white spot/itch newbie

[ADelphi]

My sunset platy has a couple of tiny raised white pin head marks behind his left fin on the side of his body, he has been depressed for a few days, sitting on the bottom and such, i only noticed the marks today.

It looks like itch from photo's i've seen.

Should i take him out of the tank? Or leave him in and treat them all. Is it worse if he dies in the tank. He is still eating and brightens up when foods about but then goes back to sitting under the bog wood.

I have 5 male platies and 5 male guppies, i use salt one teaspoon per gallon as it is a livebearers only tank.

Details of water below,

0 ppm nitrite

0 ppm ammonia

ph 7

0 mg/l non-chelated iron

0.1 mg/l chelated iron

7 mg/l nitrate

0.5 mg/l phosphate

28 uk gallons planted tank.

Filters eheim classic external 2217 and a fluval 3 plus internal, i also do a 25% water change every week.

Temp is between 25C and 26C.

I feed tubifex, free dried daphnia, spirulina algae flake and nutrafin max flake, cucumber and shelled peas.

I feed very sparingly as i'd rather under feed than over feed.

 

[tttnjfttt]

It definately sounds like ich. Your water is looking good, so that isn't the problem. Have you added anyone new in the tank recently?

For treatment, you will want to slowly raise the temperature to 84-86 degreese (i think thats the equivalent of 29-30). Also, you will want to consider using one of the many ich treatments avaliable. You don't have scaleless fish in your tank, so that isn't a concern. You are going to want to treat the entire tank, because ich is one of those if one fish has it, every fish will get it, type diseases.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article2.html

 

[ADelphi]

It says to raise it no more than 1-2 degrees every day, so i've raised the temp by a couple of degrees on my tank heater.

Yes i had two new platies but they look fine.

Just seen sunset scratching the side with the white spot. He seems to have perked up abit tonight.

I have done a 25% water change today and cleaned the gravel.

My other real concern is with ich treatments as i have alot of plants, which is the best ich treatment for use in a planted tank, as on that website it says the treatments may kill plants.

Also what about the use of antibiotics, maracyn and maracyn-two.

(i see it is spelt ich not itch and just that it is itchy)

I thankyou for your reply tttnjfttt.
And thankyou you in advance for any more info.

 

[tttnjfttt]

If the only thing you are seeing is the white spots, then there is no need for antibiotics. It is best to not over use antibiotics, simply because the bacteria can develop resistance to them, and when you really need them the antibiotics will be worhtless. You can shop around for different ich meds. I know some claim to be safe on plants, but I can't think of what they are off the top of my head right now.

 

[playfulalliecat]

I like using Kordon Rid-Ich. I have the bottle in front of me and it doesn't say anything about plants. I would think that the malachite green which turns the water would be the biggest danger to the plants as it doesn't allow as much light to filter through. I have never had luck keeping plants so have no experience with this. My fish always seem to think they're at an all you can eat buffet! LOL

 

[ADelphi]

Thankyou i'll ask about the Kordon Rid-Ich in the shop tomorrow as i want to save my plants if i can.

 

[ADelphi]

http/www.fishprofiles.net/faq/disease-fw.asp

Here it says, Another remedy is to raise the tank temperature to about 90 deg F and add 1 tsp/gallon salt to the water. Not all fish tolerate this.

I already have 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon. It doesn't say how long it has to stay at 90 deg F for.

Well i'm going with 2 degrees a day and an ich remedy that doesn't kill my plants hopefully.

One of my new platies is also scratching, he is a white calico so it would of been hard to see any white spots on him.

 

[ADelphi]

Or it could be guppy disease raising the temp is a no no for that. At the moment i'm treating with waterlife's Protozin.

http/www.fishtanksandponds.net/resources...sease-movie.htm

http/fishtanksandponds.net/forum/viewtop...fc22880ad372e2d

 

[gaya]

Hi Adelphi,
I know it's a pain in the bum to treat disease when you have plants. One product that i know of that is supposed to be safe for plants is aquasol. I've used it before. i'm sure it's just a normal diluted med. Salt can give your plants problems...most ick meds contain a lot of salt. While others may disagree i tend to not treat for more than a week with any med when i have plants in the tank. i raise the temp slowly to 86 F, cover the tank with a towel so light does not get in (ick parasite growth is stimulated by light) and i do huge water changes every day after the treatment for a week or more. Ideally, by doing so many water changes and gravel vacs you are manually removing some of the ick as well as just killing it with meds and heat and growth inhibition and this does keep the water super clean which can prevent infection. Sometimes though i'll only water changes every other day depending on the size of the tank (i use buckets and it kills my back lol).
good luck