Whitespot Help

[Keithoms]

Ok, so i see my platy swordtail has lots of white dots... great...
Ive got a bottle of melafix, thats it. Is that what i use? Will it kill my bacteria?

 

[minxfishy]

No you need some whitespot treatment, interpet, protozin, king british or something similar, melafix is just for cuts and a general cure.

 

[shelaghfishface]

no not melafix you need proper whitespot treatment, malafix is better for ..(finrot etc)

 

[Keithoms]

No you need some whitespot treatment, interpet, protozin, king british or something similar, melafix is just for cuts and a general cure.

Damn, ok thanks. How long before it kills all of my fish as i dont know when i can get out to fish shop next?

 

[shelaghfishface]

woops i sound like an echo now sorry minx, didnt see you posting there

 

[minxfishy]

No worries S

Depends on how bad its spread, if its just on one fish you might be ok for a couple of days. You can use aquarium salt I think (?) and raise the temp to help kill it off, but not sure how effective that would be.

Remove the carbon when you do get meds

 

[ALW]

Wip the temp up to 30c and increase aeration if you can, then treat the tank with IMO King Bristish White Spot Control http/www.thepet-shoponline.co.uk/king-br...ontrol-36-p.asp turning the temp up speeds up the life cycle of the parasite, the meds only work in the free swimming stage, turuning the temp up not only speeds the process up so they are quicker to fall of the host fish but also temps above 30c start to kill the parasite.

 

[OldMan47]

There is an informative link in my signature on how to treat ich with salt and temperature. It walks you through the whole life cycle so you can really understand what you are doing.

 

[Bignose]

I've chosen to turn signatures off, but if OldMan47 is linking to the Skeptical Aquarist's page on ich: http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml then I completely second the recommendation.

If not, then I highly, highly, highly suggest reading through the information in Skeptical's page. He cites some of the best research available in how to treat ich, and addresses many of the myths and misconceptions that exist about ich today (like, there is zero scientific evidence for a dormant stage of ich)

By far, the most important advice is to treat for a long time after all symptoms disappear. You want to be sure to 100% eradicate the population of ich, and that can only be reasonably assured by treating with medication for a good 7 to 10 days (at tropical temperatures) after all symptoms disappear -- all spots and all flicking/scratching behavior by the fish.

Then, once you've dealt with the problem, the next big thing it to ensure it doesn't get back into your tank by quarantining everything that goes into your tank. Any new plants, any new snail, and definitely any new fish. For something like 6 weeks. Once you've killed all the ich, it only gets back into your tank if you reintroduce it, usually on a carrier fish. Another ich myth/misconception is that "ich is in all water" -- also addressed by Skeptical in the link above. Really, I cannoy say enough about that webpage, it is by and far the most accurate collection of ich information I have ever seen on the Internet.

 

[OldMan47]

I was linking to exactly the same one Bignose. I find that one particularly informative.