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Whitespot in tank

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14 Aug 2022
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Location
East Sussex uk
Evening all after purchasing some rainbow fish at the weekend I got home yesterday to find they have whitespot at the moment they are the only fish that have it the tank inhabitants are bristle nose pleco 4 rainbows African leaf fish jumbo armor shrimp African knife fish and 4 guppies and it is a planted tank with clear silicone and bog wood I've raised the temp to 29 but everything except leaf fish is over the borderline of temp range I'm toying with getting another quarintine tank I spoke to said shop today they want to send out antiwhitespot it has copper in it what shoukd I do is there somthing I can buy that will safefly kill everything and not harm the fish or stain the tank
 
There are shrimp-safe treatments for White Spot available. Esha Exit, and NT Labs 'Anti White Spot and Fungus' spring to mind. If the shop sends you a treatment, check the instructions carefully to see if it is safe.
A quarantine tank is a good idea for the future; it will stop new fish passing any disease they may have to the rest of your fish. And you won't have to worry about your shrimps if you need to treat new fish while in quarantine.
But this time you need to treat the main tank as the White Spot has got in there.

btw, are you aware of the potential size, and predatory nature of the African Knife Fish?
I'm not sure if the Leaf Fish will be safe with your Guppies either.
 
Esha Exit
ehhhh, I'm not a fan of this medication. When I first encountered Ich, I used this in my (at the time) main tank, and it helped a little but didn't fully eradicate the parasite. I'm also very dubious of their claims, because the medication's standard dosing schedule is to dose for between 3-5 days. This is completely contradictory to what is generally known about the Ich life cycle; the contents of the medication can't kill the tomonts, and I would expect a medication targeting Ich would be active for 2 weeks or more. Also note that medications such as this are likely to stain your clear silicone.

What ended up working for me is simple heat treatment - I turned the temp up to 30.5C and kept it there for 2 weeks. The parasite went away and never came back. Do note that if this is done then the temperature cannot dip below 30C, it works by preventing the parasite from reproducing, but won't actively kill any currently in the tank. Their short life span means that after 2 weeks they'll be eradicated, provided the heat stays above 30C. There are apparently some heat resistant strains, but they aren't common, and I've never encountered any.
 
I think esha recommend further treatment obviously if needed. I have used it a while back when some newly purchased Cardinals developed white spot and it did the job. In the rare times l purchase fish l now always quarantine ,as recommended by @sparkyweasel . Even the healthiest looking fish can occasionally bring something
 
treatment - I turned the temp up to 30.5C and kept it there for 2 weeks. The parasite went away and never came back. Do note that if this is done then the temperature cannot dip below 30C
Science suggests ICHTHYOPHTHIRIUS MULTIFILIIS in capitals for a reason will not die at these temps. Sorry to be an blahblahblahblah but do trophonts completely vanish at these temps.
 
I'm speaking for the bristlenose, don't turn the temp up to 30.5c
For many fish, this temperature will be uncomfortable, but not lethal. I would ideally like to avoid treating ich at all, as I don't think the treatments for it are nice either way, but the parasite will result in high mortality rates if left alone, and I don't have much faith in the eSHA medications. I do recognise that many have reported success with them though.

For fish outside of the main tank, perhaps the most gentle (and quick) way to treat ich is with the tank/bucket transfer method. Although this requires high amounts of diligence to avoid cross-contamination.
Sorry to be an blahblahblahblah but do trophonts completely vanish at these temps.
The adults don't die, but the trophonts become unable to divide and reproduce. As a result, the adults live the rest of their lifespan and then the cycle breaks.
 
My theory is the adult tomont lie in wake for weakened fish and pounce. Appreciate the reply @xZaiox
Perhaps possible, although this isn't something I'm qualified to comment on. My understanding is that the adults live very short lifespans. Anecdotally, that main tank of mine continued running for another 6-8 months, and I had no further outbreaks. /shrug
 
There are shrimp-safe treatments for White Spot available. Esha Exit, and NT Labs 'Anti White Spot and Fungus' spring to mind. If the shop sends you a treatment, check the instructions carefully to see if it is safe.
A quarantine tank is a good idea for the future; it will stop new fish passing any disease they may have to the rest of your fish. And you won't have to worry about your shrimps if you need to treat new fish while in quarantine.
But this time you need to treat the main tank as the White Spot has got in there.

btw, are you aware of the potential size, and predatory nature of the African Knife Fish?
I'm not sure if the Leaf Fish will be safe with your Guppies either.
Yes I am currently using exit and 2000 I purchased it on Saturday it doesn't seem to be working at all my leaf fish seems stressed out I am kicking myself masivley I've been treating for the dosage it's recommended and to no avail

Ps at the moment the leaf fish is very small and the guppies are slightly bigger when I get this issue under control I intend to remove them
 
ehhhh, I'm not a fan of this medication. When I first encountered Ich, I used this in my (at the time) main tank, and it helped a little but didn't fully eradicate the parasite. I'm also very dubious of their claims, because the medication's standard dosing schedule is to dose for between 3-5 days. This is completely contradictory to what is generally known about the Ich life cycle; the contents of the medication can't kill the tomonts, and I would expect a medication targeting Ich would be active for 2 weeks or more. Also note that medications such as this are likely to stain your clear silicone.

What ended up working for me is simple heat treatment - I turned the temp up to 30.5C and kept it there for 2 weeks. The parasite went away and never came back. Do note that if this is done then the temperature cannot dip below 30C, it works by preventing the parasite from reproducing, but won't actively kill any currently in the tank. Their short life span means that after 2 weeks they'll be eradicated, provided the heat stays above 30C. There are apparently some heat resistant strains, but they aren't common, and I've never encountered any.
Oh really that is not very good news I put up a post on a group on fb and noone had a bad word to say about it so you recomend raising the temp to 30 woukd that kill everything that can't handle it or is it just a risk I woukd take
 
OK I'm reading mixed thoughts I'm currently on day 3 of the meds do I continue medication on the recommended dosage or do I water change and rack the temp up to 30 for a week i done a 70% the other day Saturday and then medicated or do I remove the fish into a newly bought uncycled tank and continue down that route for 2 weeks I really don't know what to do for the best I don't want to loose my fish
 
Oh really that is not very good news I put up a post on a group on fb and noone had a bad word to say about it so you recomend raising the temp to 30 woukd that kill everything that can't handle it or is it just a risk I woukd take
If you've already started using eSHA exit I would definitely recommend finishing the course and seeing if it helps.

For the heat treatment, it's up to you if you're willing to risk it. Many fish will find it uncomfortable but I can't say whether or not it will kill them, but I believe a lot of fish are generally able to tolerate higher temperatures for a short period of time. In my tank at the time of heat treatment, I had cherry barbs, black venezuelan corydoras, otocinclus, dwarf gouramis, kuhli loaches, neon gobys (I believe Stiphodon atropurpureus), snowball pleco, vampire shrimp and a loooot of cherry shrimp. I had 0 deaths, but I can't guarantee that will be your case. Ich itself will kill fish quite easily if left alone, so I guess you have to weigh up the pros and cons. Do also note that some plants don't do well in heat, I didn't have any problems with mine, but I have seen people report melting from it.

Only try the heat treatment if you can keep the tank above 30C at all times (temperatures will dip at night, so make sure your heater can keep up). Do any water changes with heated water etc. Also note that higher temperatures hold less oxygen, and fish with Ich already have compromised breathing abilities, so you'll want to heavily aerate the water.

This is honestly why I hate Ich, whether you go for heat treatments or chemical treatments, they're not nice on the fish either way. Horrible parasite.
 
Also if you do heat treatment, you want to go for 2 weeks, or ideally 1 week after the last spot disappears. Don't just do it for 1 week because it'll likely recur.
OK thanks for the input I'm so undecided I've been watching vids and things and some are saying to Compleatley eradicate it from the tank you would have go go fish less for 70 days I am seriously contemplating doing this the only other alternative is to remove everything and compleatly start again but don't want to loose a couple of the fish

As for meds the leaflet said 3 day course what is today but can do more do I carry on with it for a week or do I wc and start the treatment again as there really isn't much improvement on the fish and its only the same fish that have it I've never suffered with this before I don't know what's best to do the African Bush fish can tolerate the heat up to 31 the filter shrimp is ment to be 28 and is the knife fish I'm not really bothered about the rest as much as I am about those 3 as they are the main centerpieces and what's more of a p take is the tank isn't 5 months old lol
 
Also if you do heat treatment, you want to go for 2 weeks, or ideally 1 week after the last spot disappears. Don't just do it for 1 week because it'll likely recur.
Also how long have you been ick free has the heat worked long term
 
Also how long have you been ick free has the heat worked long term
I no longer have the tank that had the ich outbreak, I moved house and had to shut it down. However, I continued running it for another 6-8 months after the heat treatment and there was no recurrence. The ich went away and never came back. Now I'm very strict with quarantine procedures and have (so far) managed to avoid outbreaks in my new main tank.
 
As for meds the leaflet said 3 day course what is today but can do more do I carry on with it for a week or do I wc and start the treatment again as there really isn't much improvement on the fish
Just going to add in here - are you 100% sure it's Ich? You've not really seen any improvement from the medication at all? Do you have carbon in your filter? Or run a UV steriliser?
 
I no longer have the tank that had the ich outbreak, I moved house and had to shut it down. However, I continued running it for another 6-8 months after the heat treatment and there was no recurrence. The ich went away and never came back. Now I'm very strict with quarantine procedures and have (so far) managed to avoid outbreaks in my new main tank
Just going to add in here - are you 100% sure it's Ich? You've not really seen any improvement from the medication at all? Do you have carbon in your filter? Or run a UV steriliser?
I'm not running any carbon in the tank or uv
Just going to add in here - are you 100% sure it's Ich? You've not really seen any improvement from the medication at all? Do you have carbon in your filter? Or run a UV steriliser?
I don't run carbon as its a planted tank also I don't run a uv I have a spare filter the sun sun with a uv but not running as for ich Im not 100% as its only 4 fish that show it with labour breathing and the spots will add a vid also see these very tiny white things in the water colom occasionally dart and move againsed the flow I presume is ich looking for a host but all the other fish seem normal and healthy I don't know what else it could be the fish in question are rainbows they haven't been right since adding them I'm tempted to remove and euthenise
 
Im not 100% as its only 4 fish that show it with labour breathing and the spots will add a vid
Yeah, a video or pictures would be great to see.
also see these very tiny white things in the water colom occasionally dart and move againsed the flow I presume is ich looking for a host
Ich isn't visible with the naked eye. The spots that are seen on the fish are not actually the ich itself, but the fish's immune system walling the Ich off.
rainbows they haven't been right since adding them I'm tempted to remove and euthenise
This would honestly be pointless, ich is prolific. If one fish in the tank has ich, then every single fish will be exposed. Euthanising those affected will not prevent the spread to others (assuming this is actually ich)
 
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