My fish are dying of white spot and nothing helps...?

Question

I have asked this question earlier and got some answers but everything I try is just killing my fish.
They appeared to have ich on them so I got some ich clear fizzing tablets and tried that, did nothing, added some aquarium salt to help them...did nothing. I had a guppy that appeared to have it the worst and last night his tail had a lot of white spots on it.... this morning he was dead with his tail almost gone. It's completely torn up and another of my tiger barbs are dead. I have four more tiger barbs and I'm afraid they're about to die because their fins are clamped in and they all stay towards the top in a corner and haven't eaten in about 24 hours.

One of my barbs just started to float, but now is kicking again.

I have no idea what the deal is. It looks like ich, they act like it's ich, but ich treatment is doing nothing

Answer 1

You might have started treating them too late.

Also do not expect results instantly.

Salt and Rid Ich are the best. Turning up the temp helps too, Ich has a hard time surviving in degrees of 82 or more (82-84 reccommended). Temperature should be raised 1-2 degrees per hour at the most until the desired temperature is reached. Drastic or rapid temp changes can be stressful to your fish.

For the salt make sure you are doing enough. The dosage needed for this is 1-3 teaspoons per actual gallon of water.

I've never liked the fizz tablets. They always seem very fake to me.

At the fish store I worked at it was Rid Ich chemical and salt we used.

This site has a lot of useful information that goes into more detail.
http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/forum/index.php/topic,1743.0.html

Answer 2

You don't say exactly how long the problem has been going on but I'm assume it's been more than a day or two. White spots that spread rapidly from fish to fish and spread on the fish rapidly is almost positively ick. Velvet can cause a thin whitish film on the fish, but under bright light it appears golden or rust colored. Both are small external parasites and the treatments are very similar. I would suggest the following treatment.

Do a very serious water change. Change about 50-60% of the water and clean the gravel well while doing so. This will remove some of the parasites. Clean out the filter and replace the filter media to remove more parasites. Do not put the carbon back in the filter as it will remove your medications. Continue the 50% water changes from the gravel throughout the entire treatment time.

Raise the temperature to about 88-80 F Raise it fairly slowly maybe a degree per hour. Add an air stone or bubble wand if you have one to increase water motion and therefore aeration.

Add plenty of salt to the talk. Use 4 teaspoons per 5 gallons. Dissolve the salt in tank water first and add all of it over the course of a few hours. Salt at this level will kill free swimming parasites.

Forget the fizzie tabs or blue ick medications, they really do very little. Get a parasite medication like Furacin or Malachite Green (Caution: Malachite Green is a known cancer causing agent. Don't get it on your skin!)

Treat for at least 5 days after you see no more spots on the fish, 7 would be even better.

This treatment will clear ick and most other external parasites, but fairly slowly. There are more extreme measures that will kill it faster, but are very hard on the fish. If you want info on that drop me an email and I'll get it right to you.

It sounds like your fish are rather weak already, so don't be too surprised if you loss some more before the parasites can be brought under control.

Hope the helps.

MM

Answer 3

Well, first off, are you sure it's ich? If it's being this difficult, it could be velvet, which looks a lot like ich, but has a completely different treatment regimen. Also, it is very difficult to cure. If you have been treating for ich and it's velvet, you have been doing nothing to treat effectively, which is probably why none of your fish have been responding. This is why a correct diagnosis is so important. Please check out the link on velvet to confirm diagnosis and treatment. Also, mixing salt and chemical medications is not good. It puts too high a concentration of too many different types of foreign substances in the water and can make the fish sicker. At this point, do about a 50% water change to get as much of the salt and incorrect medications out of the water. Use spring water to replace if possible. If you can't, please make sure to dechlorinate your tap water, get it to the proper ph level and temperature and add some Stress Coat. As I said above, velvet is difficult to cure. Most often, the fish die. But, you must try to treat your fish anyway. Velvet must be treated with Maracide or other copper based product. The packages at the pet store will say what ingredients they contain and what they treat. Velvet is triggered by improper ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels, so you also need to get a master test kit and get your water parameters tested. Good luck!

Answer 4

Is your water clean?What's the ammonia level? Do you clean the gravel,with a siphon? How often do you do water changes? Do you monitor the pH? Most fish diseases are caused by lousy water conditions. Try this,draw some tap water and condition it like you would the water you add to the tank,let it set for a few hours,then test the pH. Then, test the tank water pH. I'll bet you will find the pH of the tank to be much lower. If this is true you've got lousy water,and if you do a massive water change it will kill the rest of the fish. Start doing 10% water changes one a day,try to clean the gravel while doing this,a little at a time. When the pH tests are the same for your tank and the tap water then treat the fish for fungus,not ich. If any fish survive,keep the water clean with weekly water changes and gravel cleaning, Change about 25% weekly. Good luck.-----PeeTee

Answer 5

It might sound mad but I had a fish with what I was told was fin rot - to me it looked like ich but the conventional treatments just didn't help. In the end I replaced all the water in their tank with Evian, it was expensive but my fish's fin cleared up overnight and it went on to live for an amazing eighteen years! If nothing else is working for you why not give it a go?

Answer 6

The ick treating thing won't do anything to fish. Obviously the fish tank wasn't really that clean or they ate to much or ate something bad that they weren't suppose to have. When fish have ick there is really no way to treat it. You could try cleaning the tank 3 days a wekk and don't give them to much food. Only give them what you think they are going to eat. Then if you see that the food is gone and they ate it then they must fine. You can tell if they have ick because they will have little white spots on them. Good Luck.

Answer 7

your fish do have ich there is a liquid for getting rid of it cant remember the name it is a teaspoon for every five gallons do this treatment one time then replace all of your water and clean out all equipment this is very hard stuff to get rid of but this is the only thing that will work and if it doesnt you are just going to have to let them die off and clean out everything again and start over

Answer 8

If its is ich try turning your heater up about 5 degrees more. ich love the cold water and dies in warm water. If it is ich. Ich looks like salt or it could be fungus. Fungus looks like cotton. Its it fungus go to pet store and get some fungus tablets

Answer 9

I use the liquid Ick. works real good. make sure you read and follow the instructions! IF you have any fish with Out ick, put them in a safe tank. add ick liquid to that as directed too.

Answer 10

get quick cure!!!! malachite green and formalin should do the trick!!!! they sell quick cure at wal-mart..