White Spot in established Tank

Heath Samuel

Evening ladies and gents,

I have been keeping fish on and off for around 5 years, but have never ran into Ich until now, and I would just like to ask those in the know if I am doing everything right.

Firstly, this is an amazing community, I found so much handy info on these forums (a lot of reading while i waited for my account to be approved), you all seem like an awesome bunch of people!!

Rightio, so here are my params:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm
PH: 7.5 (ish)

My fish:
Ghost Knife (15cm)
Common Pleco (15cm)
Glass Cats x 6
Dwarf Gourami x1 (one died, did have a pair)
BN x 4
Cory x 4
Clown Loach x 2 ( 2 died due to white spot)

Ok so my problem was i didn't Quarantine, I have never done so before, and I have been VERY lucky.
The Clowns brought Ich into the tank with them from a LFS, noticed it the second day in the tank.
I raised the temp to 30d over 2 days (normally run at 26.5-27.5 so it didn't take long) and added some Tropical Sales, not to much due to cories, clowns etc.

Just a bit over a week on, I have lost 2 clowns, one covered in fur, and the other 2 still covered in Ich.
What has amazed me, is that NONE of my other fish seem to have it, just the clowns!

Ok so today i went to a different fish store and picked up some Blue Planet Ich treatment and have just completed a 40% WC, gravel vac and dosed the tank.
(I have also set up a quarantine tank for the new clowns I will need to buy so the 2 in my main tank have a few mates when all this is over).

Is there anything else I can do to help out my fish? I have had the Ghost Knife and Pleco since they were 6cm and I would be devo if i lost any more fish, especially those two!

Any advice, information, words of wisdom and encouragement anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated, welcomed and treasured.

Thanks in advance,
Heath.

TallTree01

The reason your loaches were effected is because they don't have scales. They are skinned fish not scaled so treating them is more difficult.
Salt wil only make them very sick because of their skin and make sure not to overdose the ich medicine cod it could be very bad if you do.

Heath Samuel

Thanks TallTree, my GK doesn't have any spots as yet, maybe this is because he has been in the tank for a while and his slime coat was thicker than the newly introduced clowns?

I have dosed per the bottle with a half dose for scaleless fish, im hoping this stuff works!

thanks for your input

Heintz.G

Hi Heath and welcome,

Loaches a notorious for introducing Ick to a tank as you found out, now as for the salt that is not a good idea with the loaches, pleco or the Bn's as they do not react vey well to it.

Now on to the meds you are using only dose at half strenght, or it could kill the the loaches, pleco and the Bn's if used at full strength, and good to see you have set up a quarantine tank for the new additions.

Cheers,
Heintz.G

Heath Samuel

Thanks Heintz,

I forgot to mention on my reply to TallTree's comment above that I stoped using salts after day 3 of the outbreak when I found the first dead loach. I completed a 60% WC as well as emptying the canister filter and re-priming.

Worth noting, and not previously mentioned, I have 2 filters, a Fluval 206 External and U3 in a 180L 4ft tank. I forgot to remove the carbon pads from the U3 and it ran for about an hour after medicating. Should I re-dose a small amount or wait out the 3 days per the directions before re-dosing?

Cheers,
HC

TallTree01

Hmm that is a tricky question. I would err on the side of caution and wait out the three days.

Heath Samuel

Thank you - will do.

Heintz.G

Ok when you emptied your filter I hope you didn't clean it with tap water..... like TT said wait to redoes the meds.

Heath Samuel

No, definitely not.

Ok thanks, will do.