Post your best cure for white spots

[Zenislev]

Hi guys, wanted to know more about what you guys use to cure those troublesome white spots. Personally i use some sea salt and methane blue, anyone of you guys have better ways or better brands of medication please share here.

[himyick]

Waterlife protozin works very well for me

[aquarius]

1. Raise the temperature to 30C for about 2weeks and also add salt during the treatment period.
2. Use copper based solution but must be careful cos invertebrates, small fishes and fishes that has no scales like loaches are very sensitive to this medication.
3. Malachite Green - unlike copper, it's not as toxic to fishes and invertebrates and it's very effective as compared to Methylene Blue but you must be careful not to let the medication come into contact with your skin cos it's cacinogenic.

For me i use Malachite Green with Formalin solution for all my external parasite problems.

[edsa]

treat your entire tank with 2-doses of Interpet anti-white spot.
Follow instructions on the lit for text book results. Worked well on my tetras, huge central americans and dwarf cichlids.

you may want to remove your cryptos. They'll survive the 1-week treatment but would get a few melted leaves.

[Zenislev]

I have heard quite afew good reviews of waterlife protozin, however i also have some doubts on it's effectiveness against some stronger strains of ichthyophthirius multifilis.

[aquarius]

If i remember correctly, Waterlife products are very very expensive. Better to go for a cheaper alternative.

[Zenislev]

Normally the ich cycle will approximately take about 4days in total to complete the whole cycle of maturing, tomite and free swimming. It will be good to remove all fishes, yes...including the unaffected ones and treat the tank, this is to kill the free swimming trophonts when they are not attached to any fishes.

[himyick]

Zenislev,
How do you prevent the free swimming ich from hitching a ride together with the fish when transferring to the temporary tank?

[pcfreak]

seachem Paraguard -> 2 weeks continue. works for me.

[Zenislev]

Zenislev,
How do you prevent the free swimming ich from hitching a ride together with the fish when transferring to the temporary tank?

It is hard to prevent the free swimming tomites from attaching itself to the fishes, those fishes which you think are immune or unaffected may also have tomites attached to them. Because it is still not really mature enough, we cant really visually tell whether they are infected. Free swimming stage is where we use medications to kill them, but during the fully matured stage 'trophozoite' it is hard to kill. The cycle will go on, trophozoite releases the free swimming tomites again as we continue to treat the fishes.

The trick is we not only treat the fishes, but also the tank itself. Free swimming tomites can attach itself to anything be it plants, rocks and filter etc. Thus it is very important to treat the tank to prevent recurring of ich.

[Zenislev]

seachem Paraguard -> 2 weeks continue. works for me.

Seachem products...hmmm....havent really tried them out yet. How about Interpet White Spot Plus? Anyone have comments on it's effectiveness?

[Emokidz]

Opt for the natural solution: salt (3tsp per 5 gal), raise tempterature to 28-30 gradually. Also keep doing 20% water changes everyday fr 2 weeks.

[ahhian]

This works for me (treat the whole tank and DON'T remove any creatures to another tank)

1. Raise temperature to 30 d Celsius
2. Add aquarium salt (not table salt) at 2g/litre
3. Waterlife Protozin (follow dosage)

Continue treatment for a few days even after the fishes are cured to ensure all tomites are eradicated.
This 3-prong approach always work for me. Waterlife Protozin is a bit expensive though, but I have not tried Interpet White Spot Plus.

[griffinkid]

Opt for the natural solution: salt (3tsp per 5 gal), raise tempterature to 28-30 gradually. Also keep doing 20% water changes everyday fr 2 weeks.

I second that! Salt is a good way to treat white spots as it doesn't involve chemicals. In fact, it is always good to include some amount of salt per water change for hygiene purposes as well as to combat virulent diseases like fungus, white spots and so on.

[jiajuen900]

yes salt and temp is the easiest way to cure ich in my opinion especially in planted tank or shrimp setup

[equidorz]

yes salt and temp is the easiest way to cure ich in my opinion especially in planted tank or shrimp setup

Wouldnt the high temperature and salt kill the shrimps and plants?

[jiajuen900]

hmmmm not really. Just increase the temperature slowly so that you dont shock the shrimp and fish, most live stock will be able to adapt to temperatures around there. Also take note that if you increase the temp, increase aeration in the tank, higher temperatures will drive out oxygen in the aquarium, thus we need to increase aeration to ensure oxygen levels are okay

[barmby]

Jiajuen! You posted a perfect answer.. well done. I think heat treatment is good except plants.. will "cry"

[Emokidz]

On top of that, frequent partial water changes will also help in removing ich from your aquarium. I personally try to avoid chemicals where there's any natural solution to the problem.

[griffinkid]

Yes indeed frequent water change with appropriate aquarium salt dosage will help to alleviate the white spots problem