David R Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 ...in an established tank, where no new fish have been added for over 2 months, regular water changes have been carried out, and nothing (as far as I can tell) has changed??? I am currently battling [by far] the worst case of white spot I have ever experienced. It has claimed one big uaru, 3 out of 4 clown loaches (~4-5") and a small geo surinamensis. On the bright side, the P. palmas seems completely unphased and unaffected and is as fat and happy as ever. Since noticing it the temp has been turned up to 28C, salt added (not at full strength), 25-35% water changes every 24-36 hours, and regular dosing with that horrible blue White Spot Cure. The tank is a 3'x18"x18", its only been running for about 3 months but was set up using the two established canister filters from my 4' tank, and 2/3 'old' water from the 4'er, so it should have been well cycled. Despite all this, the fish seem to be struggling to shake it, and I'm getting more and more depressed. Other than new fish introducing it, what else can cause such a sudden outbreak of white spot? And does anyone have an accurate measure of how much of that blue White Spot Cure to use, rather than "2 drops per litre"? I measured 100 drops to be about 7.5ml, which would treat 50L of water. Even the big 1L industrial-sized package still only says "2 drops per litre". Rant over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoshark Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 That white circle stuff I found to be crap. I had a temp of 29 until mine started to bugger off, and was dosing with that white circle blue spot stuff daily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoshark Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 Oh yeah. THe way I got rid of it was to turn off my filters completely. Even without carbon they still seemed to be stripping the stuff outta the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 The problem could be stress related.Known cures for whitespot (ick) are Acriflavin,Quinine and Malachite green. Duration of cure is 3 weeks. Raising the temp (3 weeks) also helps as it speeds up the cycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 The whitespot could've laid dormant in it's egg phase for that long. Another good treatment that's not as harsh on the loaches is Copper, usually available as a snail killer like Snail Rid. It kills all invertabrates though, including Ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 For the first time in my ~8 years of fish keeping I tested my amonia, nitrate and nitrite. All were undetectible, so I guess that hasn't got anything to do with it. Does anyone else think the blue White Spot Cure stuff is useless?? It didn't seem to help much this time round, even tho the bottle says one dose is usually enough. :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 Im pretty sure thats the stuff I use and it has been recommended to me a few times as the only one that actually works, otherwise salt, these days I just use salt and raise the temp it seems to clear it off.. Even with my african tank when I had clown loaches in it I used a half dose of the whitespot cure and salt and cleared it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoshark Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/is-thi ... 21333.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 I've got about 10 empty bottles of the stuff in my draw from when it took me ages to get rid of it in my 300L tank. Turning up the temp does help. They could make their product stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2007 Well I'm down to one big loach left The whitespot seems to have cleared up, gave it another water change and dose this morning just to make sure. The temp will stay at 27-28C for good, just to be on the safe side. How long should I wait just to make sure before adding more fish? I'm guessing the big loach will be a bit lonely, so I want to get some more ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 White spot could of just been living in the gills during the time. Break out when fish are stressed, run down etc. Something as simple as a new plant could of carried the disease too. I find this article very good on the white spot topic. By the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_FA006 Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 White spot could of just been living in the gills during the time. Break out when fish are stressed, run down etc. Something as simple as a new plant could of carried the disease too. I find this article very good on the white spot topic. By the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_FA006 Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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