White Spot on Tropical Fish?

Question

I had purchased two Clown Loach approximately a week ago to get rid of my snails, i was told by the shop that are suseptible to white spot. When i bought the fish they seemed to be clear of this white spot, they are now covered in spots and they are spreading it to my other fish. I am unable to get to a fish store tomorrow will they be ok untill saturday? i dont want them to die. I am having a nightmare with my fish at the moment. The tank is quite mature

The clown loach look like they have chicken pox! i think the other fish have only had it a couple of days. This may explain something else though, i posted another question about a gourami sitting on the bottom of the tank not doing much, he is infected to. I think he is lethargic

i dont have a spare tank with filter and pump to put the loach in, will they be ok in a tank just as it is, with no pump or filter?

Answer 1

Yes, clown loaches are known for coming down with a case of white spot (ich) when they are moved.
They look fine at the store, of course. Ich tends to manifest itself only when the fish is sick or stressed, allowing the Ich to "take over".
You will want to treat them as soon as possible, but if you cannot treat them until saturday, it will probably be okay - although you run a higher risk of losing your loaches. Your other fish, if healthy, should be able to fight the parasites.
As for treatment, you can use a store-bought treatment. However, I find this to be unnecessary and unsafe for your fish, particularly sensitive fish like loaches. Not to mention, it wreaks havock on your biological system.
I suggest you use SALT. Aquarium salt or kosher salt is fine. Add 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of tank water, disolved first in a cup of tank water (raw crystals burns their gills). This will kill the Ich just as effectively as the meds, without killing your fish. Leave the salt at that concentration for two weeks, then you can resume regular water changes and eventually all traces of salt will be gone.
Before starting with the salt, do a large water change to get rid of some of the parasites.

If you have one, isolate the clown loaches in a quarantine tank.

Answer 2

Some people raise the tank temperature and add aquarium salt to treat ick (white spot). However, some species of fish cannot tolerate salt or excess heat and you would need to research the specific varieties of fish you have in your tank before using this treatment. If you decide to do this, raise the temp very slowly--about 1 or 2 degrees every few hours until the temp is about 85 or 90.

By the way, did you know that clown loaches can reach sizes of 12-15 inches and are highly social? They should be kept in shoals of at least 6. You would need a 90 gallon tank, minimum, to properly keep this fish. When properly taken care of, they can live for over 40 years!

Answer 3

Adding salt and raising the temp slowly will help some. Adding fish is not a good way to get rid of snails or algae. What if the fish isn't compatible? You should have clown loaches in a school in at least 75 gallons.

Your gourami is suffering something else. Possibly an internal bacterial infection. Ick does not make fish lethergic, if anything it makes them more active as they try to scrape the little bugs off.

Answer 4

I agree the best course of action is to use the salt and heat cure. Loaches can be rather sensitive to some of the chemicals found in the cures you can buy at the pet shop. Use enough salt and get the tank hot enough. Use 2 tablespoons of salt per 5 gallons and get the tank up to 88-90 F Change at least 50% of the water every other day for 2 weeks, cleaning the gravel VERY well at each water change. Don't for get to add salt to the new water before adding it to the tank. Keep this treatment up for at least 2 weeks AFTER you don't see any more ich just to be sure it's all killed off. After that, if you don't use contaminated equipment, don't add any more fish etc, etc... you will have no more ich problems.

Ick Myths:

It hangs out in tanks until it can attack a stressed fish. FALSE Ich is a parasite that either lives attacking the fish or dies because it has no host. Pure and simple science, no room for debate.

Ich is in the air and came just "pop up" in a tank. FALSE Ick must be brought into a tank by fish, inverts from a fish tank or water. There is no air borne ich spore!

Ich will hang out on your equipment and move from tank to tank. TRUE Spores from the gravel of an infected tank can stay alive out of water for a short time and even if dry. Cleaning your nets, etc from time to time is a good idea.

Ich is caused by bad water, poor water quality etc. FALSE ich is a parasite caused only by adding the parasite to the tank. No amount of poor water quality will ever, ever cause ich.

Answer 5

To be honest, I think it's too late to put your clown loach in a separate tank now!. As soon as you can get some White Spot treatment and put it in the tank with all the fish in it. Sometimes it helps to increase the temperature a little bit too. Just remember when you put the treatment in the tank to take out the carbon filter.

Answer 6

Get them out so it doesnt affect the other fish in the tank then find some medcin go to your local fish shop they will be happy to help. They will be fine till saturday but its easy to put them somewhere else until then because it may pass on. You might want to change some of the water as weel just a few pints depentant on the size of the tank and amount of fish just so much as you do whe you clean it out.

Answer 7

That is called Ick. It looks like someone spincked salt al over your fish. You can get something called Rid ick at the pet store to help your fish!! If you do not do it soon though they may start to die!! The sooner you start to treat the tank the better good luck

Answer 8

take them out of your tank as soon as you can and change the water or treat it

Answer 9

they will be fine mine lasted a week before i got the medicine (i only noticed a week after they got it )

Answer 10

Quarentine the infected and keep up the treatment