Emergency: plecos might have white spot/ich

[Johnykiwi]

Hi all, I’ve noticed these white dots on my super red LF plecos. They have recently been shipped to me, and I’ve only had them for 4 days, In their own seperate tank with a fully cycled sponge filter.

I noticed it last night, and as I am not very experienced with ich, did some research. Now I put some salt in (later realised that plecos hated salt). Once I realised that I did a big water change, 60 - 70 %, and cranked the heat up to 82, and this morning pushed it to 86 (found this info from other forums here). Now I am fairy certain that it is Ich, but am unsure how they got it as the sponge filter came out of a tank that had not experienced ich so I don’t think it came from there. They do seem to be eating zucchini that I put in there, and algae off the glass, later I’ll add some repashy to see if they will eat that.

My question for you is:
1: what should I do/are the steps I’ve taken appropriate.
2: Is it Ich

The below photo is of one of the plecos, but I am happy to try and get more photos if needed, they are only about 3-4 Cm and very young. Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

I'm not sure if it is white spot and need more pictures, make sure they are in focus. However, you can treat it as if they have white spot just in case.

Salt does nothing to kill white spot. You either use chemicals (Malachite Green or copper), or heat (30C/ 86F).

Do a big water change and gravel clean before raising the temperature. This reduces the number of parasites in the tank and means fewer will infect the fish.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat, medications or salt.

When you use heat, raise the water temperature to 30C and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the white dots have gone.

If it is white spot, the fish probably had it before you got them.

 

[Johnykiwi]

I'm not sure if it is white spot and need more pictures, make sure they are in focus. However, you can treat it as if they have white spot just in case.

Salt does nothing to kill white spot. You either use chemicals (Malachite Green or copper), or heat (30C/ 86F).

Do a big water change and gravel clean before raising the temperature. This reduces the number of parasites in the tank and means fewer will infect the fish.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat, medications or salt.

When you use heat, raise the water temperature to 30C and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the white dots have gone.

If it is white spot, the fish probably had it before you got them.

I’ll try and get some better pictures. I’ll raise it 30c now, and I’ll do another water change later today.

 

[Johnykiwi]

I'm not sure if it is white spot and need more pictures, make sure they are in focus. However, you can treat it as if they have white spot just in case.

Salt does nothing to kill white spot. You either use chemicals (Malachite Green or copper), or heat (30C/ 86F).

Do a big water change and gravel clean before raising the temperature. This reduces the number of parasites in the tank and means fewer will infect the fish.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat, medications or salt.

When you use heat, raise the water temperature to 30C and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the white dots have gone.

If it is white spot, the fish probably had it before you got them.

Here is another pic, sorry if it doesn’t show enough of the fish, it’s a bit hard to get pictures of them as they like to hide.

 

[Colin_T]

I can't see any spots on the first fish. The second fish has marks but they don't look white and don't appear round. White spot looks like grains of salt on the fish. The dots on the fish look pale yellow and odd shaped.

Can you check the fish and see if the spots are white or yellow and if they are round?

 

[Johnykiwi]

I can't see any spots on the first fish. The second fish has marks but they don't look white and don't appear round. White spot looks like grains of salt on the fish. The dots on the fish look pale yellow and odd shaped.

Can you check the fish and see if the spots are white or yellow and if they are round?

I got one in a net and got a closer look, the dots appear to be more yellow than white, and they seem to only be on the fins, not the body.

 

[Colin_T]

I would monitor them over the next few days. If no more spots appear and the current spots don't disappear, then it isn't white spot.

You can raise the water temperature to 30C for the next week just in case. If the spots don't change during that time, then reduce the temp after a week.

 

[Johnykiwi]

I would monitor them over the next few days. If no more spots appear and the current spots don't disappear, then it isn't white spot.

You can raise the water temperature to 30C for the next week just in case. If the spots don't change during that time, then reduce the temp after a week.

Ok, thanks so much for your help. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for any changes.

 

[Johnykiwi]

I would monitor them over the next few days. If no more spots appear and the current spots don't disappear, then it isn't white spot.

You can raise the water temperature to 30C for the next week just in case. If the spots don't change during that time, then reduce the temp after a week.

Hi again, I’ve been monitoring the plecos for the past few days and am a bit concerned about the one I’m the picture particularly. The dots seem to have spread, and he looks very bloated. I fed them some de-shelled peas but I don’t think that he is eating it. Any advice?

 

[Colin_T]

Yep definitely spotty.

Did you raise the water temperature to 30C?

Do a 80-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence.

Raise water temperature to 30C and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have done.

Check the water temperature with a thermometer that is in the water.

You can insulate the back, sides and base with 1 inch thick polystyrene foam to help trap heat. And have a coverglass on the tank to hold the heat in.

----------------
If you still can't get the temperature to 30C, reduce it to 26C and get some white spot treatment that contains malachite green. Read the instructions on the medication because most say to use a half dose for catfish.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have to use medications, do the following.

Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.

 

[Johnykiwi]

If you have to use medications, do the following.

Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.

Do you think I can use Methylene blue?

 

[Johnykiwi]

Any advice for the bloated one?

 

[Colin_T]

Methylene Blue does nothing to white spot. It only treats fungus and bacteria.

No idea about the fat one. maybe it ate too much.
Is it eating?
What does its poop look like?

If it's eating well, don't worry about it.

 

[Johnykiwi]

Methylene Blue does nothing to white spot. It only treats fungus and bacteria.

No idea about the fat one. maybe it ate too much.
Is it eating?
What does its poop look like?

If it's eating well, don't worry about it.

He seems to be eating, so I’ll just keep an eye on him. When using medication, should I continue doing water changes? The bottle says to repeat treatment every 3 days, but I want to do daily 20% water changes to keep water quality good. Should I just do a big water change every three days then and then add the medication again?