# white spot



## deadlus3d (31 Jul 2020)

hi

unfortunately my new tank has white spot on my tetras.
i have bought live fish white spot treatment and put this in my tank.
instructions say to repeat after four days. my question is should I change any of the water whilst treating?

thanks


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## Andrew Butler (31 Jul 2020)

Hi @deadlus3d that likely depends on the treatment you are using so without knowing what it is am unable to answer.
Some of the off the shelf treatments aren't as effective as what some other treatments are so I will add in I've always found the Esha products to be very good treatments, you would be looking for Esha exit to treat whitespot, I always keep a bottle of Esha Exit and Esha 2000 in stock to treat things if needed.
Effective, shrimp safe and easy to use treatments - I'm sure @Tim Harrison will agree here.


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## deadlus3d (5 Aug 2020)

Hello,

I tried one treatment and followed its instructions with two treatments with a four day interval.
The day after the second dose the Tetra have even more spots so this is not working.
The instructions say not to treat again for 7 days after the second dose but I think if I leave it seven
days the fish will all die. So my question is can I try a different treatment before the 7 days expire maybe by changing 50%
of the water?

Thanks


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## MirandaB (5 Aug 2020)

Which treatment did you use?


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## Melll (5 Aug 2020)

Hi there,

What ingredients are in the treatment?


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## deadlus3d (5 Aug 2020)

i love fish white spot by pets at home.

the package does not show ingredients.


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## MirandaB (5 Aug 2020)

deadlus3d said:


> i love fish white spot by pets at home.
> 
> the package does not show ingredients.



Never been a fan of the Love fish meds.....I would recommend getting some esha exit,run some carbon in the filter for 24 hours before dosing it to remove any trace of the previous med but don't forget to remove the carbon before dosing the esha


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## sparkyweasel (5 Aug 2020)

deadlus3d said:


> So my question is can I try a different treatment before the 7 days expire maybe by changing 50%
> of the water?


That's what I would do: a big water change followed by dosing with a better-known medication. eg Esha Exit as recommended by @Andrew Butler.
@MirandaB 's suggestion of using carbon is good, if your filter will let you. If it's not practical you can get by without, by doing a bigger water change, or else two or three changes.


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## deadlus3d (5 Aug 2020)

will 24 hours be enough for the carbon to remove the med?


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## Melll (5 Aug 2020)

Hi there,

What filter are you running? is the tank heavily planted or a sand substrate or gravel?  Can you add a photo of the tank?


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## deadlus3d (5 Aug 2020)

it is a juwel 180l tank half planted sand bottom


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## Melll (5 Aug 2020)

Here is what I would do,  use a gravel syphon and hoover the substrate removing 50% of the water, refill the tank, remove some of the filter media, replace with activated carbon, run the tank for 24 hours and get a medication advised above.  After 24 hours, do another hoover of the substrate while removing 50% of the water.  Refill the tank then follow the directions to the letter of the treatment.

When the treatment is done, get yourself a little filter an internal one and run it in your main tank, get a storage tub and a spare heater.  When you buy new fish, use the storage tub, the internal filter which has been running in the main tank, the heater, fill the tub up with de-chlorinated water and use that as an isolation tank for the new fish.  That way if they show any signs of illness you have not contaminated your display tank and the treatment is easier.


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## MirandaB (5 Aug 2020)

24 hours will be fine to remove the med or you can do as @sparkyweasel says and do a big wc


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## deadlus3d (5 Aug 2020)

the lfs told me that they treat their fish with whitespot treatment before putting them up for sale.

i think this whitespot has either come from their fish...or some plants bought from ebay....


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## MirandaB (5 Aug 2020)

If they don't have dedicated quarantine/treatment tanks with their own separate filtration then it's unlikely that they are treating for whitespot prior to the fish going on sale.
Always best to quarantine yourself if possible,saves a lot of heartache especially with an established tank


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## Andrew Butler (6 Aug 2020)

Just to confirm, you didn't have activated carbon in the system when you added the treatment did you, as this would likely prevent it from working.

I'm agreeing with a few people here; I'd give the tank a big water change, run some activated carbon for 24 hours (which will remove the medication), remove the activated carbon and consider another water change and  use some 'Esha Exit' following the instructions.

Instructions and information are in the link below.
https://www.eshalabs.eu/english/products/esha-exit.html

Update the thread and let us know what you do and how you get on.


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## deadlus3d (9 Aug 2020)

the pets at home treatment failed so i am now trying king british ws3.
does this kill the filter bacteria?

i have corys so dosing at 40%


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## MirandaB (9 Aug 2020)

deadlus3d said:


> the pets at home treatment failed so i am now trying king british ws3.
> does this kill the filter bacteria?
> 
> i have corys so dosing at 40%


 Shouldn't affect filter bacteria but honestly you'd be fine with esha exit and no need to half dose


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## milla (19 Aug 2020)

Why does anyone waste their money and fish on whitespot treatments? 
Ich is a coldwater parasite that can be totally wiped out in 2 days by raising the water temp to above 86f.


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## MirandaB (19 Aug 2020)

milla said:


> Why does anyone waste their money and fish on whitespot treatments?
> Ich is a coldwater parasite that can be totally wiped out in 2 days by raising the water temp to above 86f.



Not all fish can cope with raising the temperature to those levels and indeed Discus still seem to manage to get whitespot even at those temps.
There is also "import spot" which is temperature resistant....for the sake of £5 I'd rather easily treat with a med than subject fish to added stress of high temps


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## milla (19 Aug 2020)

MirandaB said:


> Not all fish can cope with raising the temperature to those levels and indeed Discus still seem to manage to get whitespot even at those temps.
> There is also "import spot" which is temperature resistant....for the sake of £5 I'd rather easily treat with a med than subject fish to added stress of high temps


Import ich is code for our medicines don't work.   Only ever heard of in dosing instructions.


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## hypnogogia (19 Aug 2020)

Above 30 degrees is a high temperature and not all fish will survive this.  Best treat with meds.


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## deadlus3d (19 Aug 2020)

I've sorted things with king british, the cardinals did not make it though.
Corys, pleco and SAE have recovered.


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## Melll (19 Aug 2020)

MirandaB said:


> Not all fish can cope with raising the temperature to those levels and indeed Discus still seem to manage to get whitespot even at those temps.
> There is also "import spot" which is temperature resistant....for the sake of £5 I'd rather easily treat with a med than subject fish to added stress of high temps



I agree with @MirandaB on this.

There are strains that are heat resistant and require temperatures of about 92F/33C or higher to start to kill it off.




milla said:


> Import ich is code for our medicines don't work. Only ever heard of in dosing instructions.



There are studies going back to the 1990s showing heat resistant strains even back then.


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## Melll (19 Aug 2020)

deadlus3d said:


> I've sorted things with king british, the cardinals did not make it though.
> Corys, pleco and SAE have recovered.



Glad that medication worked for you. 👍


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## milla (19 Aug 2020)

Melll said:


> I agree with @MirandaB on this.
> 
> There are strains that are heat resistant and require temperatures of about 92F/33C or higher to start to kill it off.
> 
> ...


Well in 45years of fish keeping iv'e never met one.


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## Melll (19 Aug 2020)

milla said:


> Well in 45years of fish keeping iv'e never met one.




Excellent 

  Does not mean they do not exist though.


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## milla (19 Aug 2020)

Agreed i"ll stick to the tried and tested method.  Never lost a fish to ich


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