white spot

[stimpy29]

i have 2 clown loaches with white spot , will this spread to the rest of the tank , containing neons,rummy noses, angels,danios,bristlenoses ,cories

will using meth blue kill my plants? or am i better to give the loaches a bath in meth blue or better to treat the tank with some thing else? its a 4ft tank 250litres

[SpidersWeb]

Dont use meth blue (or whitespot rememdy) in your aquarium.

If kept in good water conditions with places to hide/sleep they'll fight it off by themselves over night and no problem will spread.

If water condition isnt great, (e.g. tank hasn't matured) then the white spot may be a problem. Loaches are scaleless, so salt etc isn't a great idea.

If you have a spare tank I'd do this:

Keep it bare-bottom

Set it up with fresh clean water

Set the temperature to match your existing tank

Put in some decorations or whatever so the loaches have somewhere to sleep

Add loaches

Raise temp on heaters to 30C, make sure there is good water flow, air stone+pump would be great

Partial daily water changes (~20-30%) vaccuming all the crud (and Ich cysts) off the bottom.

If you dont then I'd do this:

Increase temp to 29-30C

Make sure there is good water movement

Do daily or every 2nd day partial water changes (20%) using a gravel vac

They'll fight it off straight away. I purchased some Clown Loaches from a store that didn't look after them very well once, skinny as, got them home and they developed Ich/White Spot overnight, but the next day it was gone. In good conditions they'll do it by themselves

High temps increase the life cycle of the Ich so it has less chance to re-infect.

Clean water improves the fishes natural immune system.

As part of its life cycle Ich sits in the gravel, so vaccing it out reduces the numbers.

[stimpy29]

it was probably caused by stress as they are fairly new additions to the tank , the smaller one was a bit skinny to start with but he is doing well , hoovering up blood worms , they are both still eating ok , will they pass it on to the others?

[Alan]

Can't see how that's gunna work Spider.

You have to kill the parasites as they move back from hatching on the bottom and heading out to find a host fish.

If they aren't killed at this point, it just means you get a heap more reinfestations, and they really multipy out, final result. Death, and that goes for all the fish too.

I'd go for a separate tank to treat the clowns, because they have to have less medication, cause they are susceptable to the chemicals.

Then dose the tank according to instructions.

I do agree with raising temperature, gravel vac, and water changes, but the meds have to be used.

If you got away with it Spider, you were lucky IMO.

[SpidersWeb]

If everything is in good order and your other fish are healthy then it shouldn't be a problem, their natural immune system will keep it at bay. Raising the temp and doing extra gravel vacs will decrease the risks by a fair margin.

If the problem does spread to other fish, you may want to setup a treatment tank.

Edit:

Alan replied as I was typing.

Ah ok, yeah I've never had a problem with it spreading like you see in pet stores etc. Oh well treatment tank it is then. Alan has been keeping fish a lot longer than I have, so I'd certainly take his advice