Is something wrong with my fish?

Question

It isn't eating and it has white spots all over it's body. I think my dad said that it had a disease but I'm not sure. He's some sort of shark i think.

Answer 1

Ichthyophthirius multifiliis is a ciliated protozoan which causes "Ich" or "white spot disease." This disease is a major problem to aquarists and commercial fish producers world wide. Ichthyophthirius is an important disease of tropical fish, goldfish, and food fish. The disease is highly contagious and spreads rapidly from one fish to another. It can be particularly severe when fish are crowded. While many protozoans reproduce by simple division, a single "Ich" organism can multiply into hundreds of new parasites. This organism is an obligate parasite which means that it cannot survive unless live fish are present. It is capable of causing massive mortality within a short time. An outbreak of "Ich" is an emergency situation which requires immediate treatment: if left untreated, this disease may result in 100% mortality.

Disease Signs
The classic sign of an "Ich" infection is the presence of small white spots on the skin or gills. These lesions look like small blisters on the skin or fins of the fish. Prior to the appearance of white spots, fish may show signs of irritation, flashing, weakness, loss of appetite, and decreased activity. If the parasite is only present on the gills, white spots will not be seen at all, but fish will die in large numbers. In these fish, gills will be pale and very swollen. White spots should not be used as the only means of diagnosis because other diseases may have a similar appearance. Gill and skin scrapings should be taken when the first signs of illness are observed. If the "Ich" organism is seen, fish should be medicated immediately because fish which are severely infected may not survive treatment.

Prevention of "Ich"
Prevention of "Ich" is preferable to treating fish after a disease outbreak is in progress. All incoming fish should be quarantined for at least three days when temperatures are 75 to 83°F. At cooler temperatures a 3-day quarantine will be inadequate for "Ich" because of its lengthened life cycle. For this reason, and to prevent introduction of other diseases which have incubation periods greater than 3 days, a longer quarantine is strongly recommended. Three weeks is generally considered a minimum period for adequate quarantine of new fish.

Treatment of "Ich"
Control of "Ich" outbreaks can be difficult because of the parasites' unusual life cycle and the effect of water temperature on its life cycle. Review the life cycle of L multifiliis presented in Figure 1 . Of the life stages shown, only the free-swimming tomites are susceptible to chemical treatment. This means that application of a single treatment will kill tomites which have emerged from cysts and have not yet burrowed into the skin of host fish. This single treatment will not affect organisms which emerge after the chemical has broken down or been flushed from the system. Repeated treatments, however, will continually kill the juvenile tomites, preventing continuation of the infection. The epizootic will be controlled as more adult parasites drop off the sick fish, encyst, and produce young which cannot survive because of the repeated application of chemicals. This process will be greatly accelerated if organic debris can be removed from the tank or vat following treatment. This will remove many cysts from the environment, decreasing the number of emergent tomites.

Answer 2

White spots could be ich or velvet if they are small (about the size of sugar crystals). The best treatment for Ich is something you can get at any fish store (and even WalMart). It's called Quick Cure and costs about $2. Just follow the directions on the bottle. It also helps if you turn the heat up to about 80o if he and the other fish in your tank can take this temperature.

If it's velvet, use the same medication, but turn any lights off over your tank and try to make it as dark as possible.

It would help to know which kind of shark you have - if it's a catfish (it will have "whiskers"), only use half as much of the medication. Catfish don't have scales are are more sensitive to medicines than other fish.

I'm including two websites with pictures & descriptions of these (and other) parasites and infections common in fish. You can decide which of these he's got and know what to do for it:

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/stressdisease.shtml
http://faq.thekrib.com/disease-fw.html

Answer 3

The fish definitely has a disease. You should google fish diseases. When I googled it I found this great page that had a picture of about 10 different fish diseases. You might want to google shark diseases though, considering that sight didn't have shark diseases. Well, my answer is not as good as everyone else's but I hope I helped anyway!

Answer 4

Sounds like ick. Treat with a salt bath and heat. Heat 82 degrees salt 4 teaspoons per gallon for 2 weeks. Change water until salt is out.

Answer 5

Indicates parasites; Ich.
I'm not a fish expert; so check out this link: http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/IchPrevention.html