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Hi all,

Recently my Balloon Molly has just got some white spots on its body. Also one of my guppies looks like it has the same symtoms but not as bad.

Would you guys be able to confirm to me that it is Ich/White Spot that is causing the problem?

If it is, is it worth getting some medications and is it a curable disese or will the disese spead to my other fish (8Neon, 6Guppies, 2Blue Gouramies, 2Molly).

Please find below a link to the two pictures I have taken. My camera doesent take good enought closeups but the second one is a little better.
http://users.bigpond.net.au/aquaone/sickfish2.htm

Thanks all.

Edit: Oh and hes the water readings as well.

Temp: 24.8 C
PH: 6.0
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 75mg/l <-done a 40% water change last week will have to do one tomorrow morning didnt realise it was that dangerously high.





Last edited by saiya at 16-Apr-2005 07:17

That looks pretty bad. Please answer all of my questions.

What size tank is this and how long has it been running?

Have you checked parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)? If not, can you please check and post numbers. If you don't have one or more of the test kits, take a bag of water to the fish store, but get the numbers from them and post here.

The pictures are blurry so it is hard to tell if the fish have white spot or body fungus or both. Is there some fuzziness to the patches? Either way, body fungus with distribution like that is likely caused by parasites. Ich looks like grains of salt, but if "fungus", which is actually a bacteria, invades it, the areas will look larger.

Yes the fish need medication and when parasites are involved it should be done in the main tank. I would strongly encourage you to find something called Ick Guard-2 by Jungle. It is for sensitive and scaleless fish. You can use it at full strength. If you cannot find that, then you can get Rid Ich Plus and dose at half strength. Your neons are characins, and characins are in a class called "sensitive". Any bottom feeders you have would also be sensitive.

Both meds the I'm recommending contain formalin which is a gas. Your fish may breathe heavily at first, so it is important to watch them to make sure they aren't stressing too much. A little heavy breathing is ok, but if they begin darting in a disoriented way, or gasping at the surface, then do a partial water change.

In both meds, there should be things that will help cover the body fungus that often follows parasite bites.

Don't delay. For every hour that goes by, more "swarmers" can attach to the fish. Also, the med must be in the water for several days after the last spot falls. So, you can dose Ick Guard-2 every few days after doing a 25-30% water change. The incoming water must not alter the overall temp of the tank more than 1-1.5F, especially if there is ick present.

Now, we need to know what happened to bring on ich. It is a stress related disease. Chilling often brings it on and all it takes is a drop of several degrees in a short time. A tank near a window, a water change without careful monitoring of temp, malfunctioning heater are all possible causes. Overcrowding can also bring it on, as can newly introduced fish. If you have any ammonia or nitrite in your tank, it will stress them also.

With that, you need to know if you have any ammnonia or nitrite present before you add meds. You also need to monitor ammonia during medical treatment as some meds can kill beneficial bacteria. Make sure you remove activated carbon.

Here's more on the ich lifecycle, which is important to know unless you want it coming back every few days. Ich is the gift that keeps on giving for those who don't understand it.

http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/disease/freshwater/ich.html

Never use heat with any product containing formalin. There are heat methods of eliminating ich, but it must be into the low 90's to kill the parasite - a temp many fish cannot survive, even without a gas like formalin in the water. The higher the temp, the less oxygen.

Also, temperatures above 76F are not advised when columnaris is possible or present as it is more virulent at 77F and higher (meaning it can spread much faster).

If you can put an extra airstone in the tank when using a formalin product it is best.

Copper is an alternative, but never mix with any product containing malachite green/aniline green/victoria green. Basically, don't mix copper with anything. Products include Coppersafe, aquarisol and others. I like coppersafe. If you choose the copper method, also add something like Pimafix to cover the body fungus.

Copper cannot be removed with carbon and must be eliminated with water changes or with something called a polyfilter or similar. You may want to try the first day at half dose to see how your neons and other fish tolerate copper. The next day add more and observe.


Last edited by Cory_Di at 16-Apr-2005 07:52

Well, from those photos it looks as if your fish has white spot. However, since the photo is blurry, I am not entirely sure, but I still think it is white spot. Yes, this will spread into your tank and infect other fish. I suggest going to your local fish store and buying treatment specially made to cure white spot. You do not need to worry about harming your scaleless fish as you have none in that tank. Anyway, to avoid it spreading quarantine your fish into a separate tank with the best conditions for your fish, then add the treatment. Anyway, I hope your fish get better soon. I hope this helps you!


Jay Hopper

In many cases I advise isolating, but in this case it is not necessary. If any fish has white spot, there are swarmers in the water that are capable of infecting other fish, and getting into the quarantine tank. Then you have two tanks with a parasite having a complex life cycle.

Do you have salt in the tank? If not, I would recommend dissolving 1 Tbsp/5 Gallons of freshwater aquarium salt like doc wellfish and adding gradually over a full day. Just keep dribbling the solution in. This will help prevent osmotic shock from open wounds. It can't kill or hinder the parasite or bacteria at this level, but can help keep electrolytes in balance.

Hi Guys thanks for all the help

Looks like im gonna have to go straight to my locak fish store and see if they have any Ick Guard-2.

null

Is there some fuzziness to the patches?

With the white spots looking more closely it looks a bit like "white bubbles". Looks kinda furry but some other spots look solid. (Too bad my camera is cheap a picture tells a thousand words LOL)

Now, we need to know what happened to bring on ich. It is a stress related disease. Chilling often brings it on and all it takes is a drop of several degrees in a short time.

With the tank it is a 45 Gallon tank which is near a window. However the window does not get direct sunlight but I have noticed that there is temperature flucturations probably because it is an outside wall.

I have not been running the heater as the tank is around the 25C mark without it, but I have just put the heater on now as in nighttime here over in Australia it is starting to get cold overnight.

The only new arrival to the tank was a planted driftwood. Ive had that for approx 8 days until ive seen the white spots. So im starting to get worried as that driftwood might of contained some of those itch. The fish before I got the drift wood were 100% healthy. Ive had the fish since Janurary.

Drift wood was purchased from a local fish store in there own Planted tank section but I dont know if they previously had fish in it.

Do you have salt in the tank?

I havent put any salt in the tank yet. I know the Mollys and Guppies wont mind but im worried about the Neons and Gouramies and also my live plants as my tank is heavily planted. If worst comes to worst ill add the bare minimum to help the fish.

Thanks for the help Cory_Di and Jay Hopper, I really apreciate it and ill let you know how it goes.

Ick Guard-2 is Plant Safe too - a rarity among ich meds. It has stuff that will bother plants under normal circumstances, but they must have used lower doses so scaleless and sensitive fish, and plants could tolerate it.

It's very possible they may have had a lone fish in that tank the driftwood was in. If it had ich, then maybe even died, the ich parasite would then be on the wood during part of its lifecycle.

I don't keep my goldie tank heated, which is 36 gallons, but temp doesn't fluctuate much. If I had community fish in there, I'd have a heater to keep it steady.