White dots on fins and tails ... why??!!!?

Question

I have a tank of tropical fish. 2 tiger barbs, 2 green tiger barbs, 2 albino barbs, 1 black rainbow shark, 1 pink shark, 1 red tail shark.

All the sharks look fine, but some barbs are having some problems. They are having whites dots on fins and tails. But they still swimming around.

I have plenty of plants in the tank. Air pump, Filter all working good. My area is really dry, so I need to constantly adding new water into the tank, like every second. I fill up with tab water into two big bowls. Then I put two drops of "Aqua Plus Tap Water conditioner" and one drop of "Plan GRO" into each bowl, then let them sit for two days before I dump them in.

Plus, I have two big golden snails eating garbage in the tank. This is my first time having fish, I've been having these fish for about 1 month, never wash the tank and dont know how to. I just wipe out those dirt on the edge of the tank when the water level goes down.

I need help, please !!! Why are there white dots, they look terrible.

Answer 1

Your fish probally has ich. Ich is a parasite that is ALWAYS present in your tank, and attacks when fish are weak. First go get some ich cure, then follow the directions on the back. Then test the water to see if there is high ammonia or something that could cause the break out. If there is a problem then fix it (as the workers at the pet store)

Ich is always in your tank. When you see them on your fish (little white dots) you can't kill them off, they will naturally fall off. When they fall off they go to the bottom, then reproduce. The medicine kills the larvae to prevent them. THis is the only stage that can be killed by medicine. To speed up the time of the ich on your fish turn up the temperature to 80 degrees fahrenheit. good luck!

If you need anymore help just ask!

Like said already, you can test water by either using a home test kit, or give some to the pet store

medicine i would recommend is API s super ich cure.

Remember to remove the carbon from your tank as this would take away the medicine and make it pointless. Add 1tsp. per 5 gallon of water everyother day for a week, then remove 25% of the water (then put clean dechlorinated water back in) and continue adding 1tsp. per 5 gallons for another week, empty 25% check for any ich, if there is none that put the activated carbon back in and stop with the medicine, if there is continue until there isnt

Answer 2

99% sure that what you describe is 'ick' - a common fish disease. This is easily remedied, but do it soon! Go to a pet supply store and pick up some medication. Usually, it is a pellet that you add to the water, and will usually turn the water blue. Depending on the filtration, you may need to repeat treatment, but certainly follow the directions on the packaging for the tank size. Treated soon, you will likely save your fish. Wait too long and you might lose a couple.

Answer 3

the dots sound like ick (ich). a good aquarium store will sell you some medicine. you might have to segregate the fish till they are well, in another tank. do you clean the tank with something without chemicals? do you reuse the cleaners? try a water filter, either the kind that fits on your faucet or a jug type. that takes a lot of junk out of the water, and also makes your drinking water taste better.

Answer 4

hope your tank is big, and watch out in the future your sharks may become very aggressive towards each other.

what your describing is undouebtedly ich, which is a parasite. go to the pet store and get something that treat ich and parasites, not ich and infections because this will not kill it. follow the directions. you may also want to heat up the water more, SLOWLY to 85*F or so. also, you can add 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt per 5gallons.

do a 30% water change BEFORE treating to remove some of the free swimming parasites.

Answer 5

To answer the part about cleaning your tank, you need to change 5 ro 10% of the water about once a week. Make sure that the water you put back in is either treated to remove chlorine or has been left out for 24 hrs for it to evaporate. Rinse your filter media in the water you removed to get the gunk out. It's a good idea to vacuum the gravel every few weeks to remove excess poop that the filter didn't get too.

Answer 6

Ich or velvet. Very closely related parasites. Not extremely harmful if caught early. You can raise your temperature to 87 degrees with discus if you raise it slowly. You can even have it at 90 for short periods. A temperature in the low to mid 80's will speed the lifecycle of the parasites and help remove them, and at 90 the parasites won't survive. You will need to gravel vac more often because at high temperatures you'll be doing more water changes, and the gravel vac will suck up loose parasites in the gravel. Do not add salt for discus. Disregard taking the temperature up too high if you have some fish in the tank that are incompatible with high temps. For all I know, you could be one of those wacky people who puts a whole mish mash of species in the same conditions and then asks on yahoo if their mollies will survive with their betta and pleco.

Answer 7

Maybe, this is ich. It could also be velvet, which also appears as white spots, but the spots are smaller. Compare these photos: velvet: http://www.vidadecao.com.br/peixe/img/odinium.jpg http://www.flippersandfins.net/Images/VelvetEarly.jpg

ich: http://www.tobias-moeser.de/ichthyo/fisch.jpg

You can also use a bright flashlight to shine on your fish, and if the spots turn a gold/rust color, that would show that this is velvet.

Both can be treated using malachite green and formalin in combination (look for Quick Cure or Rid Ich), as well as increasing tank temperature slowly to 86o. For velvet, though, it's important that you turn off the lights on the tank, because it's capable of making its own food using photosynthesis. Salt (1 tsp/gallon) along with raised temperatures can be used for ich, but it's not as effective for velvet.

Be sure to treat for at least 3-5 days (7 for velvet) after you no longer see any spots. The parasites drop off the water where they're killed, they aren't affected by medications when attached to your fish. So overall, the treatment can take 10-14 days for ich, up to a month for velvet.

Answer 8

It is called ick It is a common problem with fish it is a fungus that spreads from one fish to another. It usually starts in the store where you get the fish. You buy drops at the fish store and treat the tank. It will be fine. you can also have a hospital tank and separate the sick from the healthy but hopefully the others won't get it. Always look at the fish very carefully before buying them for ick.

Answer 9

they have ich (other wise known as white spot) this is a fungal disease that can spread very fast throughout your tank, there are two ways that you can treat this disease. these are:

1) A chemical based treatment from INTERPET sold in all pet stores.

2) An aquariem treatment salt that is non chemical also sold in all pet stores, prefer this treatment as it is non harmful and to the fish especially barbs, tetras, livebearers and other sensative fish.

Answer 10

It's ick. It's a common disease just go to your pet store and get ick treatment and read the directions if you don't know how to use it. My ick cleared up in like 5ish days.

A$H!