Persistent Whitespot For 3-4 Months

[emilythestrange]

Hi, the basics of my tank are as follows:
100 UK Litres capacity, 1 1/2 ish years old from when established with fishless cycle to now.

Current Stats and Inhabitants:
Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate around 40ppm (tested with API liquid dropper kits, always has been these readings, and never tested for the PH)

1 larger male molly, 2 chocolate male mollies (around 2-3 inches), 2 corydoras, 1 albino molly fry (around 1 inch), 1 male platy and 4 Neon Tetras and of course a whole lotta snail pests!

The mollies have got whitespot and particularly the larger male molly (who was the first fish to be put in the tank) have around 10 large white spots on their gills/fins, they come and go and come back again.
I have tried interpet Anti Whitespot treatment twice or three times recently and its not working at all, the fish appear to perk up after its put it after a day however it never eradicates the whitespots and they re appear. The temperature of the tank is 26 C.

On thursday night i did a large water change, around 3/5 of the water and added the usual water dechlorinator.

The other fish look ok and are currently swimming about for my attention as it is feeding time, however the larger male molly has looked peaky for a couple of weeks now, and his appearance seems kind of fluffy, with the spots, he also has suffered from pop eye in between, it is really sad as he is a beautiful green sailfin molly and now he looks drained of colour and less lively.


What should i do next as i am virtually clueless, i need to solve this re occuring issue as the whitespot seems persistent and the interpet med is the only one i know of as i am in the UK, i would love to put these whitespot issues behind me and re stock the tank, however i dont want to put any more fish under the stresses of the whitespot disease before i have cured it.

Thankyou !!!

 

[commoncarp]

When my tank had whitespot I put the temperature upto 30c gradually over a day, I used API Whitespot and within 3 days there was no visible signs on fish of ich, I continued treating the tank for 7 days I believe. I also put some fish in my emergency tank and used aquarium salt, this also killed the ich. Good Luck

 

[spectrum]

Sorry to go off topic slightly but 40ppm Nitrate is too high, you need to do more frequent water changes, this will be the reason your fish have ich; high nitrate levels make the fish more vulnerable to disease as it lowers their immune systems defences.
Turn the temperature up by a degree or so, and be persistant with the medication. If the medicine has a treatment 'course' follow that. Vacuum the substrate regularly to suck up any parasite that have fallen off the fish to go into the next stage of their life cycle.

 

[emilythestrange]

* BUMP *

Any one else tackled whitespot? And how did you do it?

 

[The-Wolf]

ok, dont panic
go to a LFS that deals in pond fish and get some FMG (made by NT Labs).
before dosing the tank perform a water change, no more than 30% no less than 20%.

dose the tank at 1ml per foot (length) of tank IE a 3ft tank needs 3ml (yes not very accurate but works)
treat the tank at this dose for 5 consecutive days. (it is normal for the water to be blue all during treatment)
if you are using carbon in any filters remove it before the first dose as the carbon will absorb the meds.
if the ich has not cleared up after 5 days, wait 24 hrs (do water change as below)
and repeate the above treatment. IME 2 courses clear even the most stubborn of ich problems.

secondly, after the ich has cleared replace the carbon in the filter (if used in first place)
and do a 50% water change.

40 ppm of nitrAte (No3) is not high but adding live plants will help reduce and keep reduced this.

 

[emilythestrange]

ok, dont panic
go to a LFS that deals in pond fish and get some FMG (made by NT Labs).
before dosing the tank perform a water change, no more than 30% no less than 20%.

dose the tank at 1ml per foot (length) of tank IE a 3ft tank needs 3ml (yes not very accurate but works)
treat the tank at this dose for 5 consecutive days. (it is normal for the water to be blue all during treatment)
if you are using carbon in any filters remove it before the first dose as the carbon will absorb the meds.
if the ich has not cleared up after 5 days, wait 24 hrs (do water change as below)
and repeate the above treatment. IME 2 courses clear even the most stubborn of ich problems.

secondly, after the ich has cleared replace the carbon in the filter (if used in first place)
and do a 50% water change.

40 ppm of nitrAte (No3) is not high but adding live plants will help reduce and keep reduced this.

Would that treatment be ok in a freshwater aquarium, and also is it avaliable in the UK?

My tank is a funny shape, its a B shape with one side bigger than the other, its very tall aswell,
would i need to alter the temperature of the water?

Thank you !

 

[Paradise3]

When my fish had ich i used protozin by waterlife aswell as raising the temp to 30C. Treat for a week then wait a day and do a waterchange that day then the next day start treating for the extra week recommended to completely rid the whitespot.

Alessa x.

 

[The-Wolf]

Would that treatment be ok in a freshwater aquarium, and also is it avaliable in the UK?

My tank is a funny shape, its a B shape with one side bigger than the other, its very tall aswell,
would i need to alter the temperature of the water?

Thank you !

yes it would be fine in a freshwater aquarium, yes it is available in the UK. (Nt Labs is a UK company)

use the back as your guid, so if the back glass is 2ft use 2ml

sorry for the delay in reply, I've been up north for a bit.

 

[emilythestrange]

Update :

I have some new platies added to my tank gradually since my last post, however the last ones were added last friday.
I still have whitespot, as just confirmed this evening after feeding my fish i have noticed white spots on one of them and caught him flicking on ornaments.

I dont even know what to do at the moment, im stuck.

Would someone please direct me in the right way? Just as everything was looking good with new colourful platies, the whitespot has re reared its ugly head. It got me wondering whether it ever went in the first place.

 

[Athena]

Hi - what happened with the mollies that had the whitespot - and the sailfin that had popeye? Did they all survive?

Firstly, we need to be sure that the fish actually had ICH and not something else. You said in your first post that one of the mollies had "about 10 large white spots"... well, that had me wondering because ICH is normally TINY white spots that look like a sprinkling of salt over the fish. If the spots were larger than salt grains and fluffy (I think you mentioned fluffy?) then it could be that the mollies had body/fin rot due to bacterial disease. This would also fit in with the popeye symptoms, too.

Anyway, now you've added new fish and they appear to be flicking and showing signs of ICH - this could well be the case as it's very common for an ICH outbreak after adding new fish, which is why some aquarists have a quarantine tank set up for new fish to go into for a few weeks before introducing them to their main tank. Not everybody has the room for a quarantine tank, though.

If you are sure the new fish have ICH then Protozin is a really good treatment but you must follow the course to the end and in the correct dosage. If you increase the tank temp slightly it will speed up the process of the parasites reaching the free-swimming stage (when they drop off the fish) and it's during that stage that the medications eradicate them. So, basically, just because the white spots disappear off the fish it doesn't mean that the ICH has gone, it just means they have gone into the next stage of development and will be free-swimming in the tank, looking for another fish to latch onto. In other words, don't stop medicating when you see the ICH spots disappear from the fish. Continue to the end of the course.

As for mollies, they do tend to suffer easily with body/fin rot and popeye if their water conditions are not quite right. They like slightly brackish water so it's usually recommended that aquarium salt be added to their tank.

Regards - Athena

 

[emilythestrange]

Hi - what happened with the mollies that had the whitespot - and the sailfin that had popeye? Did they all survive?

Firstly, we need to be sure that the fish actually had ICH and not something else. You said in your first post that one of the mollies had "about 10 large white spots"... well, that had me wondering because ICH is normally TINY white spots that look like a sprinkling of salt over the fish. If the spots were larger than salt grains and fluffy (I think you mentioned fluffy?) then it could be that the mollies had body/fin rot due to bacterial disease. This would also fit in with the popeye symptoms, too.

Anyway, now you've added new fish and they appear to be flicking and showing signs of ICH - this could well be the case as it's very common for an ICH outbreak after adding new fish, which is why some aquarists have a quarantine tank set up for new fish to go into for a few weeks before introducing them to their main tank. Not everybody has the room for a quarantine tank, though.

If you are sure the new fish have ICH then Protozin is a really good treatment but you must follow the course to the end and in the correct dosage. If you increase the tank temp slightly it will speed up the process of the parasites reaching the free-swimming stage (when they drop off the fish) and it's during that stage that the medications eradicate them. So, basically, just because the white spots disappear off the fish it doesn't mean that the ICH has gone, it just means they have gone into the next stage of development and will be free-swimming in the tank, looking for another fish to latch onto. In other words, don't stop medicating when you see the ICH spots disappear from the fish. Continue to the end of the course.

As for mollies, they do tend to suffer easily with body/fin rot and popeye if their water conditions are not quite right. They like slightly brackish water so it's usually recommended that aquarium salt be added to their tank.

Regards - Athena

Hello, thankyou so much for replying, very useful information. This "white spot " is getting me down as it feels like i cant even tackle a disease in my tank.
I did lose two mollies unfortunatly, one was quite old (which i had for nearly 2 years and was fully grown when brought) and didn't look right for a while, and the other just went when i was on holiday (under the care of family.. hmpf)

After this my stocking was low and i always kept an eye out for visible signs of disease, so i did start adding platies and i aim for a full platy tank, as i like them so much.
I now added the last fish a week ago, and i want to medicate quickly and efficiently, however the medication you suggest would have to be brought online, as i cant find any lfs's which stock anything other than the interpet stuff, (which never helped any of my fish before).
I have 1/3 of the bottle left of the interpet "anti - whitespot" Should i start this treatment straightaway? My tank temp is currently 26 C, will raising this harm my fish?

Any replies much appreciated !

 

[emilythestrange]

Hi - what happened with the mollies that had the whitespot - and the sailfin that had popeye? Did they all survive?

Firstly, we need to be sure that the fish actually had ICH and not something else. You said in your first post that one of the mollies had "about 10 large white spots"... well, that had me wondering because ICH is normally TINY white spots that look like a sprinkling of salt over the fish. If the spots were larger than salt grains and fluffy (I think you mentioned fluffy?) then it could be that the mollies had body/fin rot due to bacterial disease. This would also fit in with the popeye symptoms, too.

Anyway, now you've added new fish and they appear to be flicking and showing signs of ICH - this could well be the case as it's very common for an ICH outbreak after adding new fish, which is why some aquarists have a quarantine tank set up for new fish to go into for a few weeks before introducing them to their main tank. Not everybody has the room for a quarantine tank, though.

If you are sure the new fish have ICH then Protozin is a really good treatment but you must follow the course to the end and in the correct dosage. If you increase the tank temp slightly it will speed up the process of the parasites reaching the free-swimming stage (when they drop off the fish) and it's during that stage that the medications eradicate them. So, basically, just because the white spots disappear off the fish it doesn't mean that the ICH has gone, it just means they have gone into the next stage of development and will be free-swimming in the tank, looking for another fish to latch onto. In other words, don't stop medicating when you see the ICH spots disappear from the fish. Continue to the end of the course.

As for mollies, they do tend to suffer easily with body/fin rot and popeye if their water conditions are not quite right. They like slightly brackish water so it's usually recommended that aquarium salt be added to their tank.

Regards - Athena

Hello, thankyou so much for replying, very useful information. This "white spot " is getting me down as it feels like i cant even tackle a disease in my tank.
I did lose two mollies unfortunatly, one was quite old (which i had for nearly 2 years and was fully grown when brought) and didn't look right for a while, and the other just went when i was on holiday (under the care of family.. hmpf)

After this my stocking was low and i always kept an eye out for visible signs of disease, so i did start adding platies and i aim for a full platy tank, as i like them so much.
I now added the last fish a week ago, and i want to medicate quickly and efficiently, however the medication you suggest would have to be brought online, as i cant find any lfs's which stock anything other than the interpet stuff, (which never helped any of my fish before).
I have 1/3 of the bottle left of the interpet "anti - whitespot" Should i start this treatment straightaway? My tank temp is currently 26 C, will raising this harm my fish?

Any replies much appreciated !

BUMP - still not added treatment as waiting for replies !

 

[emilythestrange]

Any one\???

 

[fluttermoth]

I've only ever had Whitespot once, but I used eSHa Exit (I'm in the UK too, so you should be able to find it)


(Well, I didn't actually have it myself, obviously, just the fish...I really should word things more carefully )