ken loach Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 heya guys here is the progress on my tank - your advice would be greatly appreciated as i have a few questions... ok here it is... white spot killed off quite a few of my fish... body count : x2 rummy noses x4 clown loaches i managed to treat my tank in time to save : x2 zodiac loaches x 10 rummys (who were all pretty much riddled with white spot) x1 pleco x2 kribs lucky i noticed all of this happening two nights before i went away to japan for 10 days!! that woulda seriously sucked coming home to a tank of dead fish. this is really embaressing - but being a newbie i didnt quite understand the importance of cleaning the sponges in my filter - so i cleaned em (after 1 year - no doubt this didnt help my situation!!!). the medium is next on my list - cleaning both of these in tank water of course. wondering why white spot struck, the lack of a clean filter and the introduction of a pleco come to mind. so everything seems cool now. apart from one seriously stressed looking female krib. she is hiding and being bullied by the male krib and looks all pale and unhappy. any ideas why????? i also bought a stone cleaning device too and i am going to put that to use. needless to say this has been a massive learning curve for me towards becoming a better fish keeper. ideas on krib issues and further key tips on anything i can do at this point? tank was first dosed about 13 days ago. cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishtv Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 Hey I'm a newbie too and have had a few experiences with white spot. It is something that you introduce to the tank through fish (That I know of) The best way to avoid it is to carefully select fish and check all the fish in that tank for any signs of illness. If possible a small quarantine tank is perfect so you can keep an eye on new fish to watch that they don't develop anything? But I am sure someone with more exp will be able to help more. White spot can be very annoying and is fairly common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 White spot breaks out usually as a result of poor water quality or stress. It is like the herpes (cold sore) virus in humans - the fish have it dormant in the body but it will break out in the above conditions. Clown loaches are particularly susceptible to white spot. Filters get cleaned when the water flow has reduced. Wash gently in used tank water. If you alternate cleaning the sponges (only do one each time) you will save a lot of the good bacteria. Just give the other media a quick rinse when required. The male krib probably wants to spawn. Has the female got enough hiding places to get away from him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken loach Posted April 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 hey guys thanks heaps for ya feedback yo C, yes female krib has got places to hide...normally its the female krib wanting to spawn doing her wriggly mating dance! so what should i do do ya think?? just leave it? give female salt bath? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 If the female is still stressed put her in a separate tank for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken loach Posted April 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 she's got her colour back - looking markedly better - still being chased aroudn though! i don't have a second tank :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 It is like the herpes (cold sore) virus in humans - the fish have it dormant in the body but it will break out in the above conditions. Virus & parasites are completely different. I don't believe it remains dormant. I believe in this quote here. The proliferation of this myth could be due to the fact that it is possible for a strong, healthy fish to resist severe infestations, especially if it was infected previously and developed some resistance. While the organisms attach easily to the gills of most fish (where they cannot be seen), the body may be sufficiently protected by a tougher mucus coating. Such a fish could serve as an asymptomatic carrier; potentially hosting many lifecycles without showing any visible signs. Whitespot shouldn't be in your tank if you can help it. Sure it will break out once a fish is weakened, eg; bad water, stress etc if they are carrying. When fish sometimes flick around in the tank, that can be a sign that the fish are carrying the whitespot parasite, just the body is healthy therefore you don't see the dots. At one stage one of your fish had/has the parasite & carried the disease. {Possibly new addition} If it isn't the new fish, then something is wrong in your tank & the disease has broken out. If none of your fish were carrying the parasite, then it would not be in your tank. Anyway back to the point, Virus & parasites are completely different. Virus can remain dormant, parasites{nematodes} have life cycles, whitespot in this case has a short one, therefore dormant is not correct term. In this case brought in with new fish, or it has always been there, not noticed, just living in fishes gills. Back to the questions at the start. the lack of a clean filter and the introduction of a pleco come to mind. That will more than likely caused your problem. What is your water quality like? tank was first dosed about 13 days ago. Did the treatment go on for 1-2 weeks. You only kill the white spot parasite when it is free floating. Pays to always do one treatment after the spots disappear to be sure. As there can be parasite eggs in the gravel, plants... As for the female being harassed, I would say he is keen to breed & she isn't. By what you wrote, looks like she lost condition during the disease out break. Therefore she isn't ready. Just a question too. How often do you do water changes, what % of water do you change? & do you use a gravel vac? A nice read on the parasite, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_FA006 Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken loach Posted April 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 wow! thanks frenchy that was a really insightful post! wicked...that really clarifies things ok to answer your questions... the whole outbreak bought a lot of things to the fore - after this i learnt that i have to clean my filter sponges regularly (i just simply did not know this - a duuuh). after this i went out and bought a pebble cleaner too - used that for the first time a few days ago. i am usually real good with water changes (30-40% every 2 weeks - tank is 115 litres), but in hindsight half my problem was an unclean filter (had not serviced for a year and a half!). the fish look so much happier now! i am going to clean the medium in a few days too. re : doses - there have now been a total of three doses of white spot cure and one dose of a multi purpose cure (includes white spot) which was an imminent solution to a problem that arose at 11pm on a tues night! thank god one of my fish buddies was awake and had this on hand! that's all of the doses i have done. this was all spread out over about 2 weeks. knowing all this, anymore tips for me to avoid further outbreak? excellent observation on the kribs - that makes sense...it was so weird seeing the male taking the reigns for once! normally the female is the superior fish in the whole tank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken loach Posted April 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 hahaha today i got up and went to look at the tank - and the female krib was doing her little mating dance! hehehehe - back in form! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 :lol: Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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