Am I Doing The Right Thing ?

[Glod]

While feeding my community tank this morning I noticed that the gouramies had small white growths on their feelers. About the size of a grain of salt. Since they are the newest addition to the tank (don't have a quarantine facility) and have only been in there a few days I came onto this site to check out possible causes. Sounds a bit like ICH to me from the posts in the FAQ. Can't see any spots on their bodies but they're silvery and don't tend to pose for inspection

As I was heading down to the lfs to seek his advice I noticed one of my Platys swimming at the surface of the tank (this is unusual, they usually swim in the middle or hide in the plants.) He also appeared to have some white spots on his tail which seems to back up the diagnosis.

Currently none of the other fish are displaying any symptoms.

The tank is 4ft x 18" x 24", PH 7.5, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate about 8-10. I don't have hardness test kits.

The only thing I add to the tank is aquasafe to dechlorinate during water changes.

I went to the lfs and picked up some WS3 (king british anti Itch treatment) and an air pump to supply some extra oxygen. Increased the temp on the heater a little (to 28C ish, still waiting for it to settle, I'll increase it a litle more tomorrow) and applied the medication at half dose since I have a plec and fry in there.

Am I doing the right thing ?

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
The spot on the feelers you said its grain size, just make sure its not fluffy.

 

[Glod]

Ok... approximately 250 litres, the rest of the info is in my first post. sec I'll cut/paste from my profile.

4 Blue Platy Girls, 1 Sunset Wag Platy Girl, 4 Orange Platy Boys (various), 20+ Platy fry of all sizes !, 1 Bristlenose Plec, 7 Cardinal Tetras, 6 Harlequin Rasorbas, 5 Zebra Danios, 2 Pearl Gouramis

The spots on the feelers look almost exactly like grains of salt to me, certainly didn't notice any fuzziness about them.

 

[WILDER]

Thats fine then the tank.
Yes it sounds like whitespot just wanted to check.
Increase temp to 30, don't forget to remove black carbon if you use it.
Increase aeration as the med and high temp reduces 02 in the water.

Once fish gasp at the top of the tank like that platys was doing at the lfs the parasites have done there worse to the gill area.
Good luck.

 

[Glod]

The platy that was gasping a bit does swim to to his normal hiding spot from time to time, but is spending alot of time at the top. He's the bottom of the male platy pecking order and has always been prettry reclusive, possibly why he got ill ?

I'll increase the temp again in the morning, don't want to stress all the fish with a huge sudden increase.

 

[WILDER]

Ok, good luck.

 

[Glod]

Hmm, I'm beginning to thing the platy has something *else* wrong with him too. He definitely has some whitespot, but I was examining him as he swam around at the top and his belly looks somewhat thin. I wonder if he has an internal parasite too...
He certainly was eating today when I fed them, it's almost as if he has problems staying at any depth, if he stops swimming he seems to float towards the top and hang around there.
I tried to look at his gills and see if he was breathing heavily or anything, but his breathing doesn't seem rapid and there is no sign of redness or swelling.
Unfortunately I don't have a spare tank to isolate him. Any thoughts on what could be his problem ?

 

[WILDER]

Livebearers are very prone to internal parasites to be honest I wouldnt be surprised.
Check when they go to the toilet, and check the anus to see if its enlarged or red and inflamed.

 

[Glod]

Well he's still swimming around the surface, tho he did seem to try swimming deeper a bit more today. I'll try and get another look at him tomorrow, he seems to have picked a place to swim that is as far as possible from anywhere I can get a look at him If needs be I'll pull the floating plants out so I can get a look at him.

The temperature is still climbing, I think asking my heater to turn out 30 C may be too much for it. It's only this evening creeped up to 28 which is at least in the right ballpark. I'll turn it up to max in the morning if it hasn't crept up a bit more overnight. All the other fish seem to be coping ok with the increase in temp,mostly I was worried about the platy fry and my Bristlenose, I think the cardinals are downright enjoying it ! The Danios are fascinated with this new airstone.. lol

Thanks for the tips so far Wilder, I'll keep you posted on any developments.
According to the medication instructions I need to add the medication again tomorrow (48 hour intervals) so I'll do that too. May aswell follow the treatment to it's completion.

 

[Glod]

Well, sadly the platy died at some point during today . Strangely his whitespot was completely gone so not sure what else was wrong with him. I had a good look at him when I pulled him out of the tank and couldn't see any other sign of problems. So the reason for his death eludes me.

As for the gouramies, the female seems to have cleared of the parasite, the male still has some lingering but he seems otherwise ok so hopefully the treatment is working. The instructions state to keep dosing after all the whitespot seems to have gone for one more round so I'll keep at it once the male clears up. At least things seem to be generally going in the right direction. Fingers crossed this may work out not too bad.

 

[WILDER]

R.I.P. Good luck.

 

[Glod]

Well a week has passed and all signs of whitespot are gone and have been for several days. Did a water change today and turned the heater down a couple of notches starting to bring the tank back to it's normal 25C over the next couple of days.

The gouramis are looking great, the male has really coloured up and is pursuing the female with amorous intentions, lol. Every day I come down to plants that have been hauled out of the substrate so he can build a nest. I think it must the the excess hormones from the platies that makes all my fish want to breed !

Anyway I think this one is a success story, even the fry pulled through with no apparent ill effects

 

[WILDER]

Glad there all doing fine, well done.