repooc Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 This is my first time posting so please be gentle And sorry if I ramble on to long. I first noticed white spot on my clown loaches 4 days ago. I had wunder tonic (Brooklands brand) on hand so dosed according to the instructions. Yesterday (day 3) I did the suggested 25% water change and added the next dose. I have also been adding tonic salt & turned the temp up, but temp is only increasing slowly even with 3 heaters turned way up. My questions are; 1. The water turned quite green after each dose but was clear again after approx 8 hours, is this normal? Running a unimax 500 filter, pretty sure there's no carbon in there. 2. One of the two loaches appears to be getting worse ie. more spots, kinda aggitated and then tired, is there anything else I can do to lessen his suffering? Could I do a dip/bath for him? 3. How long before I see an improvement? 4. The tonic says 1ml/20l for the 1st day, 1ml/30l on the 3rd day. I have been following this to the letter. Is this enough? 5. Also says on day 7 do another 25% water change, should I wait that long or should I do another water change on say day 5 and redose at 1ml/30l? By the way, the tank is 375l with around 300l in it. I have 2 clown loaches, 10 neon tetras, 5 phantom tetras, 5 head & tail light tetras, 1 glowlight tetra, 4 ghost glass fish, 1 male betta, 1 female betta, 1 blue pearl gourami, 2 golden honey dwarf gourami, 2 albino cory, 2 golden algae eaters (not sure if this is correct name), 1 pair swordtails, 3 swordtail fry and a few plants. And yes it is a new tank, still cycling. I suspect the cause of the outbreak was a broken heater during a water change 5 days ago which plummeted the temp to around 23 which probably stressed the poor fishies. Also don't know if it is relavent but 4 of my 5 glowlights disappeared one night last week, found 2 dead, 1 missing an eye, 2 unaccounted for. After discovering this I did 50-60% water changes every 2nd day to try and counter the effects of possible rotting fish bodies. Since then have dialed water changes back to 25% every 2nd day until I started treating the clown loaches now just following instructions on tonic bottle. Thank you for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzy Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 When i do a water change i use warm water so the heaters dont have to fight to get the temp up. Maybe try bigger water changes and maybe get the white spot treatment. You can also use tonic salt which well help. My water also clears after so many hours too so i think its normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repooc Posted August 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Good to know that it not unusual for water to clear that quickly, Thx. Have been using warm water (26-28 degrees) for water changes and now have 750w of heater in my 300l tank, should be able to boost the temp by simply turning the temp up on them right? Have them all turned up to 34 plus and has taken 3 days to get them back up to 26 degress, very frustrating. The other heater only broke because I forgot to unplug it and then in panic dropped it in the water, bang, rather scary, won't make that mistake again :oops: Regarding the white spot treatment, I read somewhere that it would be unwise to try more than one treatment at once, so would you sugges I wait another day do a 25% water change then try the white spot treatment? Or should I just go ahead now? Have been using tonic salt, but have just read in a article on white spot, that I shouldn't have, especially on clown loaches. So much contradictory info out there, very confused now... :-? Sorry for so many questions but don't have a LFS to go to and ask, Thank you for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzy Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 I would not use the treatments at the same time just with seing no improvement with one then i would be using the stuff designed for white spot. I would do a couple of water changes to clear out the old treatment then try a new one , i have used salt with my clown loaches and not had a problem, I can't understand why your heaters are not keeping up considering you got so much watts going. The best way to get rid of white spot is to have the temp to about 30 with the temp being up that high the cyle of white spot will be quicker, You can only really get rid of white spot when the spots drop of and become free swimming well thats what i under stand of it. White spot can takes weeks to get rid on with the temp being low. Perhaps if your worried about putting salt in maybe you could just put half the amount in. I not totally sure with clown loaches and salt but i have used it with out any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollergirl Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 Yea I can't understand how come it is taking so long to heat your tank either? Seems very odd...how old are the heaters? And what kind of thermometer are you using to check temp? Is it in a really chilly part of the house or somethin? (Could insulate sides/back with poly if it is, just for the duration of the treatment, this can sometimes help with heat retention)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repooc Posted August 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 The heaters are all brand new, 3 different brands though. And now I think about it that part of the house is a bit chilly with not having internal walls, ceiling or proper windows at the moment Will try your insulating like rollergirl said. Have 2 thermometers, one is a basic stick on manual type with the mercury and the other is a fancy $50 digital type that has an alarm for when the temp gets to low. The digital reads about 1.3 degrees higher than the manual type and from what I've read I should trust the manual one, so I've been going by what it says. Got some whitespot treatment from the vet today, might try that after a big water change tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 Wonder tonic contains quinine which is a good treatment for parasites like white spot (used to be used for malaria) so no need for salt. The temperature rise speeds up the release of the treatable vegetative form from the white spot cysts that you see on the fish but you need to be sure that you are not stressing fish by getting them too hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repooc Posted August 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Did a water change and added Brooklands white spot cure according to the directions on the bottle (1ml/20l) and dosed again on day (1ml/40l). The instructions on the bottle don't say what to do beyond the 3rd day. Most of the white spots have fallen off the loaches. My question is this; Should I keep dosing, if so, how long and how much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Just use as per instructions. It is a good mixture of treatments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repooc Posted August 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 but the instructions don't say what to do after the 3rd day? Do I do a water change? Do I add more white spot cure? If so, at 1ml/20l or 1ml/40ml? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 The outbreak of the white spot may be due to the tank not being fully cycled, then the heater breaking causing the temp to drop. a drop in temp alone will not cause the outbreak as temps drop and increase naturally. but a tank still cycling then drop in temp could cause this problem. all fish have white spot all the time . it only shows when they are stressed and clown loaches would be the first to show it with the type of fish that you have. white spot takes time to "disappear" - you treat the water but it is when the parasite falls off the fish and into the water/gravel that you are actually killing it - hence the need for water changes and more treatment. you need to treat the water/tank for "at least seven days" after the last spot falls off the fish to ensure that you have killed all the waterborne parasites. raising the temp means that the cycle of the parasite falling of the fish into the water is faster - if you can't get your temp higher don't be concerned just keep treating until the parasite is dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Well explained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repooc Posted August 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 The instructions don't say what to do after the 3rd day? Do I do a water change? Do I add more white spot treatment? If so, at 1ml/20l or 1ml/40ml? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzy Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 I would do a water change after the third day and treat again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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