White Spot on silver dollar fish?

Hello,

We have some Silver Dollars who we think have white spot. The first one had spots five days ago, but seems ok now, whilst one of the others seems to be getting worse. However it does not seem to be affecting the other fish (Neons, Mollys, Pleccy, Scissor tails and Penquin).
We have not had any form of disease in our tanks previously, and this would appear to be white spot, although it seems strange that it is only affecting the Silver Dollars.
We have turned the temperature up in the tank, as read that this might help, but any other help would be much appreciated

Thanks

 

Welcome to Fishlore.

The two most important things for treating Ich are: Temperature (I think the technical cutoff for the parasite's ability to reproduce is 82.5) and water quality (which doesn't affect the parasite, but poor water quality weakens the fish's immune system, making them more susceptible to disease).

You've got the first one.

The second is going to be a bit more difficult. Without knowing the numbers of fish that you have, this is only a guess, but I'm going to go out on a limb and bet that your tank is overstocked. The guideline is 1" of adult fish for every gallon of tank that you have. I know that the pleco alone takes up 18" (unless it's one of the smaller breeds), and the silver dollars and the scissor tails both get pretty big, so if you have multiples of them, it's going to be overstocked.

Further, your tank is only a month old, which could very well mean that ammonia and nitrites are building in your tank, weakening the fish even further than simple overstocking will cause.

Do you have a testing kit for nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia? If so, what are the ppm ratings of each of these? If not, I suggest you get one (liquid-type, rather than strips) and then read this https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

The only way to maintain water quality is to do partial water changes. Until the nitrogen cycle is complete, I suggest daily changes. Once it's done, you'll want to do them often enough to keep the nitrate levels below 20.

 

Thanks for that.

We don't think that the tank is overstocked as it is 280 litres with only 20 fish in at present, as the pleccy is about 6-7 inches and the scissor tails are about 2 inches at present.

We do not have testing kits but will look into getting one.

The temperature is creeping up at present and is at 81 degrees, and we will turn it up further to get to the 82.5 you mentioned.

Would it be better to take the Silver Dollar, that has lots of spots, out of the main tank and into a smaller tank (an old one that we have) on his own until he recovers?

 

I don't know that isolating the silver dollar will actually matter as long as it isn't being picked on. Ich is a parasite that lives in the water, so this isn't something you'll be able to keep the rest of your fish from getting by quarantining.

As far as stocking, we generally go by the fish's adult size, rather than current, as many fish can grow really big really quick. With twenty fish in the mix that you have, it will take frequent water changes to keep the nitrates at a happy level (twenty or less).

Good luck and if you have any other questions, please ask. We enjoy answering them.

 

Thanks for your help, our Silver Dollar seems much better now after raising the temperature (we are currently at 83 degrees), hpwever just wondered how long we need to keep the tank at this temperature?

P.S One of our Mollies has had 7 babies!!

 

Life cycle of ich is 3 days. Four days is the minimum treatment time. A week (to cover two life-cycles, just in case) is a better idea.

Glad things are going well, and I wish I could get my mollies to breed.

 

I'd keep the tank at that temp. for 2 weeks and do daily water changes of about 25% to deal with the parasite in it's different life stages. Also, clean the substrate at least once a week. Increase the aeration in the tank if you haven't already done so, since the warmer water will have less oxygen in it.

Thanks for your help, our Silver Dollar seems much better now after raising the temperature (we are currently at 83 degrees), hpwever just wondered how long we need to keep the tank at this temperature?

P.S One of our Mollies has had 7 babies!!