Gecko Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 I came home from an outing with my partner and looked at my goldfish tank. I noticed one of my comets was missing. I searched until I found him tangled in a plant while floating on top of the water in the corner. I was sad and shocked to have found him like that. I did a quick nitrate and ammonia test. Showed no signs of chemicals in the water. And then looked at my blackmoor, shubunkin and other comet. The comet was getting picked on by the baby guppies and the other two had white spots. An obvious sign of white spot. Therefore I put the comet in an cooler type container with mid-warmish water to help him get on. I just would like to find out if anyone has any ideas of how they would of got it. I already know tank temperatures affect it and so do the objects in the tank. Anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Whitespot is an opportunistic parasite - any form of stress that lowers the fish's immune system will allow it to take hold - be it physical stress (heat, low oxygen, flyspray residue etc.), other diseases (bacterial infections etc.) or environmental conditions like being in a loud / busy part of the house. Do lots of water changes to start with to dilute any potential contaminants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 the parasite does have a shorter lifecycle in warmer water (cold water = about a week, tropical = a few days) If you put the fish in warmer water alone you will merely speed up the life cycle and the demise of the fish. Add salt at 1/2 tsp per litre. Do regular waterchanges and replace the salt you have taken out each time. The spot it NOT dead once it falls off. It then falls to the ground, divides and ruptures releaseing hundreds of free-swimmers. These are the 'infectious' stage and also the ONLY time you can kill them. Once they latch onto a fish you can't kill them. You also can't see it.... so you need to keep treating for at least two weeks AFTER the last spot has fallen off. WHile whitespot is opportunistic, it also had to get into the tank somehow. It does not lurk dormant in the tank. It usually comes in on other fish, but can also come on plants and anything else moved from an infected tank. Read up here: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml long and technical, but also the best article I have found on whitespot. Most others are littered with inaccuracies (which this article exposes) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I brought some Whitespot cure and put 1 per litre in there. I won't be doing water changes at this stage as I think it will just stress them even more. I'm not very keen to put salt in with goldfish... They might not behave very well to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 goldfish are fine with salt (in limited quantities that is). if you use white spot cure, do water changes - it will not "stress" the fish. it will help them. you can choose not to do a WC for up to 2 days after putting the treatment in. just be aware that it is better to do them. after that you will NEED to do a water change, and add more of the treatment in. PS - remove any carbon in your tank, and continue your treatment even after all visible signs of white spot have vanished. Hope this helps your fish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 I'm not too fond of salt itself in tanks. Each fish is different. I will not do water changes right now, as it will just take out most of the treatment. It's not a very "large" tank afterall. (48 litres) I will, however, do them after the second treatment. This I think will do much of a better job and thus add more treatment after the water change has been made. :) (That's just how I like to think it will work) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 I'm not to fond of chemicals as fish treatment.... have you seen what is in the whitespot cure? Each *species* is different. Goldfish can happily handle double that (ie 1tsp per litre). DO the waterchanges. Even if it takes out the meds. Always before putting meds in you should do a big waterchange, and try to do them twice weekly while medicating. The main reason most fish get sick is the water was not looked after well in the first place. Anyway, those meds break down in a short period of time and bind to organic compounds, so they need regular top ups and removing of muck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 Other fish (in this case your guppies) harrassing the goldies will cause stress, as was already stated. When I first started fish keeping was told I could put mollies in with goldfish, one molly constantly chased/harassed them. I had to remove the mollies. Yup, the next thing the goldies had ich. If you are using carbon, don't forget to remove it as it will only end up removing the meds you add. As I stated before, the treatment I used...I followed the directions exactly as stated, as a matter of fact I think I even emailed the company to make sure I was doing it right! Anyway, I do remember the first thing was a water change, the treat (don't remember how long now), water change again, treat...whatever way they said to treat I did it and ich was gone! Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.