Why are there tiny white spots on my marine fishes?

Question

All my fish developed white spots, much like fine bubbles attached to their scales? Any help?

Answer 1

Probably ich but DON'T TREAT THE TANK. THE TREATMENTS WILL KILL ALL YOUR LIVE ROCK. Try adding some cleaning shrimp, wrasses and neon gobies and sand sifter starfish to eat it. Also turn up the temperature in your tank by 5F for a week.

Answer 2

White spot disease or Ich (pronounced “ik”) is very common in fish. It can easily decimate an entire aquarium.

What does Ich Look like?

Fish affected by this disease are covered with white spots.

1. Small white spots on the skin, fins and gills. Cysts can measure up to 1 mm. In a massive infestation, fish look as if they have been sprinkled with salt or sugar.

2. The signs of the disease are divided into two major categories: cutaneous (the skin is pruriginous and the fish scratch themselves against the aquarium surfaces) and branchial (more rapid respiration).

3. Secondary bacterial infections are also possible: presence of gelatinous mucus on the skin, hole in the skin.

This disease is caused by two protozoa:

1. Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (fresh water)
2. Cryptocaryon irritans (salt water)

What is the origin of these parasites?

They can be introduced into the tank through plants and live food. Some fish are carriers or are incubating the disease when they are bought. When they are introduced into the aquarium, they contaminate all the other fish.

Disease Cycle
To fully understand how to prevent and treat this disease, it is important to understand its cycle. Without going into too many details, you should know that it is a parasite of the skin and gills.

1.The infectious form (tomite) invades the skin and/or the gills (where it becomes atrophozoite).

2. The trophozoite encysts in the tissues. The cysts then fall from the fish and settle in the aquarium. Division takes place inside them to form up to one thousand tomites. At maturity, the cyst breaks and releases the tomites into the aquarium.

3. The tomites must find a host within 24 hours after their "release."

4. In underpopulated aquaria, most tomites do not find a host. In overpopulated aquaria, tomites can accumulate rapidly.

Completion of the cycle depends on the temperature. It takes ten to twelve hours at 26 C, three to four days at 22 C, three to eleven days at 15 C, up to 30 days at 10 C, and probably several months at lower temperatures. The condition can reach epizootic proportions (all the fish are affected). The mortality rate can be very high.

Treatment for this disease is quite simple.

External treatment is ineffective against the forms found in the skin and gills. Treatment therefore focuses on the free-living forms.

1. First, all fish are placed in a hospital tank for seven days. The main tank is left empty during this period and consequently the tomites die since they cannot find a host.

2. Second, 80 per cent of the water in the hospital tank is changed twice daily for seven days. This dilutes the parasites and results in their disappearance over time.

3. Before the fish are reintroduced into the main tank, 80 percent of the water must be changed and the gravel well siphoned.

Heres a link to medication: http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_ProductList_PC_productlist_Nav_227_N_24+93+30+5505.aspx

Answer 3

White spot - Ichthyophthirius
a deadly fish disease

A common but lethal disease

The ciliated parasite Ichthyophthirius, more commonly known as white spot or Ich, is a very common fish disease capable of affecting virtually all fish species. Ich has a fairly complex life cycle that has a major bearing on treatment methods. The white spot trophont (photo below) forms a nodule under the skin or gill epithelium.

The trophont constantly turns and moves under the skin, feeding on destroyed cells and body fluids. The parasite feeds on body cells until mature and then 'punches' its way out of the skin. It then attaches itself to a plant or some other object and forms a capsules around itself. Inside the capsule, the tomont, as it is now called, repeatedly divides, producing up to 1000 tomites that finally 'hatch' from the capsule and swim to find a fish host. These small tomites are the infective agent. They burrow into the fish's skin and the cycle starts all over again. Clearly, with each turn of the cycle the number of parasites increases dramatically.

(When you click on the website it will show you some pictures of fish with it)

click on pictures to enlarge them

White spot trophonts seen in at low power wet mount of a skin scrape. Note the light horseshoe shaped nucleus and the variation in size

Histological preparation of gill tissue with embedded trophonts. Note the distortion to the gill tissue and severe hyperplasia

Answer 4

Your fish have ick. get some medication form a petstore, i recommend tablets that will stay in effect for atleast a week (the life cycle of the ick parasite) but just remember, that even though the spots are gone, the ick parasite is sitll there. spots disappearing means that they have merely moved on to a more mature state of their life cycle. Ick usually takes about two weeks to completely clear out. The fact that your tank is a marine tank will make it better, because ick hates salt.

Answer 5

Your fish most likely have Ich,
(that is how you spell it, but it is pronounced like "ick"). If your fish have scales, it is fairly easy to treat. But if you have scale-less fish, there is no treatment. Take the fish that have Ich out of your tank into a separate tank, away from your other fish that don't have Ich. Go to a pet store and ask them if they have a treatment for Ich. Then just follow the directions on the back! Good Luck! I hope I helped.

Answer 6

They have ick. It's a parasite that's quite common in both fresh water and marine fish.

It's easily treatable. Just go to the pet store and purchase some medication. Make sure you follow the directions.

Answer 7

Add a small amount of table salt to the water not to much, it worked on mine, It is always wise to have a small quarantine tank one that float inside the other but keeps the fish totally isolated for a period of time, adding strange fish can lead to exactly the problem you are now finding, good luck

Answer 8

sounds like a form of Ick, you need to make a trip to the pet store before you start loosing some of your fish.

Answer 9

this is ick

see picture if this is what it is a 3$ tube of solution at a pet store cna clean that right up

Answer 10

That would probably be ick. You can get treatment for it at your local Pet store. Ask somewhere there about dosage, etc.