would try heat alone before using the medication. First do a water change and hoover the rocks well to remove any of the parasite in the second stage of its lifecycle, and refill the tank with water that is warmer than usual. Turn the heater up so that the water stays at 30 deg C/86 deg F and leave it at this temperature for 2 weeks. It is also advisable to add salt, but I don't know if this would affect the shrimps and snails so I won't give the dose rate for salt just yet.






Whitespot is usually the result of poor water conditions I'm afraid. What are the ammonia nitrite and nitrate readings in the tank? How often, and how much, are your water changes?

Stress can also cause the fish to develop whitespot, and you do have some issues that cause stress besides potentially poor water conditions.
The betta is fine in a tank this size, but alone and not with tank mates. The glowing fish and the barbs are shoaling fish which need a group of at least six of each type, but 30 litres is way to small for this. Having tank mates will stress the betta and being in a tank that is too small and with not enough of their own species is stressful for the glowing fish and barbs.
If you could post photos of the glowing fish and remaining barb we can help to identify what they are, and suggest the best course of action - once the whitespot is cured.

 

[NickAu]

You dont need that stuff for white spot, Turn the heat up to 30deg C for 4 or 5 days.

I think your tank is way overstocked.

Can you please answer the following questions.

How big is the tank?
Has it got a heater? What is it set to?
Has it got a filter?
How strong is the current?
Is it cycled?
How often do you change water?
How much water do you change?
Do you vacuum the substrate?
What additives or chemicals do you use? Eg De Chlorinator?
Do you use tap or bottled water? If bottled water please give us the brand.
Do you have a water test kit?
Can you tell us the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
When you clean the tank can you tell us exactly what you do.
What do you feed him? how much? how often?
Any tank mates? What sort how many?
How long have you had the Betta?
Has he got a history of illness?
Any plants or decorations? Please give details?
Can you provide a close up photo of the fish?
Can you provide a photo of the tank?

 

[AlanDalon]

Thank you both for the great response

Here is a picture ...

I went for a community tank 30 liter Biorb...

The heater is set to 24 and the water change is every week (have to admit over holidays I did twice every two weeks) And the levels vary... usually I go 4/5 although there have been times that I changed just half ..

The only chemical in use is a De Chlorinator and the water from the tap.. medium to hard quality following tests...

I never hoovered the gravel (didn’t know you do that??)

The white spots at the moment are minimal .. as you can see at the fins ..on one, and a small white spot on another’s nose

I can try increasing the temperature for couple of weeks as the treatment I bought doesn’t say anything about shrimps or snails ... but debate if I should apply the treatment and isolate the snail and shrimps

Yes it’s a busy tank .. although they live happily for several months now under plants and other hide spots I ve create ... beta is the biggest and all look fine together regardless ...

The only issue I think is with an assasin snail that has given birth to a lot other and the tank is populated by snails .. (that i remove some on every water change)... now I don’t know if that can cause issues to water quality ...

Any further thoughts are welcome

Thanks

 

[Essjay]

Looking at the photo, the fish with the blue stripe - the one at the top of the photo is a cardinal tetra (the red goes all the way underneath) and the lower two are neon tetras (the red is only at the back). Unless it's just the way the upper one looks in the photo and the red actually only goes half way as well, in which case they are all neon tetras.
Neon tetras need a tank with a footprint that is at least 60 x 30 cm http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/paracheirodon-innesi/ A 30 litre biorb is too small for them. And if they are stressed by being in a tank that is too small they may will nip the betta's fins. Neon tetras have teeth.

I am having problems identifying the orange fish. They are some species of tetra because they have an adipose fin (the tiny one on the back just in front of the tail). They could be the gold tetra, Hemigrammus rodwayi, in which case they also need a tank with a footprint at least 60 x 30 cm.

Both of these fish need a bigger tank. Once they are clear of whitespot they should be rehomed - or get a bigger tank for them.


I would just raise the temperature for now.
You need to clean the substrate at every water change unless you have live plants rooted in it, but this is not advisable with biorbs because of the way the filtration system works. Cleaning is done by inserting the siphon tube tube right down among the rocks on the bottom and sucking up all the muck in there - fish poo, uneaten food etc. White spot has three stages in its lifecycle. The first stage is on the fish where we can see it, then the spots fall off and sit on the bottom of the tank inside a sort of cyst and multiply. Finally the cysts split open and release lots of tiny parasites which go swimming off to find a fish to infect. The more of these cysts than can be sucked out of the bottom of the tank, the better.