Forum > Ick Or White Spot?

Cyan

May 10 2005, 12:15 PM

My red cap has a small white dot on its wen. Its very small and is kind of fluffy. Ive only just noticed it and have looked on the disease decriptions, on the site. From what ive read about ick i think it may be that, but im also familiar with white spot.
Is white spot the same as ick and if so, will white spot medication help? with every water change i use tap water conditioner, stress coat, salt, and accu clear. I also use ammonia chips in my filter, to help keep the water clear and i wash the filter out, each time i change the water.
Any advice would he helpful. Thanks

Cyan

May 10 2005, 12:22 PM

My red cap has a small white spot on its wen. Its kind of fluffy in appearence but it is very small. Ive only just noticed it and was wondering if it was ick or white spot?? I am familiar with white spot, but have never treated ick. Whats the best way to treat it-without stressing out the fish too much? and will white spot medice help or is there a specific traetment?
With every water change, i use stress coat, accu clear, salt, tap water conditioner. I also wash out the filter when i change the water and use ammonia chips in the filter to help keep the water clean.

Any info would be really helpful

Thanks

Lozbug

May 10 2005, 12:23 PM

yes white spot & ick & ich are all the same thing. If this is just one dot then it is not ich.

could you get a photo?

when you say "wash the filter out" how do you mean? do you wash it in tap water or in tank water?

Cheers

EDIT: you fishes are way cute

sandy

May 10 2005, 12:33 PM

wen growth can appear as white spots, so i would just keep an eye on the fish just now to make sure it doesnt start to look any different.
sometimes bits of dirt can become trapped in he wen, but i dont know what that would look like, but hold back from any treatment just now.

emmahj

May 10 2005, 01:28 PM

Hi Cyan

Firstly, a white spot or two appearing on the wen from time to time is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. It isn't a symptom of disease; it is just a sign of wen growth and will not hurt the fish. No need to treat with anything.

Second, ich and whitespot are just different names for the same disease (whitespot is the UK name for it).

I recommend treating this with a 0.3% salt solution and increasing the tank temp to around 78F (not that you need to treat if there is only one spot on the wen).

Finally, you are adding too many products when you do your water changes, which is not a good idea for several reasons. Stress coat contains aloe-vera, which can clog the gills if you use too much of it; it is also unnecessary if you are already using a water conditioner as it does exactly the same job. Accu-clear also does nothing to help the aquarium; try doing without it and I promise you there will be no noticeable change in the clarity of your water. Salt is not beneficial if added regularly in very small amounts; it only becomes effective at 0.3% or above as a specific treatment for disease or water-quality issues. If you add it all the time in small amounts then any organisms in the tank may become resistant to it and then it will not be as effective when you really need it to work. There is also no need to use ammo-chips if you are doing water changes regularly. The natural cycle of the tank should be more than enough to take care of any ammonia. In fact, ammo-chips are dangerous because if you ever DO get a water quality problem, you will not get a true ammonia reading from the test kit and may not spot the problem until it has become very serious.

I would strongly advise you just to use a good tap water conditioner and nothing else in your weekly changes. This is better for your fish than using several different unnessary chemicals to try and keep the water sparkling - honest!

Do not make your changes more than 50% and do not scrub out your filter sponges every week; you'll just affect the cycle by doing that (you should only gently rinse out the sponges in old tank water once every couple of weeks at most).

Hope this helps.

jmp6161987

May 10 2005, 01:46 PM

Emmahj, that is was an excellent comment. I actually did not know that salt can become ineffective though it makes perfect sense. Anyway that was really thought out and well said and totally clear and I definately appreciate the time and effort put in. Thanks a lot.

Cyan

May 11 2005, 10:01 AM

Hi Emma,

Thank you so much for the info. When you say not to wash out the filter, I have to do it atleast once every week because the sponge gets clogged up and the filter pushes out less and less water, until i wash it out. I think i need a bigger filter for the size of tank though, then i dont think id need to wash it out as often. i reallly appreciate everything you said, about the products. ive just been following the instructions on the packets. i appreciate you taking the time to answer and all the info! Thanks so much
xx

Cyan

May 11 2005, 11:47 AM

thanks everyone for the info. i noticed a second white spot shortly after the first. they were both so tiny, i dont think they would have shown up on a foto.
Tonight they both seem to have gone, so i hope its not anything serious.
Thanks everyone

emmahj

May 11 2005, 11:56 AM

That does sounds exactly like wen growth spots, so there should be nothing to worry about.

If you have to de-clog the sponges every week then it does sound like you might need a bigger filter (or there is too much gunk in the tank!). It won;t hurt to wash them out every week, unless you scrub the dickens out of them or do it in untreated tap water.

alan-chen

May 16 2005, 01:47 AM

white spot diameter should be less 1 millimeter.

alan-chen

May 16 2005, 08:25 AM

QUOTE(emmahj @ May 10 2005, 02:28 PM)

Hi Cyan

Firstly, a white spot or two appearing on the wen from time to time is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. It isn't a symptom of disease; it is just a sign of wen growth and will not hurt the fish. No need to treat with anything.

Second, ich and whitespot are just different names for the same disease (whitespot is the UK name for it).

I recommend treating this with a 0.3% salt solution and increasing the tank temp to around 78F (not that you need to treat if there is only one spot on the wen).

Finally, you are adding too many products when you do your water changes, which is not a good idea for several reasons. Stress coat contains aloe-vera, which can clog the gills if you use too much of it; it is also unnecessary if you are already using a water conditioner as it does exactly the same job. Accu-clear also does nothing to help the aquarium; try doing without it and I promise you there will be no noticeable change in the clarity of your water. Salt is not beneficial if added regularly in very small amounts; it only becomes effective at 0.3% or above as a specific treatment for disease or water-quality issues. If you add it all the time in small amounts then any organisms in the tank may become resistant to it and then it will not be as effective when you really need it to work. There is also no need to use ammo-chips if you are doing water changes regularly. The natural cycle of the tank should be more than enough to take care of any ammonia. In fact, ammo-chips are dangerous because if you ever DO get a water quality problem, you will not get a true ammonia reading from the test kit and may not spot the problem until it has become very serious.

I would strongly advise you just to use a good tap water conditioner and nothing else in your weekly changes. This is better for your fish than using several different unnessary chemicals to try and keep the water sparkling - honest!

Do not make your changes more than 50% and do not scrub out your filter sponges every week; you'll just affect the cycle by doing that (you should only gently rinse out the sponges in old tank water once every couple of weeks at most).

Hope this helps.

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