Fish: 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
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> ----- 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
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> I have noticed tiny white spots on the pectoral fin of my jack dempsey
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> she seems to look healthy
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> i also notice in the morning , when i turn her light on
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> their are tiny white worms on the glass they do move you can slightly
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> see them with the naked eye,about a hr later their gone.
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> I only feed her crickets mostly and cichlid crisps
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> she will not eat anything else other than that her diet consists of crickets
> mostly
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> Thank you for listening
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> Lori
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