anal fin Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 I have noticed a couple of my fish have come up with white spot I know there are ways to cure this, but I would like advice as to the best way or ways.... I will not use Copper as have seen to many bad things with that stuff, also have seen fresh water dips but not sure how effective that can be.. any help would be great... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamboe2001 Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 do you get melafix over there? if so id use this works for almost everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anal fin Posted April 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 Not too sure I will have to have a look around for it.... I have mushrooms and other little living things in the tank which I dont want to kill with ANY treatment I use.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 best thing to do most of the time.........is nothing, good quality water & it should go away, AY pies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 Melafix is crap. It's based on some sort of (hippy tree hugging) tea tree extract, which does absolutely nothing for fish. I speak from personal experience a few years ago. If your water is up to it, your fish should generally be fine (not always, but usually). Disease is a result of stress. So fresh water dips, usually cause more problems than they solve, as they can stress fish even more, making them more susceptable to picking up diseases. I hear that copper can be very effective if you can isolate the fish into a hospital tank. Of course you have to monitor copper levels closely. Personally, I would not do anything. Make sure that your water is up to scratch, if not, a few small water changes may help. Some people have luck with UV sterilisers. During my initial setup I had small bouts of white spot which would reoccur every month and a half or so. With each cycle the outbreak became smaller and smaller, until now I haven't seen a sign of whitespot for months. During that time I did absolutely nothing, and never lost a fish to it. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 just on the hippy tree hugging side of things, I just remembered a lot of people on the big reefing boards in the US were into garlic as a potential medication for whitespot. Slightly more believable than tea tree oil... but it's messy, kills your skimmer, and it stinks! Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 I almost agree with Layton... I personally would not use Tee Tree Oil or Garlic, I think its total nonsence (for fish) and its completely unproven. Its also a change to their diet, which will stress the fish more, and as Layton has rightly pointed out stress is a killer. What to do. Hrmmmmmm. Hrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Hrrrrmm. What to do.... I would say that if your fish are OK, then they will pull through. This would have been my advice. But I am starting to have a change of heart... Why? My blue tang has white spot. He has had it for over 6 months, maybee 9. He is fat and healthy and it doesn't seem to bother him to much, but some days its looks really bad, others you can hardly notice it, but mostly its BAD. Over the pasy month I have also noticed a few bits on my rabbit fish. Hrmmmmm. When I move my tank in a few weeks time I am going to be in an excellent position to treat the tang and rabbit fish (with copper, or machelete green or something). Am I going to? I don't know! I am leaning towards yes. Simply because its a great chance to grab them, as I have to catch them anyway. Has this helped? Probably not. The real risk is if you do ignore it, and it spreads to all your fish! White spot - I also think there is probably many different types, and perhapps the one I have is not as bad as others? I dunno. Whatever you do keep stress to a minimum, feed the fish lots (helps to keep up their strength), don't add any more fish. Best of luck Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 Generally fish get white spot if they are stressed or if your water quality is not correct. I would check salinity, ph. nitrates. Nice clean tanks that are well skimmed tend to help to keep white spot under control. It fish are eating well and don’t have too much white spot it will go away. You have to been careful if the white spot does not go away as fish will get secondary bacteria problems, it is not the white spot that will kill them, but the bacteria infection will kill them. Feeding them garlic or soaking your food in garlic does help sometimes. If it gets bad, you could try a freshwater dip., but this need to be done 3 days in a row and the ph & temp have to be the same. Baths are for 15-20mins. Fresh water dips are only good for healthy fish as fish that are not looking very well or on their last legs will die as the stress will be too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJackJack Posted April 27, 2004 Report Share Posted April 27, 2004 alot of the aussie guys succesfully use hypo-salinity, which is the only treatment ive seen so far with any kind of science behind it. http://www.masa.asn.au/rtaw/ubbthreads.php has alot of info about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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