Possible white spot...advice please

[Tom2006]

Hi

My tank has been stable for a good few months now with no new additons. The other week I lost a royal gramma following a weird swollen stomach (very like dropsy in FW fish). I netted the fish out as soon as I saw it had died the other day. All my fish have been fine before and since.

HOWEVER, this evening I have noticed another one of my grammas hanging out in the corner of my tank (not its usual behaviour). On closer inspection it has some small white spots on its tail. My flamehawk (Acting normally) also seems to have a few white spots on it.

I realise whitespot can disappear without treatment (if it is whitespot that is). But is there anything I can do?

I'm going to keep my hands out of the tank and monitor. I feed a variety of good food including garlic brineshrimp.

If it does turn out to be whitespot I can't treat as I have inverts and no QT tank.

Thanks

[johnl69]

Brine shrimp has no nutritional value mysis and krill would be alot better, When you come collect your mushies Ill give you a bottle of something;) its an vitamin and amino acid complex designed to help fish digest food more efficiently which inturn helps to build up the ammune system.:D

[Tom2006]

Thanks John, I do also feed mysis. I'll get some krill next time I'm out.

Do I need to worry about my fish? Should they recover? I've heard of people losing their entire tank due to whitespot? :eek: The rest of the tanks occupants are showing no signs at all. Up until today all seemed fine. Very strange as nothing, that I am aware of has changed :confused:

Thanks for the offer of your immune booster potion. :D

[johnl69]

Thanks John, I do also feed mysis. I'll get some krill next time I'm out.

Do I need to worry about my fish? Should they recover? I've heard of people losing their entire tank due to whitespot? :eek: The rest of the tanks occupants are showing no signs at all. Up until today all seemed fine. Very strange as nothing, that I am aware of has changed :confused:

Thanks for the offer of your immune booster potion. :D

Ive only had a wipe out once and that was 3 months after I started this hobby. I had white spot 8 times now and have not lost a fish from it. If it is white spot then youve got about 3 weeks to boost the ammune systems to help them fight the parasite when it returns. I wuld start worrying just yet but keep a close eye on them. :D

[Zeus]

Brine shrimp has no nutritional value mysis and krill would be alot better, When you come collect your mushies Ill give you a bottle of something;) its an vitamin and amino acid complex designed to help fish digest food more efficiently which inturn helps to build up the ammune system.:D


Hi all,

I wonder where the myth that Brine has no nutrition value comes from? They do actually have nutrition value, offering approx. 5% protein, but they can't be fed exclusively as the lipid profile is wrong (they are not Copepods which are in the diet of most small carnivores) Feeding gut-loaded Brine, IE Brine plus Spirulina, may be the only way to get some algae, which they'd normally get from algae eating Copepods, into your carnivores. Especially if they don't take flake IE Dragonets, some Wrasse etc.

Tom, your fish may build up temporary immunity but remember, the parasite will remain in your system (a ticking time bomb IMO) and, this is very important, that without quarantine to enable you to build up the strength and immune system of newly purchased fish they are at a much higher risk of being overwhelmed and killed by C. Irritans.

Campbell

[moorish]

i feed brineshrimp which i soak in vitamin drops overnight with added garlic extract.fish can ward off whitespot provided they continue feeding ok,they will eventually build up an immunity to the disease.derek

[johnl69]

Sorry Campbell I ment to say " Brine shrimp has very little nutrition":D

[Tom2006]

Its a strange one because I've not added any new water or fish for a good few months now so I am very puzzled as to where it has come from, if infact it is whitespot. It also only seems to be on one gramma and the flamehawk. How best should I boost the immunity? If I don't could I, or will I, suffer a wipeout?...not sure if I could come back from that.

[johnl69]

It could be possible that one or more of your other fish are "carriers" of the desease, "carriers" dont usually show sign of desease but will allow the parasite to live and spread from it. Your 2 fish that are showing signs of infection may have been stressed at some point which would have lowered there immune system allowing the parasite to attack. The only way(that i know of) to increase there immune system is to remove any stress and to feed healthily in other words supply them with all the vitamins and amino acid they need and since the only way that they can get these is from food then that how we should supply it to them.

There is a thing called "first limiting amino" which basically states that if a fish needs amino's A @ 20%, B @ 40% and C @40% for example and the food supplied only contains amino's A @ 20%, B @ 20% and C @ 60% then amino B becomes the "first limiting amino". If this amino is not supplied for a length of time then the fish will become deficient and this will lead to health problems and a lower immunity. Lysine and betaine are very good amino complex's that can be added to food ;)

Its a very complex and confusing subject but thankfully there are some very good fish foods on the market that supply everything a fish could possibly need and then some.:D

[Tom2006]

Hi John. I've always believed good water and good food is the key to keeping anything aquatic. What food(s) would you recommend please? In fact no worries as I'll have a chat on Thurs :)

[johnl69]

most fish dont have a stomach like ours that stores the food and then gradually breaks it down,most just have an enlarged section of intestinal tract so the food they get needs to be highly digestable so they get get the maximum benift from the minimum of effort too much fat and protein can create liver problems, Too many carbohydrates and the digestive system struggles, I haven't found alot of documented research into Marine fish diets the stuff Iv'e found is based on Koi carp and since most fish internal organs are roughly the same then I try to make my food additive around this research, If I put this liquid in my tank my fish go mad looking for food :D

[Chris, Reef Ranch]

Hi

My tank has been stable for a good few months now with no new additons. The other week I lost a royal gramma following a weird swollen stomach (very like dropsy in FW fish). I netted the fish out as soon as I saw it had died the other day. All my fish have been fine before and since.

HOWEVER, this evening I have noticed another one of my grammas hanging out in the corner of my tank (not its usual behaviour). On closer inspection it has some small white spots on its tail. My flamehawk (Acting normally) also seems to have a few white spots on it.

I realise whitespot can disappear without treatment (if it is whitespot that is). But is there anything I can do?

I'm going to keep my hands out of the tank and monitor. I feed a variety of good food including garlic brineshrimp.

If it does turn out to be whitespot I can't treat as I have inverts and no QT tank.

Thanks


There is a disease called Brookylnella that appears to be clusters of white spots. It is very virulent and I have seen it on Grammas. It is very difficult to diagnose disease. There are many things that are white and spotty. We need a picture really