whitespot help

[guppy78]

hello, first of all im newish to keeping tropical fish, but last friday i noticed my black molly had a whitespot on his side (didnt even know what whitespot was till i googled it) i read you can buy medicine from any petstores which i did the following day.

It says use 5ml of it for my tank size then 4 days later use another 5ml which was yesterday so i did, my question is the whitespot on his side as dulled in colour, its barely noticeable now but i did however notice a new fresh whitespot on the tip of his right sided fin?

on the medicine bottle it does warn not to use anymore after the first 2 treatments, so what can do if in 3 days time theres another white spot appeared?

thanks in advance =)

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Any chance of a picture of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

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Whitespot doesn't get smaller with treatment. The small white spots are about the size of a grain of salt and drop off the fish after a couple of days. The spots sit in the gravel and the parasite divides and multiplies inside its spot before rupturing open in a few days time. Then you get hundreds of white spots on the fish.

There's more info about whitespot at the following link. The first post on page 1 and second post on page 2 are worth reading.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/

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How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

Have you checked the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?

What is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

 

[guppy78]

Hey! and thanks for the reply =)

The tanks been set up for around 6 weeks now, but i ordered some tetras/guppys etc online which is where i think the whitespot came from.
Before i put the medicine in i was doing 25% water changes every friday. im due to do another once this second treatment is finished which is monday coming.
I have one of those suction tubes to clean the gravel every time i do a water change.
I use tap water safe sollution with each water change also to dechlorinise it.

The one thing ive yet to buy is a water test kit, which im planning to next week...i realized its not cheap owning fish!

The resolution is not the greatest on the photo but up close it looks like a little grain of salt on the tip of his fin

thanks again =)

 

[Colin_T]

You don't need to own a test kit. You can take a glass full of tank water to your local pet shop and ask them to test the water for you. Some shops test water for free and others charge a small fee for it. If you do get the shop to test the water, write the results down in numbers when they do it. If the shop says "the water is fine", ask them what the results are in numbers.

I'm going to need a better picture. A bigger picture would help too. Take a few pictures and check them on your computer. Find a couple that clearly show the problem and post them on here.

 

[guppy78]

Ive tried taking more but im using a 5 year old digicam so the quality is rather poor on them all.
ill wait till a friend calls in and use his iphone then post it, thanks

 

[guppy78]

These were the best i could do with a better camera, hope they help

 

[guppy78]

Im starting to think it might be cotton fungus now, up close it looks furry, would it be safe to treat cotton fungus so soon after the whitespot treatment period ended?

 

[Colin_T]

It depends on what is in the whitespot medication. It might treat whitespot too.
What is the medication called?
What are the ingredients in it?

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Normally you try to identify the problem before treating otherwise you subject the fish to chemicals that can do permanent damage.

If you have to change medications, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate for 2 days in a row and then start treatment after the second water change.

The best treatment for livebearers with fungus or protozoan infections is salt.
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.

 

[guppy78]

Thanks a lot

The medicine is called LoveFish, white spot & parasite.
Treats common parasitic diseases, whitespot & costia and also trichodina

active ingrediants are formaldehyde malachite green oxalate.

I have 5 Guppies
1 peacock goby
2 x ray tetras
1 albino Corydoras
1 black molly
1 goldfish
1 angelfish

They all seem very happy in themselves, even the molly with the whitespot on his fin

Im gonna give the tank a good clean out tomorrow, ive been waiting till the medicines final day was over, and then ill try the salt out

Thanks again