Filter Media Help With White Spot Treatment

[maria.madeline22]

hi all , my tank has been running for nearly 3 months now and a few fish has died of white spot, even though my tank is not showing any signs since the last one died 2 days ago, i have been advised to still treat my tank anti white spot and parasite treatment which is fine but it says to remover filter media until the signs of white spot are gone ( not much help with no signs) can anyone help please
also would it be the nitrate being 5.0 thats causing the stress or all the water changes i doing trying to bring it down to 0

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

Yikes!
Firstly - I wouldn't remove the media from your tank. You're going to cause an ammonia spike, and bad water conditions are breeding grounds for bacteria/parasites/fungus that commonly infect fish. Sounds like you've got Ich (though it could be a different disease and I'm wrong).

Crank the temp of your tank to around ~82*F. I would also recommend giving you fish a short salt bath and then putting them in the water. Bathe them daily. If the spots aren't gone in a day or so, I would add API Super Ich Cure to the tank. Works well for me.

Even after the spots clear up, keep the tank temp up nice and high to kill off any bacteria that are alive in your gravel.

The nitrate being at 5 sounds like a filter that's simply cycled. It's a tad high but you could also add something like Seachem Prime to help reduce the number. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about that though.

Sorry to hear about your fish i'm wishing them the best of luck!

 

[maria.madeline22]

ok thank you for your advice i'll use the treatment with the filter media in and keep my fingers crossed and see how i go

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

Keep me posted!

 

[maria.madeline22]

well here's the update i think the treatment has started my tank cycle all over again before i added the treatment my levels were of a cycled tank but now my ammonia is 0.25 and the rest are at 0 this has happened for the last 3 readings doing one daily but on the plus side my fish aint showing signs of white spot

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

well here's the update i think the treatment has started my tank cycle all over again before i added the treatment my levels were of a cycled tank but now my ammonia is 0.25 and the rest are at 0 this has happened for the last 3 readings doing one daily but on the plus side my fish aint showing signs of white spot

You didn't add the salt directly to the tank, did you? You made a separate salt bath and then added a fish to it one at a time? If not, you may have harmed the bacteria levels in your tank.
The temperature increase will not kill off your bacteria. When is the last time you've done a water change? And how long has your tank been cycled for?

 

[Zikofski]

when it says remove filter media its supposed to say remove carbon filter media if you have that it wil stop the medicine getting through the filter i.e filtering it out of the tank this is what i was advised with the same problem i hope someone will correct me if i am wrong, if you have not got carbon then don't worry sort to here about your fish sadly i lost my whole tank of loaches to it but i was to blame :'(

 

[TwoTankAmin16]

This is one of my favorite ich explanations.

Freshwater Ich
Symptoms: Fish look like they have little white salt grains on them and may scratch against objects in the tank. White spot disease (Ichthyopthirius multifiliis) is caused by a protozoan with a life cycle that includes a free-living stage. Ich grows on a fish --> it falls off and attaches to gravel or tank glass --> it reproduces to MANY parasites --> these swarmers then attach to other fish. If the swarmers do not find a fish host, they die in about 3 days (depending on the water temperature).

Therefore, to treat it, medicine must be added to the display tank to kill free-living parasites. If fish are removed to quarantine, parasites living in the tank will escape the treatment -- unless ALL fish are removed for about a week in freshwater or three weeks in saltwater systems. In a reef tank, where invertebrates are sensitive to ich medications, removing the fish is the only option. Some people think that ich is probably dormant in most tanks. It is most often triggered by temperature fluctuations.

Remedy: For most fish, use a medication with formalin and malachite green. These are the active ingredients in many ich medications at fish shops. Some products are Kordon's Rid Ich and Aquarium Products' Quick Cure. Just read the label and you may find others. Check for temperature fluctuations in the tank and fix them to avoid recurrences. Note that tetras can be a little sensitive to malachite green, so use it at half the dose.

Use these products as directed (usually a daily dose) until all of the fish are spot-free. Then dose every three days for a total of four more doses. This will kill any free-swimming parasites as they hatch out of cysts.

Another remedy is to raise the tank temperature to about 90 deg F and add 1 tsp/gallon salt to the water. Not all fish tolerate this.

Finally, one can treat ich with a ``transfer method.'' Fish are moved daily into a different tank with clean, conditioned, warmed water. Parasites that came off of the fish are left behind in the tank. After moving the fish daily for a week, the fish (presumably cured) can be put back into the main tank. The disadvantage of this method is that it stresses both fish and fishkeeper.

From F I N S : T h e F i s h I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e