Will the whitespot ever disappear?

Question

My fish Jeremy Kyle got Whitespot about 2 weeks ago. I took him out of the aquarium and isolated him in a fishy hosptial (A spare tank I had) When I put him in the spare tank he became very lethargic and looked on death's door, so after a week I put him back with the other fish. He's perked up loads and seems happy as larry but he still has whitespots (he doesn't look to be suffering though)
Since he first got the white spot I have been treating him as directed every 2 days with whitespot treatment. None of the other fish have the illness but the spots just don't seem to be clearing up on Jeremy Kyle.
Any recommendations as to what I should do if anything?

Answer 1

If you have already tried medicating Jeremy without results, there is another way to cure ich. The other approach is to actually destroy the organism with heat, and can be combined with the salt treatment, but not with meds. Use the heat treatment on the community tank with all the fish in it.

The data that was studied (including a report by the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center) suggests that most strains of Ich cannot reproduce at temperatures above 85ºF. To use this temperature treatment approach, slowly (no more than 1 or 2 degrees per hour) raise the temperature to 86ºF, while maintaining strong continuous surface agitation to oxygenate the water (an air stone with good air pump).

This surface agitation is extremely important because water holds less O2 at higher temperatures. (This is why meds should not be used in conjunction with high temp – most Ich treatment products also reduce oxygen levels).

Less available oxygen, combined with the respiration difficulties an infected fish is already faced with, could be fatal. Keep the air stone running until you lower the temp back to where it usually is.

The adjusted temperature should be maintained for approximately 10 days, or a minimum of 3 days after all signs of the parasite have disappeared (the life cycle is 7 days). Do not discontinue treatment when the spots go away. This is critical, because we know that the parasites are visible only as a white spot (trophont) on the body of the host, and not during the reproductive or free-swimming stage. We also know that trophonts on the gills are impossible to see.

BTW, the tank he is in and the tank you put him in temporarily are already infected with the free swimming stage of the parasite. You should probably tear down the small tank with nothing in it now and fill it with bleach water at a mixture of one cup of bleach to 10 gallons of water. Let stand overnight and rinse at least 3 times, each time using the De-Chlor drops.

Answer 2

Poor Jeremy Kyle!

Whitespot is a fungus that lives in your tank all the time. There is nothing you can do to get rid of it completely. It is like the fish equivalent of the common cold. Whenever you fish are a bit low, perhaps stressed etc then they will catch it. The best thing to do is to treat your tank with Protozin. This is a whitespot medicine that treats the whole water, because if one fish has it the chances of it spreading to other fish are high.

Don't isolate your fish because when you put him back in the original tank that's where the source of the infection is. Fish are also social creatures (mostly) so being with other fish will make him less stressed and help him get better. If he looks happy he probably is.

One thing about Protozin that you must bear in mind. If you have ANY scaleless fish (like Plec's, loaches, catfish etc) then use only 1/2 the recommended dose. Ironically scaleless fish suffer the most when whitespot comes along but the medicine can kill them just as quick.

Using Protozin should fix Jeremy Kyle and any other fish that have the whitespot while helping to reduce the levels of the fungus in the whole tank. Follow the instructions on the packet and you should do fine.

Good luck!

PS. By the way whitespot and ich are two very different diseases. Get a fish book with pictures in to make sure you have identified the right illness.

Also, increasing the temperature of your tank by a degree or so (no more than that!) will help to get rid of the whitespot.

Answer 3

You should go to a local aquarium shop, and try picking up some formaldehyde. The ich are parasites living in the cyst, which is the white spot. You can leave your fish in the tank, b/c the main tank has most likely all ready been infected. You should put a few drops of the formaldehyde in the water so that when the ich spots naturally burst, they parasite will die. I do this all the time, and I have saved 4 fish, on four different instances from ich. Each time it was b/c I bought an already infected fish from the pet store (the fish had not shown the white spot when I bought it!)
It is very likely as I said before, that some white spots have already burst and infected the other fish, so it is VERY important that you do this ASAP.

Answer 4

The best thing you can do is to stop using medication for white spot (ick). The meds do work, but they may very well kill your fish, your inverts, and your beneficial bacteria at the same time.
Use SALT. The salt treatment is just as deadly for ich but it will not harm your fish, plants, inverts etc in the least. Plus, it's cheaper and it's easier.

First, start by doing a large water change to get any white spot meds out of the water. Take out like 60% of the water, and vacuum the gravel because the parasites can reside in the gravel at one point in their life cycle.

Fill the tank back up with dechlorinated water.

Make sure you use AQUARIUM salt.

To add the salt, disolve one tablespoon per 5 gallons of water in a cup of dechlorinated water (if you put the salt into the tank directly, it will burn the fishes' gills). Add the salted water from the cup into your tank slowly (do it over a couple hours) so as not to shock the fish.

Increase the water temperature to 81F. At 81F, the Ich lifecycle is complete in about 4-6 days. Ich is only killable at one stage in its lifecycle, so leave the salted water in the tank for two weeks. If the water gets dirty, you can do your weekly water change, just make sure to add salt to the new water.

If you do this, you will completely eradicate all Ich parasites from your tank. For good.

Answer 5

Hi. I used to have 2 large saltwater aquariums and I had one fish that had the same problem, it eventually did spread to other fish, it is called "Ick" or "ICH". There is a type of liquid that you can buy at a pet store that sells aquariums supplies. You will need to isolate this fish again and treat him with this "medicine". Otherwise the Ick will get into his gills and he'll eventually die of suffocation. Here is a website explaining what it is:

http://www.nunnie.com/ick.html

Answer 6

Ich, does the fish have ich? Ich, who's scientific name is Ichthyophthirius multifiliis and it is a protozoan parasite. I took the fish out of the aquarium and scraped off the parasites with an exacto knife, then treated in the fish hospital tank. You can get some ich remover from about any shop that sells fish.

Answer 7

Don't leave him in the same fish tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whitespot spreads and even if it hasn't now it will do, if your fish is unhappy in the other tank try putting him in the spare tank next to the main tank so he can see his fishy friends still, keep treating him though ok

Answer 8

its very common for fish not to recover from white spot. but if u keep treating them in time the white spot will go. u may have to wait up to another two weeks. when the fish seems to have recovered its advisable to keep them quarentined for a further 2 week. unfortunatly if they're not responding to the treatment they may die but as long as they're alive keep treating and hope for the best

Answer 9

Jeremy Kyle needs flushing down the toilet,

Oh, and take your fish to a vet or something

Answer 10

dont you just leave it to clear up now?