Gold fish - white spots?

[matthewY]

crap month for me, lost one of my high-fin discus a few days ago after a weeks battle....

anyway, I've checked my cold water pond todaya nd noticed everyone in there seems to have white spots (or ick, I cant quite tell teh difference or if they are teh same thing)....

Fish have been in tehre quite happly for 2 years and generally dont require much attention. I added 2 additional fish about 3 montrhs ago and kept a good eye on them at teh time... all was looking good. Prob been neglected for the alst 2 or so weeks due to other issues....

So I'm planning on doing a big water change and adding salt.

I also have furan-2 but no whitespot cure yet (can pick up today).

Whats teh best way of treating this?

can salt be used with whitespot cure or furan-2?

Would furan-2 treat whitespots / ick?

Pond is only 120L or so.....

Thanks

[MarkLB]

Is it on all your fish? Is it all over the fish?

The reason I ask is that male Goldfish get white spots on the Pectoral fins and the gill plates when they are of breeding age.

[matthewY]

on all of them in differnt degrees and generally all over. I have 2 larger gold fish (15 cm or so) and n2 smaller ones (5 or so cm). one of the larger ones has fin rot too :-(. All except the fin rot one is still very active which is prob why I didnt notice it at first...

I've just done a partial water change and added salt. plan to change more water tonight.

As its an outdoor pond, I've read that tempertuire would help increare the lifecycle of whitespots and therefore allow quicker time to get rid of them, howver the pond temp would be about 10 degrees.... should I move the guys inside and treat in a tank where I can up the temp? Also, if upping the temp, what rate should I Up it at?

thanks

[Caryl]

If you have a suitable container I would put the fish in it and treat them there, cheaper. If you leave the pond empty of fish for about 2 weeks the white spot cycle will die on its own as they need fish as hosts.

But if the fish all have white spot and fin rot that indicates something really bad is off with your water quality. Possibly rotting vegetation on the bottom? I would take the opportunity to give the pond a good clean out.

[matthewY]

empty out the pond today, water down the bottom was pretty bad... think that might explain it :-(

Do you know if snails would carry whitespots? would I need to clean out the snails too if I refull the pond?

thanks

[Caryl]

Sorry I have no idea if snails can host the white spot but I don't think so. Have a look at this site as it says they embed beneath the skin of fish.o mention of other possible hosts like snails.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdwspot.htm

Perhaps someone else knows?

[Caryl]

Got this reply from a vet....

The organism that causes white spot (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) is an obligate parasite. It can not live without a fish host. Without a fish host the free floating stage of the life cycle will die in 48 hours. It will not live on a snail as far as I could find.

The organism is a ciliated protozoan. It doesnt form spores like a fungus. It attaches to the fish and reproduces inside a cyst like structure. When the cyst is full and mature it ruptures and releases the free floating tomite form are just immature organisms. The tomites are not a dormant spore but are rather a living protozoal orgamisn that swims around in the water looking for a host.

If she removes the fish she can treat them in a smaller area. Water temp is definatly a factor. Higher temps will speed up the life cycle and help the treatment go faster. 5-7 days f no fish in the pond should kill them off as long as she can ensure that there are no fry in there that she cant see.