White Spot Help!

[xamy_valox]

Hi there,
I introduced some cories to my tank last week. Everything seemed fine but today one of them died. I wasn't in at the time so my dad sorted it. As I have just looked in my tank I have notices white spots on my neon tetras. What shall I do? I have no specific White spot treatment so I have treated the tank with Melafix until I can get some tomorrow. I have no quarentine tank to put my neons in and I can't see it on any of my other fish.
Please help as I'm panicking as I have never had any disease in my tank before.
Thanks, Amy xx

 

[fluttermoth]

First of all; don't panic! It takes a long time for whitespot to kill healthy fish. Something else was probably wrong with the cory, though whitespot can be bought on by stress (or bad water; check yours is ok).

Do a couple of big water changes or add some carbon to your filter to get rid of all the Melafix before you add any whitespot treatement (it's a very bad idea to have two meds in the water at the same time, except under certain circumstances).

Then just use your whitespot treatment exactly as it says on the bottle. Make sure you hoover the gravel well, as that's where the parasite hangs out (when it's not in a cyst on your fish anyway, lol)

 

[xamy_valox]

I absoloutely freaked out thinking I was gonna lose all my fish. I only checked my water stats the other day and everything was good, the tank was due it's weekly water change as I do it every Sunday.
The two trilli cories have both been very shy, whereas the other two 'black and white' cories (as they were labelled in the shop) have been very active and playful. It is one of the trills that died, and now I can't for the life of me find the other though I'm sure it must be hiding under rocks or something.
I've just done a 50% water change and added a slight bit of melafix as I've only just read this post and as stated was panicking!! I'll do another big one tomorrow before adding the White spot treatment and do a vac at the same time. Do you think I'll be able to save my neons? And can you recommend a specific treatment that works well? And lastly, I'm thinking I'm going to have to take out the carbon when I use the treatment and have NO idea what to do with it, or even which one it is?!
Thanks Amy xx

 

[fluttermoth]

I used eSHa Exit when my fish had ich, so I'd recommend that if you can get it. I'm sure your neons will survive.

You will need to remove the carbon, or it'll take the meds straight back out of the water. It'll probably be black granules or maybe a black sponge.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

i used interpet itch treatment cuz it was all i could get quickly, and it cleared up within a couple days. its scary at first but then u see results and it all turns out ok.

 

[xamy_valox]

Ok thanks, I'm going to head to a couple of places and see what I can find. I'm guessing because I didn't take the carbon out that the melafix will have more or less be taken out anyway then, but I'll do a gravel clean anyway before adding the treatment.
If you don't mind I'll continue to post and update as I go ahead with the treatment incase I come into difficulty!
Thanks, Amy xx

 

[adgieman]

+1 for the esha treatments, i used interpet for 2 weeks and it did nothing, i used esha for 2 weeks and it cleared it right up. Esha is also extra useful as you can use some other esha products at the same time, as in my case the white spot reduced their immune system so also got fungus. used exit and 2000 together and all was well..... oh and if your dosing your tank remove anything that could possibly get stained like silicon air lines, any clear glues etc or they will turn green or blue....

 

[xamy_valox]

Hiya, ok so I ran out this morning and got some King British WS3 White Spot Terminator. Recommended by the fish shop as they use it in their tanks. Did a thorough gravel clean and got loads of rubbish out. Then filled it back up and added the treatment. It said 1ml for every 90 litres, I have a 70 litre so did 0.75 mls (although the pippet wasn't great) seemed like quite a lot as I was popping it in in drops to the tank. Put the filter back on and am now crossing my slightly blue stained fingers =\
Amy xx

P.S can I feed as normal? They haven't been fed and are due =\

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, you can feed the fish, but I'd give them a little less than normal; firstly because they probably won't want to eat too much and secondly because your water change regime might have to change slightly to accommodate the different dosing days etc

 

[xamy_valox]

Ok thanks fluttermoth. The bottle doesn't tell me anything about water changes other than to do a 10% at the end of treatment. What would you recommend?
Sorry to bug you so much!!
xx

 

[webbie]

Hi Xamy just read about your whitespot problem, I had the same problem ten days ago,used the esha exit heard it was safe with shrimps ,and it was also cleared up the whitespot in 5 days,just make sure you take out the carbon from your filter,I did a 20% water change every time I dosed the tank,dont worry it will soon clear up,honest

 

[xamy_valox]

Hi Webbie, yeah if I had the time I would have ordered some of the Esha stuff off the Internet but was in a panic and thought i better act fast and get what I could. I've took out the carbon and popped it in some tissue, will I be able to put it back in after or will it be unusable?
I visited that place you said, I must say its so expensive!! There's a wide selection but at a price!

 

[webbie]

Hi Webbie, yeah if I had the time I would have ordered some of the Esha stuff off the Internet but was in a panic and thought i better act fast and get what I could. I've took out the carbon and popped it in some tissue, will I be able to put it back in after or will it be unusable?
I visited that place you said, I must say its so expensive!! There's a wide selection but at a price!

Yes xamy put the carbon back in after the treatment is finished,how long does the stuff you bought say to dose for?Prestwood sell the esha exit ,and its the only stuff I,m going to use for whitespot in the future,let me know how it goes eh,just a thought what temp you running your tank at?if you up the temp to 80 deg it speeds up the whitespot cycle helps gety rid of it quicker

 

[xamy_valox]

Well I was running it at 26c but have raised it to 27c after looking at advice. The bottle I have says to dose at 48 hour intervals whilst symptoms persist and for 48 hours after spots have gone.
I got 2 cories from Prestwood but it's quite far from me so would have been no good me running up their this morning!

 

[webbie]

Well I was running it at 26c but have raised it to 27c after looking at advice. The bottle I have says to dose at 48 hour intervals whilst symptoms persist and for 48 hours after spots have gone.
I got 2 cories from Prestwood but it's quite far from me so would have been no good me running up their this morning!

If it was me I would dose it for a couple of weeks just to make sure,dont want it coming back,what sort of cories did you get? I got a pair of the salt and pepper pygmy corys,ones sitting there now with a piece of bloodworm in his mouth nearly as big as himself cute though