White Spot Everywhere

[Maxta]

Now my otto has died, i have one left out of four now.

The one that died today, he didnt even have any signs of whitespot.

Good news i think is that the whitespot on my Clown Pleco seems to be going away? Fingers crossed.

Second dose tomorow yippee, and stronger, hopefully this will get rid of the damn thing.

My tank kinda looks bare, 2 neon tetras, 2 cherry barbs, 1 otto, 1 clown pleco, 2 baby BN plecos, 1 ram, 2 peppered corys. Considering my plecos are always hiding on the wood or coconut, and my tetras have decided to hide in the cave, the barbs behind the heater/filter intake, the peppers in the cave and ram behind the wood, and my remaining otto.....god knows.

Funny thing is, i stopped buying fish from P@H because they kept dieing, so this time i went to Peter Barratts, and look whats happened.....

Lost:
4 neon tetras
4 cherry barbs
2 albino cory cats
4 black sail cory cats
3 ottos

...so far within, 2 weeks.

Maybe its a freak occurance and i was unlucky, because i did buy my clown pleco and ram from them a while back and theyre still going strong (touch wood).

To prevent this from happening in future, what is recommended to add to the tank when putting new fish in, as in treatments? Is it best to put a bit of whatever you have in just for safety (such as Pimafix, Anti WhiteSpot, Fin Rot and Fungus Control)?

 

[WILDER]

Stablise them very slowly with temp and ph when climatising new fish.
Always best to issolate new fish in a q tank.
The whitespot has killed alot of your fish. sorry for your losses.

 

[Maxta]

I have the money for a QT tank, just not the space. You should see my room its jam packed. And theres a tank downstairs and i wouldnt be allowed to put another one in the house.

I lost another cherry barb throughout the night.

I usually take 2 hours when adding fish to tank, i let the bag float, then in half an hour add some water, tie back up, another half an hour and add some more, then again, then finally add them. This time i was rushed and needed to be somewhere so i added them after only half an hour or so.

Good news though, iv woke up today, had a good look at my pleco and all the whitespot has gone, apart from one spot lol. But compared to that picture i posted earlier hes looking good.

Will be adding the second dose shortly

 

[Bungy]

To prevent this from happening in future, what is recommended to add to the tank when putting new fish in, as in treatments? Is it best to put a bit of whatever you have in just for safety (such as Pimafix, Anti WhiteSpot, Fin Rot and Fungus Control)?

It sounds like you could be gaining the upper hand now - there are a number of treatments available and im not saying that the one I use is the best, simply that it has worked for me so far and as ive mentioned previously in this thread I use eSHa EXIT for the WhiteSpot and eSHa 2000 to cover a whole host of other commonly encountered ailments - when used in conjunction with each other this is said to provide a good all round treatment and a prudent approach would be treat the tank on a periodic basis with both (remembering to remove any carbon from the filter first.....) The treatment lasts 3 days.

Another process that I was advised to follow is a very strict hygiene regime - soak your net/s in scalding water, including your syphon equipment, your dropper for your stats tests - anything at all that comes in contact with your tank water - the bugs that cause disease may survive outside of the tank in droplets of cold water (whitespot for example) - you can spend a fortune on meds to treat an outbreak only to add it back again the next time you do a water change or net a fish. Ensure that any flakes of food that collect on the lid or rim of the tank are wiped away and the whole area is kept clean. Im sure there are steralising agents available at the LFS however i tend to use a bucket and pour several kettle loads of boiling water over them rathern that use the kitchen sink for example that may contain traces of detergents etc. Not wishing to preach to the converted or anything but there seems to be little said on the forum regarding tank hygiene and its not until you encounter disease and fish loss that you begin to analyse your processes - if simple hygiene protocols were observed in the first place then I summise that many enthusiasts out there would not be facing the problems that you and I have encountered.

Pete

 

[WILDER]

Best to treat another week once spots have gone.
Glad the plec is ok.
R.I.P.

 

[Maxta]

Will do. Just added a dose today, will do water change monday, then add another dose Wednesday, and then Sunday, followed by a water change.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

I hope no more deaths occur, i will have to get the neons and cherry barbs some friends once this is all done.

 

[WILDER]

Bless them it did wipe quite a few of them out.
A would leave it at least a month before adding new fish for the ones who have been through the whitespot to build there strength back up.
With not having a qt never no what you are fetching into the tank.

 

[vinylman]

I don't have the space for a QT either, so whenever I add fish, I take my bottle of Protozin to the shop and add a couple of drops to the bag before it's tied up. When I get home and put the fish and bagged water into a bucket for acclimatising, I add a little more Protozin and take around an hour to acclimatise them. Since I started doing this, I've had no problems at all. I'd only had a Whitespot outbreak once before, but a single course of Protozin did the trick and very quickly, too; one course only takes six days. I'd never be without it. Sorry to hear about your losses, it must be a real sickener.

 

[Maxta]

My soul surviving cherry barb has now got a big right eye. I can only describe it as being big, and cloudy, the first thing that came to mind was popeye, but im not 100% sure, i checked on the internet and im still none the wiser.

 

[WILDER]

If the eye is bulging out it sounds like popeye, the eye can go cloudy with whitespot.
Could he of banged it on something in the tank.
Can't treat the fish till you have finished the course of the whitespot med.
http/www.flippersandfins.net/pop-eye.htm

 

[tony_a]

Hi All,

I have read through this thread with great distress! !

I set my tank up in October last year (07) so its fairly new, as am I for that matter. I have been vigilant in the water changes, check my ph, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite weekly (made a spreadsheet and everything).

My wife wants to know why we have a telly when all I do is stare at that bloody fish tank!

Anyway, I have bought all my fish (up till last week) from P@Home and had no problems whatsoever. I live in a fairly small town, with a local pet store, and in order to support my local community and usually buy our catfood from there. Whilst inside I spotted a couple of angelfish and some guppies. Never had either before so bagged them there and then. The shop told me that they had only just got the guppies in - as they were all different colours I thought they'd look good in the tank.

Got them home and floated them for an hour or so and then set them free. An hour later, I'm looking at the orange one, full of white spots!

Up to press, I've never had any tank ailments and only lost a couple of neons since October, so I know that generally my tank conditions must be fairly good.

I dash to another local fish store (with a very good reputation) and explain my problem. They tell me that a reputable shop wouldn't sell fish they have just received until they have been quarantined and checked that they have no problems.

You learn by your mistakes!

Anyway, I have treated twice so far with Interpret Anti White Spot. - On the whole, seems to be doing a good job. 2 of the 3 guppies have gone belly-up and I have lost a rummy-nosed tetra and a rosey-tetra so far but after reading this thread I am terrified that I'm going to lose some of my favourites.

I have 3 best fish: Pleco (Pocahontas), Cory (Jasmine), and a Male fighter (Arial) + and a 4 year old daughter if your wondering why the daft names!

They are proper pets in our house, almost loved as much as the cat.

The only fish showing signs of spots currently is the Pleco (4"), which surprises me as I though they were resilient to white spot?

My problem is, I go away for a week this week, and I am concerned as to what happens if I miss some mediciation, or am I safe to give a dose a day early and hope for the best?

Thanks for the knowledge you all unwittingly gave me during this thread!

Tony

 

[tony_a]

Update...

Put a dose (Interpret Anti White Spot) in just before I went away hoping I wouldn't have 15 floaters when I came home . . .

Got back from holiday, and no more deaths, all whitespot has cleared up!

I will give one more dose of Interpret Anti White Spot just to make sure (that's 4 doses in total).

Tony.