# Help! white spot! 3 day treatment



## andyK (Sep 18, 2008)

Hi Forum,
I have question for all you experience fish lovers regarding white spot. 
What is the best way to treat it?

I noticed yesterday 2 out of my 3 clown loaches with the white spots on them. I have not had this before in the 8 months since I’ve had the tank. I expect the culprits could be the the 4 rummy nose tetras that I introduce to the tank about 1 week ago, of which there are none left ( I won’t go into the unknown reasons of why they died... they had no obvious symptoms. I do know now that they are a rather sensitive fish...).

SO, back to the white spot. Since finding this parasite yesterday; I did some quick research and it says to treat white spot as soon as is identified... So I headed this morning to the LFS for a remedy. I was given a 3 day treatment which I started today after a water change (half dosis).

I’ve removed the activated carbon as per instructions and it says to repeat the treatment in 3-days (every 3 days), until the white spots are gone. 

Will the tank be OK without the carbon? How long for?

Any comments or suggestions from anyone who has dealt with white spot (perhaps with clown loaches) are much appreciated.

Andyk


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Andy:

As you have been diligent and caught it early then this is my ich treatment.



andyK said:


> SO, back to the white spot. Since finding this parasite yesterday; I did some quick research and it says to treat white spot as soon as is identified... So I headed this morning to the LFS for a remedy. I was given a 3 day treatment which I started today after a water change (half dosis).


Andy:

I am not familiar with and have never heard of this 3 day treatment but if it were my tank I would discontinue it, do a 25%WC and go the method I set forth above.




andyK said:


> Will the tank be OK without the carbon? How long for?


With adequate mechanical filtration and biological filtration as well as appropriate tank maintenance procedures activated carbon should not be necessary and is not recommended in a typical filtration process.

Please note that if the activated carbon has been in the tank for over like 14 to 28 days it is no longer functioning as chemical filtration but principally as biological filtration.

IMHO keeping some activated carbon in the garage in case of emergencies is appropriate.

TR


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Please post the "active ingredients" of your med. There are several effective ich cures, but IME 3 days is not enough to be sure it won't come back.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Make sure you read the directions good. Many treatments for Ich, Ick, white spot or what ever other names are used are not to be used on scaleless fish. The Clown loaches you have are a scaleless fish. Other treatments are only to be used at 1/2 strength on tanks with scaleless fish. 

As far as the carbon. The reason they have you remove it is because it will pull any meds out of the water making them useless. The fish will be fine during the time without carbon. Many people run tanks without carbon all the time. After the fish show no more signs of the disease and you are sure it is gone from the tank also. (Some treatments require you treat the tank for a lifecycle time of the parasite after the fish show no more signs to be sure you have got all the parasites from the gravel and everywhere else in the tank.) Then you can put the carbon back into the filter and it will help clean the tank back up - along with proper water changes.


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## andyK (Sep 18, 2008)

Thanks eveyone for your feedback.
I'm happy to say that 1 day after I started the treatment; the white spots started dissapearing. I repeated the treatment after 3 days and it has now fully dissapear. Lets just hope it remains that way in the future.

Andy


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## nusabbeh (Dec 19, 2008)

hey andyk

could u please explain wat the whole treatment was ? the name of the medicin etc...


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## andyK (Sep 18, 2008)

Hi nusabeeh,

I quickly did some research as soon as i spotted the white spots. Most of the feedback was to treat it as soon as it is detected, and if its treat it correctly it can be successfully removed from the tank.
The very next day I headed down to my trusty LFS (I think is important that you can find a good LFS that you can approach and have friendly discussions when required). They have been in the business for years and have just about seen every case possible.
They suggested to treat the tank with a three day White Spot treatment. 
The medication is: 
Maker: Science Products (Yatala QLD, Australia)
Product: White Spot three day medication.
Active Constituents: 37mg/mL FORMALDEHYDE
0.32 mg/mL MALACHITE GREEN
I paid about AU$28 for 150ml.

The treatment was quite straight forward. I remove the activated carbon from the filter (this counter acts with the medication). Is important to use HALF doses on scaleless fish (like in my case with the loaches). Be sure not to over dose or under dose. After 3 days I repeated the treatment to ensure the parasite would be removed from the tank (gravel, wood, plants etc). And that was it really. Tomorrow I will be doing a water change and reintroducing the activated carbon.

I’m conscious that the white spot could one day once again return... I think that just one of those things that can happen. 

Good luck!
Andy


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