White Spot on platies

[Max19912910]

I have a relatively new aquarium. It is heavily planted as I meantioned before on a previous thread. I brought some platties from a fish shop which shared water and filterstion with a separate tank of neon tetras that had bad ich. I should have left them I know. But I brought the platties as the mrs really like one of them. Got them home with no problems. One week later we had a cold night and my tanks temp dropped from 26c to 23c and 24 hours later two platties had ich. I have since brought two heaters and treated the fish with Internet white spot. One plattie cleared up in a couple days the other did.not. But after a week, a water change, jncreasing temp to 27/28 all fish were clear. But a day or so later I checked and the original plattie has ich again! Just one spot. (They only have one or two before that anyways). Shall I wait? It's been about 3 days since the last dose and I am supposed to wait 7 days do a 30% wc and then does again.

Can anyone give me any help or advice? Last water test showed everything to be fine with 0 nitrates which was good. I will test again tomorrow and update .

Thank you. Max

 

[fjh]

What are your ammonia and nitrite levels?

I would keep the temp elevated to 86F (I think that's 29c??) For 2 weeks to make sure it's gone.
Do frequent gravel vacs during this time but otherwise proceed as usual.

Not sure if you've read this, but when the white spots burst it releases the young parasites into the water. These guys usually sink to the sand/gravel and look for a host. If a fish comes along then the parasite will reinfect the fish and reproduce, causing the white spots again. The young parasites can't usually survive temperatures above 86F, which is why heat treatment is the easiest cure. Higher temperatures also shorten the lifespan of the adults.

 

[Max19912910]

Thank you! Will the heat be in any way detrimental to the fish?

Yeah I have read about the life cycle of ich. But I have a sand bottom to the aquarium and also I have a heavily planted floor to the aquarium so I struggle to hover it. Shall I do more frequent water changes?

Thanks. Max

Sorry not sure on exact levels but mlfs said all levels were good and safe

 

[AllieSten]

HI there. You need to keep the temp elevated for 14 days after you see the last spot disappear. So it could be up to 21 days. It is stressful for the fish, but they tend to tolerate it just fine, since it is temporary.

I would do the full treatment again. So 14-21 days of high temps. Then 30 days after you complete the treatment, I would do another preventative high temp treatment. This is where you turn the temp back up to 86-88 for 4 days. If there are no signs of ich, you can turn the temp back down. That means your fish should be cured. If your fish break out again, then do another 14-21 day treatment.

You could also just pick up some ich medicine. It is up to you.

Next time have your lfs write down your values for you. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, & pH. That way you have at least a record of your tank chemistries. You could also just get some test strips. Tetra 6 in 1 are the best strips. They aren’t great, but will work in a pinch. They don’t test for ammonia, so another test will be needed for that. Or just purchase your own API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It is sometimes better to test on your own. Not rely on someone else.

 

[fjh]

Keeping it elevated is fine for a few weeks. Don't make that your permanent temp though.

Yes, just do more frequent water changes then.

Also, stores will often say levels are "safe" even if they're not. Try to get the numbers next time... 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite are a must, nitrates shouldn't get too high though. With a heavily planted tank, these can be 0 but it's rare.