White Spot

[Reefer]

Thought I would get the ball rolling,
Other than luck there is no cure for whitespot in a reef tank is there? right?

[eskimoigloo]

Removal of fish to QT tank, and then use treatment in that, AFAIK that's the only way of doing it, but is still risky.

Chris.

[Tetley]

Thought I would get the ball rolling,
Other than luck there is no cure for whitespot in a reef tank is there? right?


A very misunderstood ailment, I would strongly advise anyone who has suffered or is suffering this, is READ UP ON IT.

Don't panic, don't treat your reef tank with copper.

There is always a heated discussion on a well known BB regarding this subject, and there are some fish doctors who give guidence - LOOK AT THIS INFORMATION - & DIGEST.

ATB

Ian

[brian waller]

Thought I would get the ball rolling,
Other than luck there is no cure for whitespot in a reef tank is there? right?


Hi a uv will help a lot ,if it is left running it will also help to prevent it coming back.




brian.

[MR Teee]

Lots of people seem to think that garlic helps to prevent whitespot.

Not quite sure myself......

[Tetley]

Lots of people seem to think that garlic helps to prevent whitespot.

Not quite sure myself......

Have read that it will boost the immune system - but like you, not sure.

[Tangman]

I swear the use of ozone has helped me not get it, plus also the amount of food you feed your fish as a lot to do with it as well. A well fed fish which is nice and plump will have a better chance than a skinny one to combat it. HTH. Eric

[Kev]

I personally think the garlic thing is a myth. Not proven IMO.

One definite preventative measure is good water quality.

[Reefer]

I havent got whitespot in my tank by the way.

First system I had was wiped out with it though. I used garlic and a UV no joy though.

[moorish]

once they are exposed to whitespot they can develope an immunity to it.the last time it occured in my tank was about 3 yrs ago,it infected 3 yellow tangs and 4 purple tangs.i just left the fish to fight the infection off themselves which they did.as long as they are feeding well and fat it should not pose a problem to them.derek

[flying Jock]

HI

I agree there is no scientific proof that garlic helps boost a fishes immune system.:confused:

I also agree that too many spot a bit of WS on a fish and panic and then go dosing chemicals or lowering salinity that only helps to stress the fish out even further.

Through all my years of reefing i have never panicked if a new fish developed WS (my new powder blue got it for a day 2 weeks ago after it was first added) i left it and it was gone the next day.;)

IMO to prevent an outbreak of WS you need to keep conditions as stress free and stable as possible.

Also the big one for me is to keep your fish fed small but frequent meals (i feed 4-6 times per day) which keeps their immune system in check very much as we should eat ourselves.

With 43 fish in my reef i cant afford a bad outbreak of WS:eek:

Cheers

FJ

[trik]

this is how a friend of mine sorted his white spot out.

Just to let people no,whats worked for me.added a regal tang to my reef system.fish got bullied and stressed so got the dreaded white spot.passed on to my yellow tang and gramma,clowns and bi colour angel showed no effects.copper medication not being a option (inverts) and no quarentine tank available,and every time the net went in the fish dived for cover.not wanting to strip all my live rock and corals out of the system.i tried the following with excellent results.upped the temp from 75 to 82 over a 24hr period,for 5 days.blitzed all the fishes flake food and algea sheets in Xtreme garlic from kent fresh/marine.(i added more than the dose says on the bottle more like 4 drops per cup of water instead of 2 as recommended.)left food to soak for half an hour in garlic then added to system.the fish beat the infection.and we all no how difficult it can be to rid tangs of dreaded white spot.im not saying it will work for everybody but its done the trick for me. website of Xtreme garlic is www.kentmarine.com.

[flying Jock]

Hi

Even though i am not a fan of garlic in fish tanks (will leave it for my bolognese) i see no need to go and pay daft money for products that you can make yourself.

What difference is the garlic extreme made by kent to buying your own and liquidising it?

Seems that we get ripped off too much by a lot of the big companies when we can get things at a fraction of the price.:mad:

Lugols iodine bought in a 500ml bottle costs me £12 which will make 50 bottles of the kent iodine.:eek:

Turbo calcium (calcium chloride) i get in 25kg buckets for free so imagine how many bottles i can make for that:eek:

Trik i like your idea of feeding the fish plenty as i said feed them little and often and you will have much better results.

I often ask other reefers if they would like to be fed once a day or once every few days and many times on the same food and see how they enjoy it or how long it would be before they got ill?

The downside to feeding so much is a regular change or Ultiphos once a month but when you see the colours and health of your fish it is worth every penny:)

Cheers

FJ

[Blue]

Spot on :D , sorry, couldn't help myself. Nice 1 FJ, the natural way is always the best way, IMO. :)

[Kev]

I must admit, I still think the garlic thing is a myth. I think in a system with w spot, at the same time as adding garlic u would be doing other things to improve water quality / reduce stress. This is more likely to improve the health of the fish. Just my opinion mind you.

[Blue]

I suppose that it depends on wether the fish came in with whitespot or wether whitespot occured due to stress etc.

[Kev]

Good point Chris!

Mind you, my opinion is strong about the "myth". At the end of the day though, I respect any reefer who uses the stuff, who knows, my opinion could well be wrong?:)

[Zeus]

Hi all,

I have done a wee bit of research on this and have found that the issue with ozone and UV is that the free swimming Theronts have to be taken in by your pump and then passed by the UV or into your skimmer reaction chamber to be destroyed. Very hit and miss IMO.

Garlic or more accurately the Allicin in garlic is not an immuno-stimulant, maybe an attractant though to help those fussy new comers start feeding. Also, there has been mention that the powerful odour of garlic may mask the pheromone signature of fish, thus the Theronts are unable to locate a host. Although there is no scientific proof of this.

However, Beta Glucan is an immuno-stimulant. There are various flake and granule foods available which contain Beta Glucan which is best fed in bursts of about 3 - 5 days once per month so that tolerance to Beta Glucan is not built up by the fish.

Last thing I need to mention that Marine Ich, Cryptocaryon Irritans, is a parasite, not a disease, bacterial or viral. Therefore simply putting your fish in to a tank where water quality may be a bit low, but Ich is not prersent, will not instantly induce Ich, unless the new fish is already infected. I think some people look at Ich in the same way they look at a rash, which is incorrect.

The only real and true way cure Ich is to not introduce the parasite to your display tank in the first place. Quarantine ALL new arrivals for 4 weeks or in the case of new fish at least 8 weeks. I say 8 as I have read a post by Kelly Jedlicki where one of her Puffer fish in quarantine started showing signs of the parasite 28 days after she aquired it and put it in to quarantine.

Effective treatments are hyposalinity and copper. Don't get confused Amyloodinium, only copper will get rid of this parasite or Brookynella where only Formaldehyde will do.

Lastly, I firmly believe that you can have an Ich free aquarium by taking preventative measures such as quarantine but of course keeping up maintenance, having excellent water quality and feeding a nutrious diet can only help.

Campbell

[Kev]

Hi Campbell

Interesting post mate. Enjoyed reading this, altough there still a lot of "mays".

Also good point about marine ich being a parasite, not a disease. I think that this would stress the fish though, with the onset of disease? I am no expert on this mind you, never being unlucky to have experienced such.

[Blue]

You have been reading up Campbell, this is a good write up and all newbies should follow in your footsteps. It's a shame that most reef keepers can't all have a quarantine tank, due to finacial reasons,or space , or just because the missus just won't allow it:D , or have an LFS that they can rely on for good fish that have already been quarantined:mad: . All they can do is, as above, maintain good quality water and give the fish a varied diet and keep them well fed if they can not have such a facility as a quarantine tank or decent LFS:) .

[Kev]

maintain good quality water and give the fish a varied diet and keep them well fed .

And thats not myth.

[flying Jock]

I am with you on this Kev!

I do not knock anyone who tries garlic although i do not add it to my reef if anyone here has had a good success with it then good on them.;)

I try and keep my reef as natural as possible which means adding no chemicals to combat WS, lowering salinity or giving my fish unnatural products like garlic to eat.

I do not use Uv's as i see no benefit to them either but i would rather rely on good regular feeding to keep my stock in top health.

The colours and vigour they display when fed this way is second to none IMO.

Cheers

FJ

[mixy]

i had white spot or ich one of them and i used garlic guard ,soaked in there food for 24 hours and fed every day the white spot did clear up,
talk to roy at interfish he seems to think it works.

[mousehunter22]

im at present having a nightmare with what i think is oodinium (marine velvet) ive lost ,4 clowns,powder blue,yellow tang,royal gramma,indian ocean goby,bi colour blenny and a few other fish i cant remember the names of ive only got a red sea cleaner wrasse left so as you can imagine i daren't put any more fish into my tank ive had the water tested and everything is spot on all my corals and inverts are fine anyone got any ideas to help me out?

[GIBBO]

What was the timescale of all your losses week/days?

[mousehunter22]

well all was well untill i bought the powder blue then within two weeks all were gone i did try a treatment called oodinex which is a reef safe wide range treatment,some might say there is no such thing but this didnt harm my corals and id used it befor an it worked then,however didnt this time! I do run a UV but it doesnt seem to do a lot.Ive been told that marine velvet is a fish dependent disease and so after 4 weeks with no fish in the tank it should die off,how true this is i dont know as it was the same person that sold me the powder blue.

[Reefer]

Sorry to hear of your losses mate, Powder Blues are well known itch magnets, probably the worst you could of bought. Do you have a quarantine tank? thats the only way to introduce them into a reef system.
When I had Itch wipeout I left my system for 8 or 10 weeks just to be sure. You could also turn the temp up a little if poss to quicken the life cycle of the itch.
Dont rush it mate, you dont want to go through that hell again chief.

[Tangman]

Hi Mousehunter. If i were you i would leave the tank empty of fish for at least 6 to 8 weeks, i know its a bore but if you stock earlier you could have the risk of more problems. Doing this is to give it a chance to recover and get rid of the disease your fish died of. Also when you start to restock buy fish that will be suitable to your tank size and only put 1 fish in to start with, and wait until you can see that it is thriving and feeding well before buying another one ie 4 to 6 weeks later. Then go on from there very slow stocking with the right kind of fish is the right way to go, and try and find a good LFS and buy fish only from them as if you buy from all over there is more of a chance to get disease. I also think Garlic is good to use as it gives the fish an appetite if they are not feeding so good, i am not saying its a cure for whitespot but i do believe it plays a part in helping to get rid of it by helping them to eat. HTH. Eric:)

[Blue]

You can use Myxazin with inverts at a half dose, every 12 hours.