34 replies to this topic

[booze]

Hi guys

Got a bit of a problem with my L066’s. I bought 5 2-3cm L066’s about 3 weeks ago and put them in my pleco/catfish tank.

Anyways, yesterday we noticed what I BTB an outbreak of whitespot. So yesterday morning I did a water change and added some methylene blue which contains no copper. The guy at the LFS said it would be better for the plecos.

Anyway, later that day one of the L066’s carked it and today another one carked it along with a black lancer catfish.

My question is, what do you think killed the fish? The meth blue or something else? I have a sunshine, sailfin, 3 other 066’s, 2 x peppy BN, 2 x l168’s and another black lancer catfish that seem to be going ok ATM (although some do have a few white spots on them). Fingers crossed.

And if it is the meth blue that killed them, is there another way to treat the white spot without harming and losing these damn expensive fish!!!
Thanks for your time

booze

[cobby]

Sorry to here about that mate :cry:

[benckie]

ouch but from what i here your not the only one lossing freshly imported plec,s

[booze]

ouch but from what i here your not the only one lossing freshly imported plec,s

yeah i know, its strange though. they were looking really healthy and hapy until two days ago!!!!!! ahhhhhh!
so do yuo think it was the meth blue that ended up killing them? i dont think it was...that stuff is meant to be used oin eggs isnt it!?

[Fox]

Did you use at a half dose?

[booze]

Did you use at a half dose?

i used 1/4 dose, cos i was gonna put another 1/4 dose in the next day. but then two of em died so i havent put any more in!!!

[madasa]

Methylblue wouldnt be my first choice and I was under the impression that it was no longer sold.

There are more conventional treatments for white spot such as salting and increasing heat. Whitespot can only be killed during the free swimming part of its cycle which is usually after about 10 days.

My advice;

Salt at 1tbsp to 10UK galloons

increase heat to 30

increase aeration of ther water to compensate for reduced O2 by increased temp

water change 25% every two days - replace only ther salt in the water changed.

Continue treatment for 10 days to be on the safe side, even though 7 should be plenty but i would play it safe. (Whitespot normally free swims at 4 days when it attaches to othe hosts).

The increased heat will promote the whitespot cycle, kill it, promote the fishes metabolism to promote healing. An increase in temperature alone should suffice but do with salt too.

White spot occurs as a consequence water quality or introduction from a new fish. There is a suggestion that it might lie dormant in tanks but become prominent when a fish is stressed (water quality) and / or their immune system comprimised.

You might need to rethink about your tank husbandry - what is your tank volume and filtration plus stock and size of occupants, maintenance schedule and amount. Also filter turnover per hour - if you provide me with this I will tell you what I would be doing in regard to your tank were it mine.

Thanks

Pete

[Peckoltia]

Meth blue wont be killing your L's. I have used to it many times before with no ill effect. Especially not at 1/4 dose.

[booze]

thanks for the very informative reply pete.
i have upped the temp, areation and water changes to every two days now

my maintenance and filtration is pretty good. this is the first time ive had an outbreak.

i do water changes every 5-7 days (about 30-40%), add a capful of prime after every water change.

the tank is a 4 footer with a 1500l/hr canister filter and a 1400l/hr internal filter running a venturi, plus two airstones (usually only one but want some additional aeration atm).

how does this sound? im off to do a water change

[madasa]

Sounds perfect - over filtered with reasonable weekly water changes. I assume you are not overstocked - how many fish and what size are in there?

All else I can add is that I hope you gravel vac weekly as well as plecs and cats are poop machines. Also - never clean filters at the same time (sorry if im teaching you to suck eggs).

Prime is good stuff.

I can only assume you have recently introduced a fish which you failed to quarantine first and they brought whitespot with them.

[booze]

Sounds perfect - over filtered with reasonable weekly water changes. I assume you are not overstocked - how many fish and what size are in there?

All else I can add is that I hope you gravel vac weekly as well as plecs and cats are poop machines. Also - never clean filters at the same time (sorry if im teaching you to suck eggs).

Prime is good stuff.

I can only assume you have recently introduced a fish which you failed to quarantine first and they brought whitespot with them.

not overstocked atm - sunshine pleco, sailfin, 3 other 066’s, 2 x peppy BN, 2 x l168’s and another black lancer catfish. all except the sunshine are small - 5cm maybe. i know their going to get much bigger, but they all have their own hiding spots so theyre happy atm

thanks again!

[Scat]

Any ideas yet on what happened booze?

Cheers
Craig

[booze]

Any ideas yet on what happened booze?

Cheers
Craig

nah not really hey, no others have died yet so fingers xd. see how we go in the next few days...ive ordered some tri-sulfur which will be here monday hopefully and add that to the tank as well.
anyone had any success with tri-sulfur tabs and Protozin?

[benckie]

yeah but not on l numbers

[Mr_docfish]

Be careful with products that make the water blue or green (meth blue and malachite green) as these have the tendency to cause trouble with your biological filter. So can tri-sulpha.
Adding these products to poor water quality could make a bad situation worse.
Madasa is on the right line of good water quality, so follow pete's info to the word. Check your water quality first before adding any meds. (in particular pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) If you are 100% sure you have whitespot (posting photos are useful if you can) and your water is the best you can provide, then try something (I am aware you are in Bunbury so try Protozin as an option if you have it) until you can get the tri-sulpha, don't wait til monday. The tri-sulpha has the added bonus of keeping the secondary bacterial infections down. Keep testing the water daily and keep the water changes up.
I have seen fish shrug off whitespot without treatment, just good husbandry. But if fish are stressed, you need to treat and keep it up for at least 7-10 days, and don't bother treating if the water quality is bad, you will just kill the fish faster.

Mr_docfish

[Iamsam]

be carefull with triple sulfur it wiped out my clown loaches before i could even finish reading the bottle were it said do not use on clown loache :roll: its very very strong stuff

sam

[booze]

Be careful with products that make the water blue or green (meth blue and malachite green) as these have the tendency to cause trouble with your biological filter. So can tri-sulpha.
Adding these products to poor water quality could make a bad situation worse.
Madasa is on the right line of good water quality, so follow pete's info to the word. Check your water quality first before adding any meds. (in particular pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) If you are 100% sure you have whitespot (posting photos are useful if you can) and your water is the best you can provide, then try something (I am aware you are in Bunbury so try Protozin as an option if you have it) until you can get the tri-sulpha, don't wait til monday. The tri-sulpha has the added bonus of keeping the secondary bacterial infections down. Keep testing the water daily and keep the water changes up.
I have seen fish shrug off whitespot without treatment, just good husbandry. But if fish are stressed, you need to treat and keep it up for at least 7-10 days, and don't bother treating if the water quality is bad, you will just kill the fish faster.

Mr_docfish

yeah the guys on a pleco forum told me bout the meth blue after i put it in, doh! 8O
i did a water change yesterday and am going to do another tomorrow...i also added a little aquarium salt. the temp is also sitting at about 29/30 degs cels.
ive ordered both the tri-sulpha and protozin. not sure what im going to use atm...people are saying both are good, so not sure what im going to use yet
sam - no loaches in the tank so should be sweet
thanks for the help

[Mr_docfish]

*Have you checked your water qualities yet?
There would be more advantages to using sulpha tabs (controls secondary bacterial infections as well as the whitespot) as long as the filter can handle it (getting back to the water quality).
As for protozin, I have not been able to get confirmation as to the active ingredients and concentrations of those ingredients (protected information / patent - whatever... etc). So if it were me (I'm a bit pedantic) I would take caution in its use because I cannot be sure of its effect on other products that I might use in the aquarium. In other words, use on its own and keep an eye on the fish and do water changes if any fish act adversely. I can say however, I have used Protozin in the past and at the time it was a top quality product - just read the instruction leaflet first.
*Can you post any digital pics of the fish with spots, in particular the black lancer (very prone to spots).
*And do you have anything else at hand to use against white spot while you wait for your sulpha and protozin?

The more info you can provide, the more I can help

Mr_docfish

[madasa]

*Have you checked your water qualities yet?
There would be more advantages to using sulpha tabs (controls secondary bacterial infections as well as the whitespot) as long as the filter can handle it (getting back to the water quality).
As for protozin, I have not been able to get confirmation as to the active ingredients and concentrations of those ingredients (protected information / patent - whatever... etc). So if it were me (I'm a bit pedantic) I would take caution in its use because I cannot be sure of its effect on other products that I might use in the aquarium. In other words, use on its own and keep an eye on the fish and do water changes if any fish act adversely. I can say however, I have used Protozin in the past and at the time it was a top quality product - just read the instruction leaflet first.
*Can you post any digital pics of the fish with spots, in particular the black lancer (very prone to spots).
*And do you have anything else at hand to use against white spot while you wait for your sulpha and protozin?

The more info you can provide, the more I can help

Mr_docfish

He has salt at (1tbsp to 10G), a thermometer, fresh water and conditioner. Need I say more?

[booze]

just did another water change and gravel vac (without moving too much furniture cos i didnt want to stress fish out more than necessary) and added a bit more prime.
from the plecs that i could see, the 168's are the only ones with white spot now.
i couldnt see the black lancer cos hes VERY good at hiding...
HOPEFULLY things are on the mend. ill do another water change and gravel vac on monday and hopefully my meds are here and i can add them.
the pleco breeders on another forum are telling me to use so protozin, so im gonna add a treatment of that me thinks.
unless i pull the tank apart, im not going to be able to get any pics. so they will have to wait, unless my fish want to cooperate
thanks