Whitespot/Ich

Fish Head · 08-20-2006, 10:33 PM

Hi Guys,

Need some advice on Whitespot/Ich.

In the last week I have lost 4 Rummy Nose and 1 Serpae Tetra

The remaining fish dont seem to have whitespot.

I lost 3 Rummy's at first, I was not sure what the problem was as white spot is very hard to notice on them due to their coloration. I only noticed whitespots when one of the serpae's came down with it, sadly the serpae passed on followed by one more Rummy - this time I did see a white spot on the rummy's fin.

I have started using a quick cure, how effective are they and should I do anything else?

When would it be safe to reintroduce some additional fish?

Im feeling pretty bad about the fish that did suffer and die :-( and Im wondering if there was anything that I could have done to save fish that had Whitespot?

How does whitespot/Ich get into a tank? Im assuming its from introducing fish/plants that hve it.
If I were to set up a quarantine tank for future introduction of fish/plants into my tank, how long should they remain in quarantine to assume that they are clean & healthy?

ahill3780 · 08-20-2006, 11:40 PM

Ich is a pretty common disease in aquaria. It is usually introduced with new livestock, but can also occur when the immune system in fish is degraded. You should supplement your fishes diet with vitamins and especially Garlic. Garlic is very good for building and strengthening the immune system.

As for treating your current infection I would suggest placing the fish in another tank (or holding container) and dosing them with a copper solution to treat the infection. You will need to use an approved copper treatment and use a test kit to monitor the level of copper in the tank. Follow the manufacturers instructions closely.

When dosing copper in a hospital tank be sure not to use any heating or filtration equipment from the main tank as a residue will build up on it and it will carry over to the main tank.

While the fish are hospitalized perform several major water changes on the main tank to eliminate as much of the free floating infection as you can.

The fish will need to stay in the HT for about two weeks. Keep up the dosage until the infection disappears. Once it disappears start doing large water changes on the HT to remove the copper solution. Once all the copper has been removed allow the fish to stay in the tank for an additional 4 days to see if the infection returns. If it does not, then you can move him back into the main tank.

Proper quarantining procedures is a subject that I will be addressing soon. But to answer your question, newcommers should be QTed for about 2-3 weeks before introducing them into the main tank.

If you own a UV sterilizer then run it on the QT to help eliminate free floating pathogens from the new guy.

Fish Head · 08-21-2006, 12:07 AM

Thanks for the advice Aaron. Is copper a typical ingredient in the whitespot quick fix solutions available from aquarium shops?

ahill3780 · 08-21-2006, 12:34 AM

Its hard to say for sure without knowing what specific 'quick-fix' you're talking about. But to answer your question, no, copper is not a usual 'ingredient' in anything but itself. It is harmful to many different invertebrates and especially corals who are super-sensitive to it. Even the minute fractions of residue from treatments a year past can kill some of these species. For this reason manufacturers usually will not include it in a cure-all because most people tend to just drop quick fixes right into the tank and the manufacturer doesn't want to deal with the angry customer who killed off their prize specimens through ignorance. Copper is usually found as a seperate solution and comes with strict warnings about proper usage and admonishments about using a seperate hospital tank.

You always have to be careful when using mystery cure-all, or quick-fixes because most do not work as claimed, and when they do it is usually to clear up the symptoms and not really dealing with the underlying condition that is causing the symptoms. Sort of like taking cold medicine to relieve yourself of the symptoms for a time: it will work for a while, but its going to wear off and the symptoms will return.

Jay · 08-21-2006, 08:33 AM

IMHO you will need to be very careful of Copper. It is extremely toxic to freshwater fish, invertebrates, and plants at elevated levels. You can get into a world of trouble with just one inaccurate dose. I feel the same way about most pharmaceuticals aimed at ICH.

ICH does not just appear in the tank IT IS INTRODUCED, and really has nothing to do with a fishes immune system as a cause. It is a parasite, and will attack healthy as well as unhealthy fish.

That ich is always present in a tank and ready to attack an unhealthy fish is one of the TOP 10 Myths of fishkeeping.

It is introduced into the tank from new fish arrivals, sometimes on plants, sometimes just the water that comes from the LFS. It has a definite life cycle and is only vulnerable to treatment when it is free swimming.
Once you observe it in your tank, assume ALL of your fish are infected.

The safest way (for all aquarium critters) to deal with it is a salt treatment.

As Follows...

Add 1 teaspoon of salt (NaCl aka table salt) per gallon over an eight hour period.

Raise the temp of the tank to 81 - 82 degrees F. This speeds up the ICH cycle.

Takes about 8-10 days to be sure all of the ICH is dead.

Remember the parasite is only vulnerable during its free swimming stage. The white cysts on the fish will hatch and the free swimming parasite will die from the salt. When no more white spots appear on the fish you can be sure you have wiped them out.

A series of water changes will lower the salt level, and you will be careful in the future not to introduce the parasite again

Regards,
Jay

Fish Head · 08-21-2006, 08:48 AM

Thanks Jay.
I will try adding some salt and see how I go, will that have a negative effect on the fish or plants at all?

ahill3780 · 08-21-2006, 10:20 AM

Thanks for covering for me there Jay, apparently there is an even bigger difference in Marine ich over Freshwater ich than I had previously thought. I knew they were different, I just hadn't put much thought into how much different they were.

Take Jays advice on this one, sorry for throwing out the harder treatment and misguided info there - I am more of a SW specialist then a FW.

Jay · 08-21-2006, 12:07 PM

Hi Fish...

Don't be too casual about it! Ich is very contagious and will kill your fish. I would go with the full treatment as outlined or you will not kill it all.

It will be a little rough on the plants but you should be able to get buy. The important thing is to wipe out the ICH. The plants will recover.

Fish Head · 08-22-2006, 05:45 AM

Hi Jay,

Thanks for all the advise, Im deeply saddened by the loss of 4 Rummys and 1 Serpae. I desperately want to save what I have left. I have started the salt treatment.

LI HxC · 09-01-2006, 08:33 PM

Okay, so today i got my fish, and two of the serpae's had white/silverish spots all over them, none of the other fish did, so i rid myself of what could be a potential problem with the serpae's infecting the tank, now i looked at two of my rainboes, and they ahve the same white/silverish spots on the, but far fewer, idk if its ich, ive been salting the tank according to what the directions said but i dont know what else to do help me!