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I have a plecostomas, Ive had it a few weeks now, and I havent seen this before, it's got white dot things on it, not its skin, but like bubble looking things... is this normal or should it be something I need to look into?

X

If you have only had it a few weeks contact or take it back and see what they have to say also take a good water sample with you.

If it is some thing nasty the quicker it is treated the better, if not no need to worry.

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Keith

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Do they look something like white pimples?

It sounds like you might have white spot/ich.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi,
If the fish has "Ich" then the spots will look like
grains of salt on the fish. If it is a fungus then
they will be fuzzy white spots on the fish.
Determine what the spots look like and treat appropriately.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yeah, without photos, it might be tough to tell exactly but it does sound like Ich/White Spot.

I don't know much about Plecos but I have treated Ich with a Med called QuIck Cure, amde up of Formalin and Malachite Green. But, not knowing much about Plecos, I am not sure which meds are ok to use with Plecos and which aren't. I like the suggestion about contacting your LFS where you got the Pleco.

Also, you might post a question in the Bottom Feeders Forum as well, more Pleco peeps would be likely to be found there...

Good luck!

My internet's been down and I havent had two seconds to do anything about my plecostomas, I want to thank everyone who left comments and suggestions... It's a little late for me to take action unfortunatly.

I got home from work tonight and my plecostomas was laying on the gravel dead :/ It did look like little grains of salt on his body, and I tried to get pictures when I first noticed it, but because he kept hiding and moving when the camera got in view, it was unsucsessful...

Is this sickness spreadable? I have a goldfish in the tank that was with him, I'd like to catch this before it claims my goldfish as well...
This is my current fishtank size:
[url=http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0218081141cn0.jpg][/url]

This is what my goldfish looks like at the moment, photo taken tonight..
[url=http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0221082244rk9.jpg][/url]

I dont know if any of that helps really... but i hope it does :/

Thanks everyone, again I appreciate your help.

X

Yep, we're definitely talking ich here. There is a TON if information out there on treatment. Generally, the routine is to raise tank temperature to about 80F (26C), remove carbon, and treat with an ich med like Quick cure.
However, I have no experience with goldfish, I don't know if it's still okay to raise temperature like that with a coolwater fish. Hopefully someone will come along who does know.
My last bit of advice to you is to get a bigger tank! Goldfish are always thought of as being really easy fish that you can put in a tiny tank... But this is simply not true. 20 gallons per goldie, minimum, please...

~~<><~~><>~~
"When push comes to shove, you gotta do what you love, even if it's not a good idea"

You can bump the temperature a bit with goldies. as with all things with fish, go slowly. Don't try and jump it 10*C in a day.

The increase in temperature does two things depending on how high you go. Firstly it speeds up the life cycle as medications that kill ich are most effective at a certain point in the life cycle, when the things are free-swimming and looking for another host. Secondly, IF you turn it up high enough (currently I believe it is about 86*F/30*C) it gets to the point where the ich cannot function and reproduce and it just dies out without drugs.

If you can't increase the temp then just treat normally. You will be dealing with a slower life cycle so you may need to treat for a longer period or do two consecutive treatments, but see how you go

If you can increase the temp, DO NOT do so without adding the medication. Unless it is increased to the level mentioned that will inhibit reproduction of the ich then all you end up doing is making it breed faster, and that is bad news for the fishies.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Here is some thing I came across recently it might help you.



The Goldfish and Aquariums Board (GAB)

Goldfish and Aquarium Board Articles
Treating Ich with Salt
By Mango Fish
Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilis), commonly known as white spot disease, is a protozoan parasite with a complex lifecycle. Ich can be seen as is white cysts that look like grains of salt sprinkled on the fish's body and fins. These cysts (trophonts) drop off the fish and release 200 to 1000 tomites (the free swimming stage of ich) into the water. The free swimming tomites, invisible to the naked eye, will then seek a live host. When tomites attach to a host, they mature into trophozoites and bury themselves into and under the skin of the fish and become trophonts (white cysts) and the cycle starts again. Understanding the life cycle of ich is beneficial because it is only during the free swimming stage that you can kill this parasite, so even if the spots are gone you will still have treat for several days to make sure that all the swimmers are gone. Also, we can reduce the amount of ich present by vacuuming the bottom of the tank/gravel bed since this should remove many of the mature trophonts just released from the host. The ich life cycle will be faster at higher temperatures so to speed up the development of the trophonts it is recommended to keep the temperature in the upper 70s.
Symptoms: Infested fish display the typical signs of irritation (clamped fins, fin twitching, and flashing--swimming quickly against objects in the tank) and may look like they have been sprinkled with salt. In the early stages of infestation, you might only see a few trophonts (white spots). Be sure that what you're seeing is ich because male goldfish get breeding stars on their gill covers and on the leading ray of their pectoral fins which may be mistaken for ich. If the fish is heavily infested, it is likely to sit on the bottom of the tank and wait for the end to come. With Koi you may need to scrape and scope the fish to properly identify the parasite because they are less likely to show the spots characteristic of ich. Ich can be avoided with a proper quarantine protocol.
Here are some other pictures of what Ick looks like:
· http://www.cosmos.com.sg/images/ichgold.jpg
· Micropscopic picture of ich
Treatment: Salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) is a much gentler medication than Ich medications commonly sold in pet stores. Some commercial parasite medications can push a sick fish over the edge. Salt will not harm your filter bacteria, it’s cheap and will not harm humans coming into contact with it; however, not all fish tolerate salt. We recommend it only for cold water fish like Goldfish and Koi. Tropical fish are best treated with a malachite/formalin combination like Rid Ich or Quick Cure. Salt may also kill some plants, so you will need to remove any live plants into another container and disinfect them (Potassium Permanginate works well for disinfecting plants). The salt must be fully dissolved in tank water before adding it to the tank. Most any salt will work fine. Rock salt or pickling salt work great and are cheap. Avoid using salt that contains yellow prussiate of soda
It is very easy to treat Ich with salt. You’ll need a concentration of 0.3% salt (3 teaspoons per gallon) to eradicate the Ich. To reach 0.3% salt you would add 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon of water to your tank 3 times, each 12 hours apart. Predissolve the salt in tank water and then add slowly to a high water flow area.
It is important to keep track of the salt going into your tank because salt does not evaporate and is not removed with activated carbon. It is removed only with water changes. To keep the salt at the desired level, when you do a partial water change, you must salt the new water to the same concentration as the tank water. For example, if you remove 10 gallons of water you will need to add 30 teaspoons of salt to the change water to keep the tank at 0.3%.
While treating Ich, you will need to vacuum the entire bottom of the tank each day to remove any cysts that have fallen off. This will reduce the amount of tomites swimming in the tank and will help to clear the Ich faster. Heating the tank to 78-80*F will speed up the Ich life cycle and boost the fish’s immune system response. At that temperature Ich has a life cycle of 3-5 days. Typically, your fish will look like it is getting better then another wave of spots will appear. Each cycle is usually worse than the one before. But if you keep up the water changes and salt ich will clear within a week. Maintain salt at 0.3% for 7 days after the last cyst drops off the fish. This will ensure that the Ich is indeed gone. If your tank temperature is lower, the life cycle can extend into weeks so you will need to adjust your temperature or your treatment regime accordingly.
Be sure to keep your water quality excellent during this time. Ich will stress your fish so you need to ensure optimum water quality. As trophonts leave the host, they leave behind small exit wounds. That coupled with the stress suffered by the fish can give bacteria and fungi an unfair advantage, so it is important to watch out for any signs of secondary infection shortly after a bad case of ich. Here are some links that may help:
· Betty's article on water quality
· REC's article on Quarantine
· Doc Johnson's articles on Ich and on Salt


Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW