Neal
Live life, don't let it live you!
Well this article is from a book called "Tropical Freshwater Aquaria", by George Cust & Peter Bird.
White Spot Disease:
This is the most common infectious disease seen in tropical aquaria and will kill fishes if not checked. It is caused by a protozoan parasite Ichthyophthirius multifilius, and attacks are often caused by a drop in temperature of the aquarium water. The resistance of the fishes becomes reduced and the vitality of the parasite increased. Diagnosis is not easy in the early stages of the disease when only one spot may be present on one fish. However, the parasite appears to cause an itching in infected fishes and in the early stages, fishes may attempt to rub or scratch themselves against objects in the aquarium to reduce the irritation. The spots usually spread rapidly over a few days. As the life cycle of the parasite is known, control is not difficult.
The first step is to raise the water temperature to 82 degrees fahrenheit. This speeds up the development of the cysts to the free-living form, the stage at which a White Spot preparation will kill the parasite. Such preparations are commercially prepared and sold at most pet shops. Protozin is a broad-spectrum protozoacide/fungicide tolerated by all species except rays.
Alternatively the disease can be cured using a five per cent aqueous soltuion of methylene blue, available from all pharmacists. This is a very valuable substance to the aquarist as it also cures other diseases. Unfortunately, it harms plants so the fishes must be put in an unplanted tank, in which they must be kept for ten days. If the blue colour of the water fades more methylene blue should be added. The planted tank, without fishes, will become free of parasites in ten days with any treatment.
If an outbreak of White Spot disease occurs in a community tank, only certain species may become infected, due to several reasons. The parasite prefers certain species as hosts, some species can withstand chilling better than others, and certain fishes in the aquarium will be in better health than others.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Below is a diagram I made on MS Paint, the quality isn't to good, but it is easy to understand.
1. - On maturity, cysts leave host and fall to bottom of tank.
2. - Daughter cells form within cyst.
3. - Lots of daughter cells within cyst.
4. - Cyst bursts releasing immature free swimming parasites.
5. - Immature free swimming parasite.
6. - Parasites seek new host, burrow under skin and form cysts (white spots).
7. - A fish with cysts (whitespot).
I hope this guide was useful to someone, and if not, then informative. All of the writing was taken out of the book, and I drew the diagram myself similar to the one in the book. I still had to write all of this out and make it, so please no flaming at me for giving advice out of a book.
Neal
White Spot Disease:
This is the most common infectious disease seen in tropical aquaria and will kill fishes if not checked. It is caused by a protozoan parasite Ichthyophthirius multifilius, and attacks are often caused by a drop in temperature of the aquarium water. The resistance of the fishes becomes reduced and the vitality of the parasite increased. Diagnosis is not easy in the early stages of the disease when only one spot may be present on one fish. However, the parasite appears to cause an itching in infected fishes and in the early stages, fishes may attempt to rub or scratch themselves against objects in the aquarium to reduce the irritation. The spots usually spread rapidly over a few days. As the life cycle of the parasite is known, control is not difficult.
The first step is to raise the water temperature to 82 degrees fahrenheit. This speeds up the development of the cysts to the free-living form, the stage at which a White Spot preparation will kill the parasite. Such preparations are commercially prepared and sold at most pet shops. Protozin is a broad-spectrum protozoacide/fungicide tolerated by all species except rays.
Alternatively the disease can be cured using a five per cent aqueous soltuion of methylene blue, available from all pharmacists. This is a very valuable substance to the aquarist as it also cures other diseases. Unfortunately, it harms plants so the fishes must be put in an unplanted tank, in which they must be kept for ten days. If the blue colour of the water fades more methylene blue should be added. The planted tank, without fishes, will become free of parasites in ten days with any treatment.
If an outbreak of White Spot disease occurs in a community tank, only certain species may become infected, due to several reasons. The parasite prefers certain species as hosts, some species can withstand chilling better than others, and certain fishes in the aquarium will be in better health than others.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Below is a diagram I made on MS Paint, the quality isn't to good, but it is easy to understand.
1. - On maturity, cysts leave host and fall to bottom of tank.
2. - Daughter cells form within cyst.
3. - Lots of daughter cells within cyst.
4. - Cyst bursts releasing immature free swimming parasites.
5. - Immature free swimming parasite.
6. - Parasites seek new host, burrow under skin and form cysts (white spots).
7. - A fish with cysts (whitespot).
I hope this guide was useful to someone, and if not, then informative. All of the writing was taken out of the book, and I drew the diagram myself similar to the one in the book. I still had to write all of this out and make it, so please no flaming at me for giving advice out of a book.
Neal
Just wanted to make sure you knew about the pinned articles
