Treating For Ich - Will It Harm The Fish?

[sazzakins]

Hi,
I've had 1 platy die recently and now I have another who's looking sick of the same thing. The body is OK but there are white spots on the fins and the fins are clamped. I had a Betta with Ich before - very clear white spots (like salt) but these are cotton like faded white spots. I can't think what else it could be, the body is fine, would it hurt to treat the tank for Ich?
TIA )

 

[WILDER]

You need to treat the whole tank for ich.
Make sure you can use the full dose of whitespot med with the fish you keep.
Raise temp to 30.
Increase aeration, as the high temp and med will reduce 02 in the water.
Remove black carbon if you use it.

How many gallons is the tank.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
How many fish and which type.

 

[bitteraspects]

using any chemical treatment can be potentially harmful to your fish. Much like chemicals are harmful to out lungs, kidneys, and livers, so can chemical tretments be to the organs and gills of your fish.

Personally, I chose not to use any chemical treatments in my tanks, and prefer to use a more natural and effective approach simply using salt and heat. (information on this type of treatment can be found all over the web).

 

[bitteraspects]

using any chemical treatment can be potentially harmful to your fish. Much like chemicals are harmful to out lungs, kidneys, and livers, so can chemical tretments be to the organs and gills of your fish.

Personally, I chose not to use any chemical treatments in my tanks, and prefer to use a more natural and effective approach simply using salt and heat. (information on this type of treatment can be found all over the web).

if you chose to use chemical treatments, be sure to carefully follow the dosing instructions as directed.

(sorry, phone wouldn't let me edit for some reason)

 

[sazzakins]

using any chemical treatment can be potentially harmful to your fish. Much like chemicals are harmful to out lungs, kidneys, and livers, so can chemical tretments be to the organs and gills of your fish.

Personally, I chose not to use any chemical treatments in my tanks, and prefer to use a more natural and effective approach simply using salt and heat. (information on this type of treatment can be found all over the web).

if you chose to use chemical treatments, be sure to carefully follow the dosing instructions as directed.

(sorry, phone wouldn't let me edit for some reason)

Thanks for the advice. Are there any other diseases that look like Ich/white spot, but aren't actually ich/white spot? These spots aren't salt like grains, but slightly larger and faded, and not on the body. It's not very contagious, one fish seems to get it at a time. If I didn't know better I would say it was a parasite of some kind. The tank - it's an 85l, 1/4 water change per wk, pH 8.2, phosphates a bit high at 60(mg?) but that's from the tap, matured media, no overcrowding (Glow light danio x2, WCM minnow x2, platty x 7, guppy x1, tetra x5)
Do you think I should treat for Ich anyway (with salt/ high temp) and hope for the best? Will that treat other diseases as well as Ich?

Thanks

 

[WILDER]

White spots on fins can be bacterial. lymthocystis.
Any redness to the spots.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Do the spots move.

 

[bitteraspects]

using any chemical treatment can be potentially harmful to your fish. Much like chemicals are harmful to out lungs, kidneys, and livers, so can chemical tretments be to the organs and gills of your fish.

Personally, I chose not to use any chemical treatments in my tanks, and prefer to use a more natural and effective approach simply using salt and heat. (information on this type of treatment can be found all over the web).

if you chose to use chemical treatments, be sure to carefully follow the dosing instructions as directed.

(sorry, phone wouldn't let me edit for some reason)

Thanks for the advice. Are there any other diseases that look like Ich/white spot, but aren't actually ich/white spot? These spots aren't salt like grains, but slightly larger and faded, and not on the body. It's not very contagious, one fish seems to get it at a time. If I didn't know better I would say it was a parasite of some kind. The tank - it's an 85l, 1/4 water change per wk, pH 8.2, phosphates a bit high at 60(mg?) but that's from the tap, matured media, no overcrowding (Glow light danio x2, WCM minnow x2, platty x 7, guppy x1, tetra x5)
Do you think I should treat for Ich anyway (with salt/ high temp) and hope for the best? Will that treat other diseases as well as Ich?

Thanks

You never want to treat before you diagnose.
Giving the wrong treatment can be just as harmful as overmedicating.
I've used heat treatment for other things besides ich, but you should really determine what your fish has before moving forward with any treatment.

If you could get a clear picture, that would be really helpful.
Off the top of my head, I'm thinking its fungal, but its really hard to say without actually seing it.

 

[sazzakins]

using any chemical treatment can be potentially harmful to your fish. Much like chemicals are harmful to out lungs, kidneys, and livers, so can chemical tretments be to the organs and gills of your fish.

Personally, I chose not to use any chemical treatments in my tanks, and prefer to use a more natural and effective approach simply using salt and heat. (information on this type of treatment can be found all over the web).

if you chose to use chemical treatments, be sure to carefully follow the dosing instructions as directed.

(sorry, phone wouldn't let me edit for some reason)

Thanks for the advice. Are there any other diseases that look like Ich/white spot, but aren't actually ich/white spot? These spots aren't salt like grains, but slightly larger and faded, and not on the body. It's not very contagious, one fish seems to get it at a time. If I didn't know better I would say it was a parasite of some kind. The tank - it's an 85l, 1/4 water change per wk, pH 8.2, phosphates a bit high at 60(mg?) but that's from the tap, matured media, no overcrowding (Glow light danio x2, WCM minnow x2, platty x 7, guppy x1, tetra x5)
Do you think I should treat for Ich anyway (with salt/ high temp) and hope for the best? Will that treat other diseases as well as Ich?

Thanks

You never want to treat before you diagnose.
Giving the wrong treatment can be just as harmful as overmedicating.
I've used heat treatment for other things besides ich, but you should really determine what your fish has before moving forward with any treatment.

If you could get a clear picture, that would be really helpful.
Off the top of my head, I'm thinking its fungal, but its really hard to say without actually seing it.

I tried a few times to get a clear picture and even on a short stutter speed the pics are a blur.I don't want to stress her out by taking her out of the tank to get a clear pictures. Thanks Wilder - the spots have no red in them but I have noticed her flicking against leaves this evening. Mostly she stays at the bottom of the tank. I've noticed the spots stand proud by about 1-2 mm. Actually the spots themselves look a lot better today but she still has clamped fins. This is exactly how the other fish started off. She got progressively less active over 2 weeks and then died with no visible signs of disease except these very feint white spots on the tail fin.

Could it be lymthocystis? Would the salt treatment cure a bacterial infection?
Thanks so much for any input.

 

[WILDER]

I think if the fish is flicking I would take the whitespot route.
Is she flicking alot, or darting.

 

[sazzakins]

I think if the fish is flicking I would take the whitespot route.
Is she flicking alot, or darting.

OK, thanks. She flicked against the edge of a plant leaf. No darting. None of the other fish have any signs of white spot but one usually purposeful juvenile platty is behaving in the same listless fashion (moving fins very fast just to swat in the same place, clamped fins. I will treat for Ich. Thanks Wilder.

 

[WILDER]

Make sure you can use the full dose with the fish you keep.

Let us all know how they get on.
Good Luck.