McMurray
Fish Fanatic
A Deadly disease but very common
By: Author withheld (IF you would like to know who made this PM me)
20 June 2006
with help from researching on the internet.
Nothing in this report has been copied from other reports or web sites
Everyone whom has had an aquarium has had white spot at some time. This document is an explanation of the deadly but common disease.
White sport or (Ich) is the common name for Ichthyophthirius which is a ciliated parasite. This disease is capable or affecting nearly all fish species around. Because of the complex life cycle of Ich this has a say in what type of treatment you will apply to your fish.
The white spot trophont which has a light horseshoe shaped nucleus and varies in size forums as a nodule under the skin or gills. Because of this you see the fish scraping its self on the side of rocks and the glass. This is the result of the parasites constantly moving under the skin feeding on destroyed cells and body fluid.
The parasite will feed on the cells until they mature to a point when they punch out of the skin.
The parasite will the float in the water and attach itself to anything around. From this it will build a capsule around its body.
Inside of the capsule, the tomont repeatedly divides in its self producing around 1000 tomites. The tomites will finally hatch and burst out of the capsule. They will swim until they find a host fish.
These tomites that have burst out of the cell are the infective agent. From this stage they will burrow into the fish’s skin and the cycle will start all over again.
So obviously the longer you leave the water untreated the more parasites will infect the water, and the cycle will then get longer to treat depending on how many cycles it has gone through.
Identification of White Spot (Ich)
Each post is like a black head zit. But with Ich each zit contains an active trophonot. These zits look like a grain of salt which is attached to the skin, fins, gills and possible around the eyes.
The trophonts which move around inside the spot vary in size, up to 1mm, you can also identify these spots are larger and considerably bigger than most other fish parasites.
Beginning stages of the disease.
fish will flash and rub against objects, because of the irritation (iching sensation).
Later stages of the disease.
In the advanced stages of the disease they will become lethargic (lazy) and spend most of their time laying on the bottom of the tank.
In the early stages the characteristic white spots are very difficult to spot.
Treating the tank.
Only during the free-swimming stage (once they burst from the sack) the parasites can be treated. Neither the trophonts under the epithelium or the tomont spots stage can be killed.
So to treat the tank a plan has to be carried out over this period of time in order to kill the emerging parasites.
The life cycle of the parasites depend on the temperature of the water it is in.
At around 7oC the life cycle will take 42days (6 weeks) so you will need to keep treating the water for this period,
However at 25oC the whole cycle will be complete in a week. So the amount of medicine will be needed is far less than 6 weeks of medicine.
During this medication phase it is important that the filer is monitored and any charcoal is removed from the tank as charcoal will neutralise the medicine.
Water tests should also be done as the medicine could kill biological functions of filters.
If your fish survive an attack of Ich they may increased immunity against future attacks, but this cant be proved.
What about after the treatment and the Ich has been cured.
Ich is most often brought into the tank on new fish or plants (not if they have been quarantined!).
It is believed that survivors of an Ich attack can become carriers of the disease which then develop in areas like the base of the fins or gills.
So after the event if the fish gets stressed or the water condition becomes poor then this can awaken the white spot which will re infect the hosts.
It is important to note that once the fish starts to get the infected this could quickly result in many other infections as the fish then has open wounds.
By: Author withheld (IF you would like to know who made this PM me)
20 June 2006
with help from researching on the internet.
Nothing in this report has been copied from other reports or web sites
Everyone whom has had an aquarium has had white spot at some time. This document is an explanation of the deadly but common disease.
White sport or (Ich) is the common name for Ichthyophthirius which is a ciliated parasite. This disease is capable or affecting nearly all fish species around. Because of the complex life cycle of Ich this has a say in what type of treatment you will apply to your fish.
The white spot trophont which has a light horseshoe shaped nucleus and varies in size forums as a nodule under the skin or gills. Because of this you see the fish scraping its self on the side of rocks and the glass. This is the result of the parasites constantly moving under the skin feeding on destroyed cells and body fluid.
The parasite will feed on the cells until they mature to a point when they punch out of the skin.
The parasite will the float in the water and attach itself to anything around. From this it will build a capsule around its body.
Inside of the capsule, the tomont repeatedly divides in its self producing around 1000 tomites. The tomites will finally hatch and burst out of the capsule. They will swim until they find a host fish.
These tomites that have burst out of the cell are the infective agent. From this stage they will burrow into the fish’s skin and the cycle will start all over again.
So obviously the longer you leave the water untreated the more parasites will infect the water, and the cycle will then get longer to treat depending on how many cycles it has gone through.
Identification of White Spot (Ich)
Each post is like a black head zit. But with Ich each zit contains an active trophonot. These zits look like a grain of salt which is attached to the skin, fins, gills and possible around the eyes.
The trophonts which move around inside the spot vary in size, up to 1mm, you can also identify these spots are larger and considerably bigger than most other fish parasites.
Beginning stages of the disease.
fish will flash and rub against objects, because of the irritation (iching sensation).
Later stages of the disease.
In the advanced stages of the disease they will become lethargic (lazy) and spend most of their time laying on the bottom of the tank.
In the early stages the characteristic white spots are very difficult to spot.
Treating the tank.
Only during the free-swimming stage (once they burst from the sack) the parasites can be treated. Neither the trophonts under the epithelium or the tomont spots stage can be killed.
So to treat the tank a plan has to be carried out over this period of time in order to kill the emerging parasites.
The life cycle of the parasites depend on the temperature of the water it is in.
At around 7oC the life cycle will take 42days (6 weeks) so you will need to keep treating the water for this period,
However at 25oC the whole cycle will be complete in a week. So the amount of medicine will be needed is far less than 6 weeks of medicine.
During this medication phase it is important that the filer is monitored and any charcoal is removed from the tank as charcoal will neutralise the medicine.
Water tests should also be done as the medicine could kill biological functions of filters.
If your fish survive an attack of Ich they may increased immunity against future attacks, but this cant be proved.
What about after the treatment and the Ich has been cured.
Ich is most often brought into the tank on new fish or plants (not if they have been quarantined!).
It is believed that survivors of an Ich attack can become carriers of the disease which then develop in areas like the base of the fins or gills.
So after the event if the fish gets stressed or the water condition becomes poor then this can awaken the white spot which will re infect the hosts.
It is important to note that once the fish starts to get the infected this could quickly result in many other infections as the fish then has open wounds.
