White Spot or Ick Is a Common, But Easily Curable Fish Disease

"White Spot or Ick Is a Common, But Easily Curable Fish Disease"," This disease is also called Ick or occasionally Ich or Ichy. The spots are about the size of a pinhead and the fish can look as if it has been sprinkled with salt or sugar grains. This is more difficult to see. The gill infection makes it more difficult for the fish to absorb Oxygen from the water and infected fish can show signs of being short of Oxygen like ""gasping"" at the surface, or apparently breathing very fast. Sometimes fish will swim down and try to rub their skin against objects. Sometimes fish show no obvious symptoms, but simply die. Omnipresent This is a very common disease of fish. Most fish have been exposed to this parasite and have developed some immunity. The statement that this parasite is present in most aquariums is often misunderstood. It survives by living on fish. It would be free of the white spot parasite. This fish could be introduced into the empty tank and develop white spot. What would actually have happened would simply be that the fish had a white spot infection without any symptoms. If the parasite wiped out all the fish in the aquarium, pond or lake it was in, the parasite itself would also die. In the unnatural ecosystem of an aquarium it can easily get out of balance and kill all the fish. The ideal parasite is one that actually gives some advantage to its host. Stress If something stresses the fish, their immune system often becomes less effective. You are much more likely to get both minor and major diseases when you are under stress. One very common one is simply being caught, put into a plastic bag and transported to a new home. Some people incorrectly assume that the new fish has introduced the parasite. Other types of stress include changes in temperature, pH, dH or any other water parameter. This means that it can only live in the presence of fish. The trophont grows and then drops off the fish, falling to the bottom of the tank and forms a cyst called a tomont. The tomont opens and the tomites go into the water. At 6 degrees C (43 degrees F) is gets through its life cycle in about 55 days, while at 29 degrees C (84 degrees F) it completes its cycle in only about 4 days. At normal tropical fish tank temperatures they only have about 2 days to find a fish to infect. The tomonts on the bottom of the tank are also hard to kill although they can be removed by gravel washing. The only stage that is readily susceptible to treatment is the free swimming tomite. There are many possible forms of treatment. Here are a few of the ways of treating this disease: Medications There are many commercial treatments for white spot. In our own tanks the medication I prefer is Wardley Ickaway, but different people will have their own preferences. Most of the medications are also destroyed by ultraviolet light, so ultraviolet sterilization will also need to be turned off. You can use the half rate at double the normal frequency. Increasing the temperature will make the chemical treatments work faster, but will also mean that the infection will spread faster. But some types of fish cannot survive the temperature needed to destroy white spot. To actually kill the parasite you need to raise the temperature to about 32 degrees C (89. This temperature would need to be maintained for at least four days to have much chance of killing the parasite. Increased aeration will be needed because Oxygen does not dissolve as much in warm water, and the fish's metabolism increases as the water warms up so the need more Oxygen. These fish can survive the temperatures needed and can breath air as well as water. Personally I would not attempt this, and I advise other people not to try. Apart from the difficulty of getting the dose of Chlorine right there is the problem that some places, like the Adelaide Hills where I live, have Chloranimated water. Salt Salt will kill the white spot parasite, but different strains have different tolerances. This means that many common aquarium fish cannot survive the level of salt needed to kill white spot. It can be used on the livebearers like Guppies, Mollies, Platies and Swordtails. Most aquarium plants will be killed by this level of salt. You are more likely to get good results if the ultraviolet unit is more powerful than usually recommended for your sized aquarium. Disease Free Fish It is possible to breed fish in the complete absence of the white spot parasite. These fish are grown in water which is a mixture of fresh water and sea water, sometimes having as much as half the salt concentration of pure sea water. These fish can be wiped out quickly. Aquarium shops will normally warn their customers that the fish are disease free. Susceptible Fish Some types of fish get the white spot disease more easily than others. . 

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Tags

ICK, WHITE SPOT, FISH DISEASE