Whitespot.......AARRGGGHHHH!!!!!!?

Question

I bought a Clown Loach on Monday and foolishly thought to myself 'thats it, my tank is complete....' Idiot!!!!!
I noticed late last night (after some strange behaviour from my Plec - see my previous question) that my new Clown Loach had 'beautiful' little white 'salt-like' spots on him!!!!! I've now treated the tank with some anti-whitespot treatment. Only then did I notice that Elephant nose fish are sensitive to it, and yes you've guessed it - I have one of those in there too.
He's now (as well as the Plec) swimming in the top third of the tank (not usual behaviour as both bottom feeders I know)

My questions are these...... What's the 'real' outcome here?

Am I gonna lose all my fish again (got a load of inbred/infested guppies last time and they finished off my previous tank)

And, does anyone have any tips/tricks for a happy ending?

(I've also turned the temp up in the tank to 28c (82f)

Many Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Yes, first a 50% water change to thin out the medication so the sensitive won't die of that. Also put the carbon back in your filter for a few hours to remove some more of the medication. With fish sensitive to medications you can try salt and heat. Loaches are sensitive to excess salt in the water so you'll want to be careful with how much you add. I would suggest 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons of salt. Do that only once! When you do a water change during the treatment only add back the amount of salt needed for the new water. That is if you take out 4 gallons, only add back 2 tablespoons of salt. (Kosher salt or aquarium salt are the best choices for this). Also, don't add all this salt at once. Dissolve it in water and pour in a little at the time over the course of 10-12 hours.

Also continue to increase the temperature of the tank slowly. Get it up above 87F 88-90 is a good place for it. Again do this slowly too, no more than about a degree per hour.

Do a water change every day to clean the gravel. OIne stage of ich in living in the gravel, so cleaning the gravel daily will remove some of the ich before it gets to your fish. This is also why bottom fish like loaches seem to be more prone to ich. It's not that they are more suseptible, they are just down there with the ich when it becomes free swimming.

This method will kill the ich, but like even with medications, expect it to get worse before it gets better. You may not see improvement for 2-3 days. Also, be sure to continue the treatment for at least 5 days after you see the very last spot on the fish because it ich is still there for that length of time.

Adding an airstone or dropping the water level an inch or so would also be a good idea to encourage additional aeration at the surface of the tank. This doesn't kill ich, but helps the fish be more comfortable during the ich infestation and treatment.

The link steve v gave you is excellent and goes into addition detail on this and other treatment options.

If you have any questions or need any help feel free to email me.

MM

Answer 2

I just went through this and the stuff that I got that worked for my tank was for ich. You have to go about half the normal dosage though for plec and other fish that are more sensitive to the treatments. If you do 25-30% water changes every other day for the next couple of days that should help. Hopefully you took your carbon out of your filter also. I would go back to the fish store that you got the clown loach from and complain. I have not gone back to the store that I had gotten the infected fish from. Like a fool I went with the store that had the better pricing instead of the store that I trust and respect has better fish. I lost 3 bala's and a blue dwarf gourami from ich. Very irritating. The lesson to be learned is that you should go with a store you know quarantines their fish or quarantine them yourself. It's pretty spendy to lose half your tank this way. Sorry and good luck.

Answer 3

a good way to prevent whit-spot is to get a Uv filter and fit into the tank as you are no doubt aware whit spot is as a result of stress in most cases and has a life cycle of about a week but will kill if not treated. clownloach are also very sensitive to a lot of treatments that are added to the tank water. you should turn the light on your tank off and speak to your local fish dealer

Answer 4

Salt baths tend to fix white spot, and make sure to keep that temp up for 3-10 days after all signs of white spot are gone. This link will give you a TON of info on how to treat with aquarium salt:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

Answer 5

Sounds like your fish have ICK!! Keep the temp up and try doing a water change with a treatment and hope for the best!!

Answer 6

White spot is easily cured if you treat it in time, if you go to your local pet shop and ask for white spot treatment they will know what to give you.also if your fish are tropical the temperature is very important.keep your tank at 80.to 85 ,at this temp it is to warm for white spot,but you do need to treat your tank asap...Good luck.