Protozin white spot and snails

[Country joe]

I discovered ich on my fish, so I started immediately dosing with Protozin white spot, I looked up instructions and says it kills snails, also has a small drawing of a snail on the bottle with a red Cross through it.
I put in the third dose today, and noticed a few bladder snails still alive crawling up the glass, I am using proper dose size for tank, and the medication is not out of date, so why are these snails alive and kicking.

 

[Colin_T]

I never killed snails with Waterlife Protozin. Cuprazin does but I never lost snails to Protozin. The amount of copper is tiny and might not be affecting snails if the snails close their operculum before they encounter the copper in the water. Then they simply wait it out.

Waterlife Protozin Ingredients: Malachite green 0.085% w/w, formaldehyde 0.07% w/w, copper sulphate 0.015% w/w.

You can treat white spot with heat. Raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks.
Increase aeration when using heat or chemicals to treat an aquarium.

Remove carbon from filters before using medications.

 

[Country joe]

I never killed snails with Waterlife Protozin. Cuprazin does but I never lost snails to Protozin. The amount of copper is tiny and might not be affecting snails if the snails close their operculum before they encounter the copper in the water. Then they simply wait it out.

Waterlife Protozin Ingredients: Malachite green 0.085% w/w, formaldehyde 0.07% w/w, copper sulphate 0.015% w/w.

You can treat white spot with heat. Raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks.
Increase aeration when using heat or chemicals to treat an aquarium.

Remove carbon from filters before using medications.

I have mainly tetras, ottos, panda corys, Harlequin Rasboras and one Bolivian Ram if I turn the heating up slowly to 30c will it not kill my fish?

 

[Country joe]

Today is my third dose of Protozin and all fish are clear apart from 4 Red Phantom tetras, they still have white spots, why is this.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Not all sources agree that 30C/86F is fatal to Ich. Here is what the University of Florida IFAS Extension has to say about using temperature to kill ich. The paper distinguishes between treating farmed food fish and ornamentals in aquariums.

Floyd, R.F. and Reed, P., 2009. Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (White Spot) infections in fish. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, CIR, 920.
https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/download/136567/version/73133/141224/263507

Special Considerations for Treatment of Pet Fish

Pet fish can be treated with any of the chemicals discussed above to correct “Ich” infections. A number of commercial preparations are available from pet stores that contain one or several of these agents. Temperature manipulation is also an effective way to control “Ich” in home aquariums. This technique is often not practical for commercial fish farms, but is advantageous for the hobbyist because expensive
products do not have to be purchased and it is safer for some of the delicate species that are popular in community tanks. Water temperature can be gradually raised to 90°F, maintained there for 24 hours, and then gradually dropped to 70°F for 48 hours. The infective juveniles (tomites) will be killed while the water temperature is at 90°. When the temperature is dropped, the adult organisms will fall off the fish and begin to reproduce. As the young begin to emerge 48 hours later, the temperature is again raised to 90°F, causing them to die. Repeating this process continuously (24 hours at 90° F followed by 48 hours at 70° F) for two weeks should control the disease. Cleaning the tank every second day will help remove cysts before they rupture and thereby help to prevent completion of the life cycle. If you decide to use temperature to control “Ich” in your home aquarium, be sure that the type of fish in your tank can tolerate the temperature extremes involved.


I am one of those folks who believe that Ich is best treated with chemicals. Because raising the temp in a tank into the low to mid 80s accelerates the life cycle of Ich, any medication/chemical treatment will work faster to clear the infection.

The decision of what method one uses to treat Ich depends of what fish and inverts are in a tank. It is also up to each of us to decide how we wil deal with Ich. How I prefer to do this is fine for me but others may prefer using a different method. I should also say that in my 25 years of keeping fish and having 20 - 28 tanks, I have only had Ich twice and then in just a single tank. I have had to treat columnaris more often than Ich.

 

[Country joe]

Today is my third dose of Protozin and all fish are clear apart from 4 Red Phantom tetras, they still have white spots, why is this.

This is the 4th day since I added the treatment one more to go in two days time, tank inhabitants are all clear still the 4 red phantom tetras are not clear, does anyone out there no why, it has not cured these fish, and all others are back to normal,, I've noticed all fish are feeding apart from the phantoms when I finish treatment it says nothing in instructions about a water change, should I do my usual 25% or 50%.

 

[seangee]

The treatment only works when the ich is free swimming. On the fish they are almost impossible to kill. That is why its recommended to raise the temp as it accelerates the lifecycle.
IIRC the usual recommendation is to keep the treatment in the tank and let it dilute with normal water changes once you are clear - which I suspect is a few days since you last saw it..

 

[Country joe]

Thanks, I did put the temperature up from 24.5 to 28c, for three days but I stopped, as I lost a tetra, I wondered if the heat killed it, so I put the heating back, but it was probably the medication.
I have one more day, of one dose of Protozin, and that is the treatment finished, if the 4 tetras still have spots, I don't know if, I should carry on with more Protozin, as I don't like adding medication if I can help it.

 

[seangee]

None of your fish will die from 30C for a few days. The corys and otos should not be kept at that temp for more than a few days and make sure you have plenty of oxygenation.

 

[Country joe]

Treatment is finished and ich looks clear on all fish, tested water, and after one week of using stability ammonia is nil,back to normal.
I googled should I do a water change after a ich outbreak, and it said to leave the tank for 14 days, before doing a water change, is this correct?