White Spot Killing All My Fish

[lil_fuzzy]

I just lost one of my mollies to white spot. That is, she didn't even have white spots yet, but had been showing early symptoms for the last 2 days. I guess the increased heat was too much for her weakened body.

So that's 3 fish dead in 5 days. 1 swordtail and 1 molly left. Using heat treatment for white spot, they seem to be ok so far.

This sucks. She was my fav molly too.

[Aussie]

Take them all out and give them a gentle salt bath, take all ornaments out of your tank and clean them thouroughly, and also a very good gravel clean. You could just put chemicals in, but i'm very much against chemicals as it's un natrual.

[wombat1100]

Just a question for ya, how long have you had the tank set up 4? u might find its not cycled properly yet and thats whats causing the white spot, stress.

[lil_fuzzy]

Only 2 weeks, but I've been keeping on top of water changes to make sure toxins don't build up.

[wombat1100]

Yup I'd say that has been your problem all along, cycling a tank for the right amount of time must be the hardest and most frustrating thing about keeping an aquarium.
it is critical that the tank be cycled before adding too many fish, if you read some of the posts in the Water Conditions / Cycling etc. section of the Technical & DIY Discussion and you will learn heaps
I have found that most people that have given up on fish keeping because they kept losing fish and it was all just too hard , were frustrated because they were never told to cycle their tanks.
unfortunately alot of local fish shops don't ask enough
questions before selling fish to people,but thats a whole new can of worms !


all i can say is don't buy any more fish for at least 2 more weeks and i would keep checking the water parameters b4 adding any more.you may lose the existing fish , but have a read and learn where u went wrong, and rest assured we ALL made the same mistake at one time or another!

[lil_fuzzy]

Thanks for the advice.

My remaining fish is practically radiating healthiness at the mo. Her colours have really perked up and she's put on some weight. She was really skinny for a while, she didn't eat for 3 days, but now she's eating normally and all seems to be well.

[wombat1100]

good to hear , keep us posted please
Dazz

[fishfool]

a guy here (http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f184/white-spot-111736.html)
said you could feed the fish garlic and it will get rid of ich
heheh ich is ick
as in icky
in any case
has anyone here heard of any other natural herbs or plants that you wouldn't ordinarily expect to be placed in a fish tank working to get rid of white spot?

hi btw - newbie here, doing research before plank(ing a) ton (of money down).

[Woodsy]

You mean Ich, as in Ichthyophthirius multifilis....

:p

[Johnny]

I always add 2-3 drops of garlic juice to our tanks on a weekly basis. (Diluted first in a litre of aquaruim water)

You can always use fish food that contains garlic. If you have bristlenose the Spriluna disc's usually always contain garlic as an ingrediant. Simply break them up small enough for your fish to eat aswell. Our oscar's love em (whole) and so far we havn't had any sign of white spot. Your LFS should stock foods that contain garlic, i don't like chemicals myself except the ones used to break down hard chemicals found in town water

[Woodsy]

Garlic Guard (Seachem) is a product that does what Johnny has mentioned here. It's a garlic concentrate that you add to your food before feeding it off to your fish. Not only is it a natural antimicrobial agent, it is also a natural appetite stimulator. Great for fish that you're having a hard time getting to feed.

[joz]

Garlic is great to include if your making your own frozen food,I would include it in my beefheart and vegie concoctions.Its known to have very good medicinal proprties.

[wombat1100]

:pDoesnt it give them bad breath??????:p

[joz]

haha!.....don't know but it does stink a bit.:p

[Mick John]

I read somewhere that Garlic is still unproven but alot of people swear by it. They're not sure if the garlic boosts the immune system of the fish or gives a kind of skin resistance to the parasite. I work part time in a Marine Wholesaler Business and we are quite frequently mixing in the contents of garlic Blisters in the various foods so they use it as a means of prevention also.
I believe anything is better than medications which all but guarantees an aquariums biological equilibrium to crash! Me I swear by the UV lighting. Small cost and less headaches.

[GoGuppy]

..... Me I swear by the UV lighting. Small cost and less headaches.
G'day Mick

What benefits do you get from the UV??
Cheers