Ich!

[sheffieldlad]

hi.

I think my neons have ich.
They have iny white spots on them.
I'm going to get some treatment tomorrow but i have some questions.

the platties in my tank dont appear to have it or at least are not showing it yet.
I'm going to treat the entire tank but is it likley the platties introduced it?
They were the last additions except fo some plants.
On the subject of plants, should they be treated too?
if so, how?
Is there anything I can do except cranking the heat gradually up to around 30c and changing som,e water to help my fish before i get treatment and how does ich get into a tank if no fish bring it in?

Thanks

-Paul

 

[Akasha72]

I've not added any fish to my tank for months but today I've seen the dreaded white spots on 2 of my platies and 4 of my guppies. I've no idea how it gets in there but it's fairly easy to treat. I have Waterlife Protozin and I've read on here it's one of the better brands of medication.

There's instructions on the bottle (you may need to aquire a magnifying glass to read it though!) if you follow the instructions to the letter it should disappear

All the best

 

[sheffieldlad]

Thanks Akasha. if my LFS stock it then thats what I'll use

-Paul

 

[soybean]

You might find this thread useful to understand a bit more about the life cycle of ich: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/7092-what-is-ich/

 

[sheffieldlad]

You might find this thread useful to understand a bit more about the life cycle of ich: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/7092-what-is-ich/

Thanks Soy, reading it now.

-Paul

 

[Akasha72]

I've just read it and it doesn't make much sense to me. I've not bought any new fish recently, only plants. It must have come in on the plants to have infected my tank again??? My water is good - the only other thing I can think of is the 5 hour blackout we had 2 weeks ago. My male platy got dropsy a couple of days later and died and now the others have whitespot ... is it possible that 5 hours without a filter or heater has caused some kind of parasite to grow in my tank?

Confused.com

 

[soybean]

It doesn't have to come in on something, it can be brought on by stress and having just changed tanks that's the likely cause.

 

[sheffieldlad]

I doubt it.
From what I've read just in that thread and elsewhere the plants are the most likley suspect.
I guess mine could have been the plants or the fish.
I'm gonna zap me some white spot tomorrow and quarentine any new fish.
Anyone know how to ensure new plants don't bring it in?

-Paul

 

[soybean]

To quote the first post:

There are many causes for white spot, fish catch white spot like we catch a cold! Some of the more common causes are stress, bad water conditions, live food that have been infected or you've bought an already infected fish without knowing it

 

[Akasha72]

It doesn't have to come in on something, it can be brought on by stress and having just changed tanks that's the likely cause.

Ah right. Okay that makes perfect sense. I was worried for a minute that I'd given them it with the new plants! Good to know, thanks Soybean

 

[sheffieldlad]

To quote the first post:

There are many causes for white spot, fish catch white spot like we catch a cold! Some of the more common causes are stress, bad water conditions, live food that have been infected or you've bought an already infected fish without knowing it

But if the white spot is caused by a parasite it has to be introduced somehow.
Worms don't suddenly appear.
I don't doubt your knowledge or dragonslairs knowledge. I just don't understand and I want to take steps to ensure it doesn't haoppen again.

-Paul

 

[soybean]

And don't forget you reused decor,gravel etc.

White spot is a p.i.t.a and it's not always easy to locate the source, but it's treatable, so where it came from is irrelevant really.

The parasites that emerge from the white spots on the fish live in the water and sink to the bottom in the gravel, so really thorough gravel vacs regularly will Hoover those up, while meds kill the rest.

 

[sheffieldlad]

The parasites that emerge from the white spots on the fish live in the water and sink to the bottom in the gravel, so really thorough gravel vacs regularly will Hoover those up, while meds kill the rest.

I have sand and although I vac it regularly I don't want to remove it completley.
Will the meds kill the ones in the sand too?

-Paul

 

[soybean]

Even better, they're easier to hoover up on sand.

The meds will kill the parasites and you do your bit by vacuuming and turning the temp up a couple of degrees slowly to speed up the life cycle.

Remove carbon from your filter before medicating.

 

[sheffieldlad]

Even better, they're easier to hoover up on sand.

The meds will kill the parasites and you do your bit by vacuuming and turning the temp up a couple of degrees slowly to speed up the life cycle.

Remove carbon from your filter before medicating.

Ok,

Thanks for the advice

-Paul