Tag: white spot disease

Goldfish Disease- White Spot Disease- Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis)

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date September 8, 2011

Goldfish disease are very common in goldfish and one of the most common goldfish diseases is white spot disease or Ich as a short version of the scientific name Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Ich is very common and usually occurs from either due to stressful situations like poor water conditions or a sudden chill. You can usually tell when goldfish diseases occurs as they become ill or sick by symptoms like either rapid breathing or scratching on the gravel in the aquarium can indicate signs of white spot disease or ich.

When you notice this behaviour in goldfish, look at your goldfish closely and you will probably see white spots or like small grains of salt on your goldfish. These white spots, goldfish disease, are the parasites which are feeding on the goldfish’s body fluid. White spot disease or Ich can spread quite rapidly on the goldfish if left untreated.

Here is a picture of blue catfish which is covered with ich. These look like grains of salt which are the ick parasite. You can see all the white spots or cysts that are all over their body in this photo. The blue catfish is also showing signs of stress as you can see by the clamped fins.

Blue Catfish Heavily Infested with Ich Commonly Known As White Spot Disease - Ick — Blue catfish heavily infested with ich commonly known as white spot disease, ick.

The first thing you need to understand is how the parasites life cycle operates when attacking the goldfish itself. Each cyst or white spot is the parasite which is feeding off of the goldfish. It has attached itself to them by swimming as a small microorganism. These parasites need to find a host or they die. Once the parasite finds the host (goldfish) it hooks onto the skin and begins feeding. When they first attach themselves they are too small to be seen by the eye. As these parasites feed you will then see them as small white spots usually within a day or two covered over the body of the goldfish. Once this happens these cysts or parasites break free from the goldfish and begins to reproduce very rapidly. This goldfish disease spreads quickly and proper goldfish care needs to be done right away.

The reproduction phase of these parasites is when it infects goldfish very quickly. As mentioned above each cysts or parasite breaks free from the goldfish, when this happens each cyst that breaks open contains about 500 new parasites for ever cyst. The numbers can become quite significant and can literally take over the goldfish’s body if left untreated. When these 500 new small microorganisms become free swimming they need to find a host. When they do the whole process begins all over again.

Controlling the population of these parasites can only be done when the life cycle of these parasites are in the free swimming stage. They can only be killed during this stage with proper chemical or ich medications. The best thing to do when treating your goldfish aquarium for ich diseases is to treat it for at least 10 days. By doing this it will ensure you totally destroy all parasites as each parasite may be in a different stage at the time of treatment. Remember ich can only be killed during the free swimming stage so make sure you treat minimum 10 days. Each cysts must break open to be exposed to the medication to eliminate these parasites.

Treating ich or white spot disease in goldfish needs to be taking care of right away as it’s a very aggressive disease that attacks goldfish. Begin treatment right away for excellent results.

Prevent Ich Fish Disease – How To Prevent Ich ( White Spot Disease)

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date January 26, 2009
5 Comments on Prevent Ich Fish Disease – How To Prevent Ich ( White Spot Disease)

By Jamie Boyle

Many people often wonder ” How Do I Prevent Ich ” from reaching my aquarium and infecting my fish. There are ways in which you can prevent ich from reaching your tank. Here are some simple ich preventative measures you can do to keep ich away and how to prevent white spot disease from reaching your fish:

1. Never buy fish from an aquarium that contain sick fish at a pet store. Look for signs of ich, other external parasites or fish diseases before you make a fish purchase. You may be bringing home more then fish, some hitch hikers as well.

2. Before adding new fish to your aquarium or pond you need to quarantine new arrivals for minimum 2-4 weeks to make sure fish are okay and healthy. If not, you may be introducing ich, other external parasites or fish diseases to already healthy fish.

3. When buying aquarium plants or pond plants be sure to disinfect them before placing them in your tank or pond. To do so you can use Potassium Permanganate solution and dip the water plants in it. By doing so you can reduce the chance of introducing ich and other parasites to your aquarium.

4. Never add water to your aquarium or pond from the pet store where you may have bought fish or water plants. Fish should be netted out and water discarded. Water may contain parasites like ich (white spot disease) or other external parasites.

5. Never use the same netting and equipment from other tanks if you have more then one. By using the same net from one tank to another you risk introducing ich and other parasites from a tank that may have been sick. Have a seperate net for each tank.

6. Use an ultraviolet steriliser to help kill ich parasites. As the free swimming ich parasites known as tomites gets killed as they pass through. This may be away to help prevent ich or white spot disease in a way but there is no sure way that all tomites have been killed or destroyed. May help prevent ich but not a 100% sure way to do so.

7. Use CopperSafe From Mardel Labs fish medication to help prevent ich from occuring. One treatment last over a month. It not only helps prevent against ich but velvet and other external parasites as well.

These are just some simple ways you can help reduce the risk, and prevent ich disease from infecting your fish. Preventative measures are the best way to prevent against ich or white spot disease. In case your fish have developed ich or white spots seek ich medication and begin treatment right away.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

Ich Medications – Fish Medications For Treating Ich White Spot Disease (Ick)

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date January 25, 2009
5 Comments on Ich Medications – Fish Medications For Treating Ich White Spot Disease (Ick)

By Jamie Boyle

Here are some following ich medications that will treat against white spot disease (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis)Ick:

1. Lifeguard Freshwater
2. Ick Clear From Tank Buddies
3. Kordon Aquarium Rid Ich + Disease Preventative
4. Maracide From Mardel Labs
5. Kordon Prevent Ich Fish Disease Inhibitor and Preventative
6. CopperSafe From Mardel Labs
7. Kordon Malachite Green Fish Ich Treatment Medication

If your fish have ich, above are some of the ich medications you can buy to treat it. A good suggestion for people is to always have some fish medication on hand in case of fish diseases or parasites that occur so you will be able to begin treatment right away.

A good place to buy fish medications is online as they are usually cheaper due to low overhead. Online pet stores will carry a wide range of medications that will treat a wide variety of goldfish diseases, ich and other external parasites. When looking for ich medication going online should be the first place you go when looking to buy fish medication. It will save you money!

Shop at PetSmart.com for ich medications, fish medications, fish supplies and other pet products including dogs, cats, birds, reptiles and more.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

Does Aquarium Salt Treat Ich On Goldfish?

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date January 25, 2009
3 Comments on Does Aquarium Salt Treat Ich On Goldfish?

By Jamie Boyle

Lots of fish owners have asked me “Does aquarium salt treat ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) White Spot Disease on goldfish?” The answer is yes! You don’t always need to treat ich/ick with fish medications. There are advantages and disadvantages to both and I will talk more about them.

Treating ich on fish using aquarium salt is a much safer approach to eliminating ich from your aquarium. The only thing is that ich can only be killed in high temperature levels. Ich commonly known as white spot disease can not survive in temperatures of 86 degrees Fahrenheit as they cannot reproduce. By using aquarium salt and heating up your aquarium water using a heater, you can speed up the life cycle of ich so that the aquarium salt can kill the parasites. This combination of heat and salt treatment for ich works great but be aware that sometimes you can find a resistant strain of ich which can survive temperatures above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. In such cases that heat does not kill ich, you will need to use salt or an ich treatment medication. So really heat can actually kill ich from your aquarium alone, as well as salt and fish medications.

Destroying Ich With Heat

In order to treat ich using heat you will need to gradually heat up the water in your aquarium not too fast to eliminate white spot disease from your aquarium. To do so you will need an aquarium heater to increase the temperature in your tank. You can buy various size aquarium heaters at your local pet store or you can buy them online. Buying aquarium supplies online is a lot cheaper most of the time then pet stores. When you have your heater all set up and begin raising the temperature in your tank, make sure that you have maximum oxygen in the water by the use of an air pump. What happens when the temperature of water is high there is less readily available oxygen for your fish. At high temperatures with less oxygen fish can become stressed, so make sure your air pump is working efficiently and slowly raise the temperature of the water about 1-2 degrees an hour. You don’t want to raise the water temperature to quickly which can shock your fish and stress them. Raise the temperature of the tank to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and keep it here for approximately 10 days to make sure all ich has been eliminated. When treating fish always observe your fish for any signs of stress and correct them if needed. Getting rid of ich using heat alone should work unless you found a resistant strain able to withstand higher temperatures. In case of such event you will need to try another form of ich treatment medication to cure your fish from ich.

Treating Ich Using Aquarium Salt Treatment

There are many methods of treating ich on fish and aquarium salt is just another way it can be done. What you would want to do here is do a combination treatment of both aquarium salt and heat. Heating the water in your aquarium will speed up the life cycle of the parasite making the treatment quicker using aquarium salt. The reason for wanting to speed up the life cycle of ich is that ich can only be killed during the free swimming stage. By heating up the tank it will make them reproduce faster speeding up the time when they are vulnerable. You should add about 2-3 tablespoons of aquarium salt per every 5 gallons of water. What you should do is mix the aquarium salt in a container of water first then slowly add this to your aquarium. You should keep the temperature up to 86 degrees Fahrenheit along with the aquarium salt for 10 days to make sure all ich has been killed in your tank. If by chance that ich is still there you should try treating your fish with an ich medication.

Treating Ich With Fish Medication

Sometimes the above methods for ich won’t always work. In this case you will need to treat your goldfish with ich medication. Treating ich with heat and aquarium salt are safer for your fish as it’s more of a natural way to treating ich. Using ich medication can sometimes add more stress on your fish and can sometimes harm the biological filter depending on fish medication. Myself I’ve always used Malachite Green to treat ich as it’s very effective. The only thing is which ever ich treatment medication you decide to use always observe your fish for any signs of stress. If you see stress, such as gasping at top of the water immediately add activated carbon back into your filter and perform a water change right away. Never add more then recommended dosage for treatment of white sot disease. Adding more is not better, and can actually kill your fish. There are many ich medications on the market to choose from. For more information on what medications to use to treat ich and other fish diseases and parasites please visit this post Goldfish Medication Treatments For Illnesses, Diseases and Parasites Including Ich Treatment Medications

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”