Dark Posted November 17, 2003 Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 Little white spots that get on fish making them itch, swim in circles and rub themselves against any available surface - or so i thought. I'm having a little trouble even diagnosing after reading a little too much about white spot, velvet disease and even fish tuberculosis. Symptoms: The fish have lots of little white spots covering them, are restless/scratching/flicking against things, and in one case has been swimming in circles for about a week. A slight reduction in appetite but still eating when fed. Probable cause: About a week ago all of the fish in the tank had a couple of spots here and there - I had just added some new plants without taking the necessary quarantine precautions first, and about a week earlier had upgraded from a useless pump to a Fluval 404 (keeping the same filter medium) Treatment: The addition of a melaleuca (tea tree oil) as a remedy, removal of most plants from the tank (plants eat melaleuca oil, and hell, I needed to redecorate anyway), reduction in lighting. Effect of treatment: Every fish showed signs of improvement over the next 24 hours with a reduction in white spots, reduction in agitated swimming/rubbing and an increase in appetite with two exceptions. 2 days on all the fish are clean and clear with normal behaviour. Today they are the same with no sign of change. Exceptions: Out of all the fish in the tank there are two that are still infected 7 days later, the female Port Hoplo and the female bristle-nose plec. The infection has proven to be much worse for these two - the extent in the other fish (male and female) was a light covering of spots - these two are covered nose to tail, much thicker but still singularly discernable spots. The Port Hoplo has been swimming in circles for the better part of a week and has only started to show signs of improvement in the past 24 hours however she is now resting on the bottom of the tank as if exhausted (no surprise there, only worry). The Bristle-nose is a bit more jittery than usual and is keeping her fins constantly active. The confusing bit really is that it has cleared up on all the fish except the only two female catfish – has this disease become suddenly gender and family specific? Their male counterparts are unscathed. Where to from here: The plants were isolated to a propagation tank that suddenly became almost overrun with copepods (not the gill-fluke kind thankfully). Due to reading too much I can only assume that these critters are responsible as they are carriers(?), but a healthy dosage of melaleuca seemed to render them sterile – they did not die when exposed to it but their population dropped off substantially over the next few days. At the moment all I can do is wait and hope that they will get better like the rest of the fish have. Any comments or things to look out for, diagnosis, behaviour or treatments? Please feel free to share it! Oh, and those plants… next time I buy any the flatmates are not having a bath for a week while they are de-contaminated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 17, 2003 Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 Hi Dark, You don't say what the temp of your tank is. Raising the temp will speed things up and get the WS to leave the fish quicker. The only time you can effectivly attack them is when they are off the fish and they break open as only the free-swimming tomites (small white spots.. for a better explanation.. ) are susceptible to chemical treatment. Siphoning the bottom to remove the excess parasites (protozoa) that have dropped off will help, plus raising the temp will help, but check the limitations in temp for the cats first. High temps around 90F will kill the Tomites without chemicals. If using temp control, it should be raised slowly... and also lowered slowly over several days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted November 17, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 the tank averages 26.5C over a day. The recommended temperature for killing off the tomides was 36C from memory - something i dread to think about putting a fish through. I'm also slightly worried about the residual cyst thingees - that syphoning idea is great! I can see how introducing new [anythings] to an established tank can be detrimental in just imagining if i had the tank fully planted. Quarrentine procedures for all introduced items from now on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 17, 2003 Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 I think I too would be worried at 36c (97F).. seems a bit high, but even at 90+ you would need to keep good aeration going. We often talk about quarantine, and many take the risks and often say they don't have a quarantine tank, but the fact is, that 'any' additions from another souce added to your existing tank turns your existing setup into a quarantine tank. Hope the fish come right, and the regular siphoning bit 'is' important to remove all the cysts you can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted November 17, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 well, after getting home i checked on the poor fishies. the female port hoplo had no spots and was resting on the bottom of the tank - i hand fed her a bit of worms and meaty stuff which she scoffed down with abandon. this morning she was happily swimming around with her boyfriends and eating healthily! The female spot plec is still suffering but the sots are lessening, this morning she and her boyfriend were unseen - probably canoodling under a piece of driftwood or something... as for quarrantine tanks i think i'll slice one of my 2/1/1' tanks in half and make a couple of small de-contamination tanks on a separate filter. The threat of having to rip apart my display piece again to combat an outbreak of WS, let alone anything more deteimental, is enough to warrant the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted November 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2003 well, just to finish off the saga, the female bristlenose passed away... i'm not too sure if it was the whitespot or the black-ghost preying on a helpless target, but now her boyfriend is all alone kinda chokes me up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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