White Spot And Clowns

[Skysters]

hi advice plz on second course of treatment now protazin .. whith carbon taken out of filter ,,

my clowns have more white spot on them now than ever ,even the neons are showing white spots still even after first course of protizin, i started my second course day before yesterday on day 3 now ,,,using protazin half dose in morning half 12 hours later so not too upset loaches. but too make sure full dose going in tank in 24 hours.. tank has ammonia and hi nitrates so did water change today while i did that i gravel cleaned in hope to get rid any tomont i could catch ..

why after raising tank to 30 are they still getting them , the clowns x 3 are still active most the time and are all eating which is a good sign but im stressed out ..more than the clowns i think ,.. because i just cant seam to rid the tank of white spot ,

i have 1 sucking loach that seams to be the only fish without ws and havent seen any signs on him at all.. ..

platties still feeling sorry for them selves . even tho i think one is pregnant and being chased by male platty and now n then the sucking loach takes a dive at it but not into it .. seams like its playing ?

the clowns , mickey mouse platty and sucking loach and 2 apple snails , moved here 3 weeks ago .. along with a bought tank from ebay after a week and constant checking of waterand having the lfs tell me the tank is really well , i bought a few neons ,, and a cpl platties ,, ( think the white spot may have come from them )altho didnt see signs on any in the tank i bought them from !

mickey mouse platty never looked happy hence buying a cpl more for her to hang with , ..she eats when the rest do .. specially the worms when they get treats ..i have given worms about 3 times a week as a trear ..they also eat flake so the diet shud be ok .. the loaches like the worms and alge wafters .. and the odd peice of cucumber which they all take a nibble at

my apple snails are laying since having them they have laid im assuming 3 clumps of egg lave around the lid of my tank 1 last week and 2 this week

my tank is 48 x 15 x 18 inch total fish is
my 3 x Clown Loach
1 x Golden sucking loach
3 x Platties
2 x Apple snails
10 x neons

ph is 7.6
ammonia 0.25
nitrites 0
nitrates .40

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank?

You will have to remove the snails to an isolation tank as the parasite med can kill them.

It takes longer to eradicate whitespot at half dose.

Does it say in the medication instructions to half dose for sensitive fish?
Are the sensitive fish coping with the med. No signs of laboured breathing, darting, turning up side down, swimming in circles, fish looking pale,

 

[Skysters]

How many gallons is the tank?

You will have to remove the snails to an isolation tank as the parasite med can kill them.

It takes longer to eradicate whitespot at half dose.

Does it say in the medication instructions to half dose for sensitive fish?
Are the sensitive fish coping with the med. No signs of laboured breathing, darting, turning up side down, swimming in circles, fish looking pale,

sorry i can only work out tank ,as 180 litres but im thinking about 47 Gal?
it does say half dose for sensitive fish

Altho only half dosing ..im doing a full dose thru the day .. like today i gave at 9.30 tonight will again dose 9.30 then thats is till day 6 as per instruction

the clowns up untill today have been acting normal playing in their little group but flicking about now n then ,, today i would say darting about a little but not overly , feeding well , and they dont look too pale ..but they not vibrant either

the apple snails and the golden loach are doing just good sucking loach just doing his thing around the tank glass as with the snails ,,and one or both laying lave , the platties and neons looking sorry for themselves ..
they all Flicking them selves

tonight i would be doing a water change again cleaning some gravel .... i belonged to another forum who advised to do this but they pretty slow at answering a question so im guessing its not really a busy forum , and came here hoping to get some advice

Thanx for all ur help

 

[WILDER]

It's fine to do a gravel vac and water change, as long as you add the correct amount of med back to water removed.

If the fish start to show any signs of darting, gasping, swimming in circles, turning upside down. Immediate water change to dilute the med down.

 

[Skysters]

so if this treatment don't work after thursday what would u suggest as i am doing everything i can atm to try and keep my babies alive ? and getting frustrated

do i need to be doing anything else ? other than watching water levels and doing reg water and gravel cleaning


thanx for advice so far ,

 

[WILDER]

There nothing more you can do.

Sometimes it can take two rounds of medication to get rid of the parasite.

I will leave a link for you to read on whitespot.

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/ichthyophthirius

 

[elmo666]

shifting whitespot from clown loach can be difficult. It is important to follow the instructions closely and dose on the correct days, completing the course fully. The parasite drops off the fish as part of it's cycle, please don't be tricked into thinking this is the end of it......this is the point at which the medication is effective in killing it.

 

[Skysters]

thanx Wilder and elmo hopefully my weekend then i may see some improvement , fingers crossed and thanx for ur help

 

[WILDER]

Just follow med instructions. Only add the medication on days it tell you too.
No more.

Good Luck.

 

[Skysters]

my babies today .. last treatment yesterday untill thursday according too bottle






This one has more than he had yesterday i really do not understand why its not even looking slightly better , im at a loss

just too add u can see all pics in this folder , most if not all is when the white spot started

 

[Tizer]

Protozin is a very good med and has to be half dosed when you have Clown Loaches in the tank, but i noticed you say you have 0.25 ammonia in the water? How long has it been like that?

I've used protozin at a half doze measure before on my fish when i changed over my substrate. It spooked them/ stressed them out and wham, white spot but the treatment and a raised temp sorted it out in about 10 days.

Those fish look very i'll i'm sad to say i think you might have been too slow to catch it, but carry on with the medication and do a vac on the surface of the substrate every night (you only need a quick swish over the bottom, no need to actually disturb the gravel) and you might save them. They look very malnourished too (probably caused by the ammonia and white spot), what have you been feeding them?

 

[Skysters]

Protozin is a very good med and has to be half dosed when you have Clown Loaches in the tank, but i noticed you say you have 0.25 ammonia in the water? How long has it been like that?

I've used protozin at a half doze measure before on my fish when i changed over my substrate. It spooked them/ stressed them out and wham, white spot but the treatment and a raised temp sorted it out in about 10 days.

Those fish look very i'll i'm sad to say i think you might have been too slow to catch it, but carry on with the medication and do a vac on the surface of the substrate every night (you only need a quick swish over the bottom, no need to actually disturb the gravel) and you might save them. They look very malnourished too (probably caused by the ammonia and white spot), what have you been feeding them?

hi Tizer the thin one always been that thin since having them ..and the other 2 been the same as they have been ..they came with tank when i bought it from ebay about 4 weeks ago ,..so been trying to save them ever since
Ammonia has been in the tank for a cpl days ..doing reg water changes and sweeping the gravel
they Feeding on algae wafers , worms , and tropical flake also cucumber obviously not all at once ..

usually flake for the top feeders just a pinch as i have about 10 top feeders now and 2 algae wafers daily , for the snails golden loach and the 3 clowns
i not sure if im over feeding .. but if they look malnoursihed then maybe im not giving them enough ? .... the worms they all love so give them a treat 3 times a week .. instead of flake and wafers ... also 2 times a week i chuck a piece of cucumber in as a treat

am i doing anything wrong here ? ..

 

[Skysters]

i have a small tank and mean small tank , 15 litres ... is it worth putting some of their tank water in there with one of the 2 filters im running ( 1 as spare for when i buy new fish too quarantine them ) ..use as a hospital for them

i know its small but i dont know weather to try and put them in there and treat the clowns in a seperate tank in hope too save them i want too save these babies , i know i didnt buy them but im attached to them but also continuing to treat the 4 foot tank for the others

obviously i would put summit in there for them too hide in but i wanna try and save them im losing sleep over these babies worrying about them cos i wanna save them

 

[Tizer]

It does sound like you might be feeding too much yes. It also sounds like a lot of vegetable matter, which is great, but they would appreciate something meaty too. Defrost a couple of Prawns or Frozen mussels from your local aquarium shop, Frozen bloodworm or a meaty granule food like Tetra Prima.

Anyway, going from what you have just said above, it sounds like you have simply shafted your filter by replacing all of the contents with new material. I presume you got it from eBay, got it home and went "eeeew that's really dirty" and thought a good clean and new filter stuff would be the best course of action? To be fair to you, its a very common mistake to make so don't feel to bad.

Try do some daily water changes as well as half dose the tank with meds and you might be ok, but i suspect that being mid filter cycle (you can read about this in the beginners resource section here) and doing a treatment won't set you off to a good start in fish keeping and certainly don't add any more fish to the tank.

 

[Tizer]

I'm really trying to think of a simple process for you to work to, but its quite difficult to come up with a master plan, however i would try the following:

Take the filter from your small tank and put it in your big tank, don't clean it, don't do anything, just move it and fire it up so you have two running.

Drain out 50% of the water in the big tank and fill it back up again, remember to use dechlorinator to take the nasties out of the tap water and try and mix the water with warm water so the tank temp doesn't drop down.

(I fill my tank up with a hose on the cold water feed, but i also add 2-3 watering cans full of hot water to stop the temp dropping too much)

Add a half dose of Protozin to the water. turn off the lights, leave the tank in darkness, (less stress to the fish)

Tomorrow, do exactly the same, drain out 50% of the water, add new tap water, dechlorinate again and add another half dose of protozin.

Continue that process for a week, keep the temp around 30 degrees and in total darkness.

After a week, carry on doing the 50% water changes every day, but stop dosing Protozin.

If you don't see a significant reduction of the white spot after 14 days, start half dosing again for another week, and keep doing the 50% water changes before you dose.

That's nearly a 3 week plan of attack there and is pretty much what i would do in your situation. I hope it doesn't sound too complication. It will either work, or all your fish will die. You got a 50/50 chance.

If you decide to try it, report back and keep us informed.

PS, stop feeding daily, a single prawn is enough to feed 3 loaches (that size) for a good few days, they are cold blooded, they don't eat and process food fast like we do, and the less they eat, the less waste they produce, the better the water quality will be.

PPS remember to turn off the heater during water changes, out of water they tend to blow if turned on.