Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] White spots

Hi Lori,

Wow, that's some difference between the first temperature you posted of 76 o, and now this temperature at 60 o. The first question that comes to my mind is, do you know that this temperature is far to low for a Jack Dempsey and are you keeping the temperature at 60 o purposefully? Or, is your heater malfunctioning, to the point that it's not keeping the temperature to where you (and your fish) would prefer it? It's more than a bit cold for the fish at 60 o; if you thought it was at 76 o previously, going by what it was at several days or a week ago, you need to always check the temperature at least daily to make sure it isn't deviating from where it needs to be. If the thermostate were to be stuck on, it could have cooked your fish before you realized it, if you don't take care enough to regularly check your thermometer.

Not knowing it was at 60 o, I recommended bringing the temperature up slowly -- to 86 o. Now, as Dawn points out, this is doublely important to ensure the temperature doesn't come up too fast.

When you're asked for your water parameters, it's MOST helpful if we know the actual numbers, to be able to help you when having the maximum possible information you can provide. This will only help us to help you better. That youir ammonia is "safe" tells us nothing as we don't know ewhat YOU consider as "safe," since you have your nitrite at 0.5 - 1.0 -- and for all we know, you may think this is safe. We can help you much better if you give us your ammonia reading in numbers. For ammonia to be "safe," it should only be a ZERO, as anything above that is not considered safe -- since other parameters (like the pH and temperature) can render even the slightest elevation in ammonia as unsafe. If your ammonia is Zero, please indicate that; if not, please give us the number.

I can understand why Dawn questions where you've been keeping up with deep cleaning your gravel. Those tiny white worm-like things on your glass are undoubtedly Planaria. While they're harmless to the fish they are unsightly -- AND come from dirt and uneaten food build up in your gravel. Please fill both of us in on this part of your maintenance procedure.

One last thing for now, after you get the temperature to 86 o (AND monitor it regularly so that it doesn't go much higher) and add the salt I mentioned, with each PWC during this treatment period, you will need to replace any lost salt that you remove with the PWC's. To keep things easy to keep track of, do your larger water changes now, before you add the salt and before the temperature reaches 86 o (at this time while you are raising the temperature, but before the treatment begins), to reduce your Nitrite. THEN, after you reach 86 0 and add the 1 Tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons, just do 25% PWC's during the treatment period. At this time, you will then obviously be removing 25% of the salt you had added when you remove this 25% of water -- so you'll need to replace 25% of the salt you had added at the start to keep the salt level up to where it should be. I don't recall your mentioning what size tank you have, unless I missed it, but I could tell you more specifically how much salt to start with and how much to add during PWC's, more specifically if I knew the tank size.

Ray

--- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, "Lori" <parknut@...> wrote:
>
> sorry ray the temp is 60 the amonia is safe so i have done a water change
> and cleaned up a bit to see if it will help i turned up the heat a bit too
> as it seems a bit cold
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ray" <sevenspringss@...>
> To: <tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 4:41 Parknut
> Subject: Re: [tropical fish club] White spots
>
>
> > Lori,
> >
> > I notice your saying that your Nitrate is 20, and that you specifically
> > indicate that it's safe -- which it is, even though this organic waste
> > product is relatively harmless until it reaches much higher proportions.
> > A Nitrate level twice your amount would still be safe, but it's good to
> > see yours is at 20.
> >
> > You do indicate, however, that your Nitrite is between 0.5 and 1.0 (which
> > we know is not at all safe). What makes you think that your Nitrite level
> > at the reading you gave us is perfectly adequate enough to only do monthly
> > PWC's (partial water changes)? As a part of general maintenance, partial
> > water changes should be done WEEKLY -- ESPECIALLY when your Nitrite is
> > this high. Nitrite is the most toxic organic waste product of them all --
> > which, BTW, you have not given us your Ammonia reading.
> >
> > High Nitrite will not cause Ick, but will stress the fish, perhaps enough
> > to lower its immune system to make the fish more susceptible to such
> > diseases.
> >
> > From your agreement with Dawn's decription of Ick as appearing similar to
> > salt spinkled on the fish's fins, it does seem as though your fish has
> > somehow contracted this disease. Are you sure your thermometer is not
> > faulty when you gave us a reading of 76 o ?
> >
> > For starters, you need to do some larger water changes to get your Nitrite
> > level down. Secondly, you need to figure out why you Nitrite is so high
> > in the first place so that the possibility of it going back up will be
> > eliminated, It sounds like your tank is either in a mini-cycle, or has
> > not yet finished its cycle if it's a newly set up tank -- in which case,
> > you should yet have fish in it until the cycle is completed.
> >
> > For now, do some partial water changes to get your Nitrite level down.
> > Then, slowly raise the temperature to 86 o F, and add 1 Tablespoon of salt
> > for every 5 gallons. Keep the temperature there until a minimum of two
> > days after you see no more signs of Ick, then slowly bring the temperature
> > down. Increase the aeration during this period, if at all possible. You
> > may need to make PWC's during this period, which can take up to about 10
> > days. You'll need to heat this new water to 86 o also, before adding it
> > to the tank. Give us an Ammonia reading as soon as you can.
> >
> > Ray
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, "Lori" <parknut@> wrote:
> >>
> >> Sorry Dawn..I will get the hang of this..lol
> >> Tank- 55 gallon
> >> Set up- over a year
> >> water changes- every month 25-30%
> >> Filter aquaclear 70
> >>
> >> Nitrate 20-safe
> >> nitritebtween .5-1.0
> >> hardness 300
> >> clorine 0
> >> alkalinity 300 high
> >> ph 7.8
> >> I feed her 3 crickets in the morning, maybe 4 in the afternoon and 4-5 in
> >> the evening
> >> i sometimes feed her a smaill amount of crisps as well (10)
> >> there is a pleco in the tank with her that is maybe 3 inchs if that
> >> i feed it one waffer broken in half once a day if that.
> >> water temp 76
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Dawn Moneyhan" <dawnshungryeyes4u2c@>
> >> To: <tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com>
> >> Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 11:03 Parknut
> >> Subject: Re: [tropical fish club] White spots
> >>
> >>
> >> Lori,
> >> Can you tell us more about the tank she lives in? What size? How long its
> >> been set up? How often you're doing water changes? How much each time?
> >> What
> >> kind of filter(s) are you running (make/model)? Water parameters for
> >> ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH? How often do you feed her? How much at a
> >> time? Water temp?
> >>
> >> The more you can tell us about her (how big is she? tank mates? if so,
> >> what
> >> and how many of each?) and her tank the faster we can help you.
> >>
> >> Dawn
> >>
> >>
> >> Dawn Moneyhan
> >> Aquatics Specialist/Nutritionist
> >> To learn more about me go to
> >> http://www.helium.com/users/449334
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --- On Mon, 2/28/11, Lori <parknut@> wrote:
> >>
> >> From: Lori <parknut@>
> >> Subject: [tropical fish club] White spots
> >> To: Undisclosed-Recipient@
> >> Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 8:21 PM
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >> Hello to the group
> >>
> >> I have noticed tiny white spots on the pectoral fin of my jack dempsey
> >>
> >> she seems to look healthy
> >>
> >> i also notice in the morning , when i turn her light on
> >>
> >> their are tiny white worms on the glass they do move you can slightly
> >>
> >> see them with the naked eye,about a hr later their gone.
> >>
> >> I only feed her crickets mostly and cichlid crisps
> >>
> >> she will not eat anything else other than that her diet consists of
> >> crickets
> >> mostly
> >>
> >> Thank you for listening
> >>
> >> Lori
> >>
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> >> ------------------------------------
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