White spot desease on Zebra pleco?

[Anders]

Hello,
I finally bought a few Hypancistrus Zebras and I must say, they must be one
of the, or the most beautiful plecos around.

I´m not at all sure, but I think I can see one or two small white spots on
one of zebras dorsal fin . Could this be the White Spot Desease or
am I just too worried. I have only had these plecos for three days and just
want to be prepared if the spots gets worse.
Can someone please recommend what medication to use for the white spot desease
that won't be harmful for the plecos. I have heard that plecos are very sensitive for
normal fish medication. If this counts for all types of medication or not, I don't know.

May salt be enough combined with a temperature increase to about 30C (from 25C)?

[Silurus]

Well, it would be good to have a picture so that we can confirm it's ich. In any case ich (white spot) treatments are covered here, and are referable to all catfish in general.

[jonthefishkid]

Theres a medication made by Aquarium Products called Quick Cure. it dyes the water blue, you add 1 drop per gallon daily until your pleco is cured.
it's what i use every time my pleco is sick like that, and havent lost a fish yet!
i use it on all of my sick fish but for tetras, pacus, and silver dollars you should only use 1 drop per every 2 gallons of water

[magnum4]

I personaly don't like using the salt in this instance.

however temperature increase to about 32C, for about 7 days i have used on many occasions. or just a common ich treatment from your lfs.

also it would be better to keep L046 at about 28C, rather than 25C

[Janne]

Normally salt and raising the temperature are enough but it's better to use a medication like Esha Exit (common in the pet store) to treat white spots.
Some small loricariids are sensitive when you use salt, not so much when you raise the conductivity but can give you worse problem with decreasing after the treatment.

Janne

[Barbie]

Daily water changes of 30% of the tank volume, with careful siphoning of the substrate can make a big difference in getting any problems with ich under control. I personally use the salt also, but I don't think its a necessity, as long as you are reiligiously removing the ich tomites before they can reinfest the fish. Healthy, unstressed fish don't tend to GET ich, usually, so water changes and good water quality can help their own resistance to the parasites.

I disagree that adding salt will make it difficult to lower your dissolved general hardness, but then again, I do frequent water changes, so I've not had a problem with it. I guess it would just depend on how hard your incoming water was. Otherwise, every 30% water change would reduce the level by a third, and that will add up quickly if you do them every few days to reduce the hardness, IME. You just have to weigh the pros against the cons as to whatever you're going to add to their water.

Good luck with your zebra Anders, a picture or two of the problem before you medicate the tank wouldn't be a bad idea. Another thing to keep in mind is that formalin and malachite green, along with methylene blue are the active ingredients in most ich medications. Any of those will significantly kill back your bio bed in your filter, which will expose the fish to far worse threat to their health in poor water quality. Just something to keep in mind.

Barbie

[Janne]

I disagree that adding salt will make it difficult to lower your dissolved general hardness

Me too, I ment that loricariids can get problem with the osmose change if you lower to fast. They adapt to higher conductivity much easier then they do when you lower it, the enzym in the gills that help them to balance the concentration of salt's in the blood and body vs the water need much more time to get use and work properly when you decrease the conductivity in other cases the cell's will be destroyed and you can see it like small blushes or....dont remember the word in english but "small balloon"
If this goes to fast the fish will die, and you cant say if you change 1/3 of the water you also decrease the conductivity with 1/3...it's not linearally.

Janne

[magnum4]

and you cant say if you change 1/3 of the water you also decrease the conductivity with 1/3...it's not linearally.

I think barbie was refering to the salinity of the water not the conductivity.

[Anders]

As I mentioned, I´m just in the observation stage so far.
I hope that I don´t have to treat them with medication, but I´ll get some, just
to be prepared if the spots get any worse. I was thinking of Malachite green,
Methylene blue or Esha Exit. Here in Sweden we have something called
Protozin which should work on Ich, this can be an option too.

Does anyone know what substances in the medications that should be
avoided when treating plecos (at least the ones I mention here)

In the tank with the zebras I also keep L200 Hi fin and L134. I hope L200 and L134
plecos aren't more sensitive to medication, OR

[Anders]

Oh, the header (subject) disappeared when submitting the previous reply.

Thank you everyone for the replies above, Im very grateful.

[Barbie]

Thanks magnum, I was referring to the salinity, I do realize that the conductivity would only be reduced directly if being replaced by RO water or another source with no general hardness.

I personally wouldn't recommend adding medications to your main tank, but then again, adding fish that haven't been through a quarantine period, is also a very bad idea, as you're seeing right now. Keep in mind, you put the rest of your fish at risk of problem with their water quality, if you treat the main tank. Removing the sick fish to a tank for treatment that would allow you to do daily water changes would be a much preferable solution.

Barbie

[Janne]

When using salt the TDS/conductivity rises very much from normally tap water that have around 150-200 ppm TDS/300-400 µS to be around 1000 ppm TDS/2000 µS or higher thats ok but when you start changing with tap water the changing back to normal must go much slower and when this not are linearraly the first 1/3 water change will decrease to fast. It's better to do several small water changes the first days and then increase them after 3-4 days to be around 1/3 of the water.
Some fishes are much more sensitive to "salt" changes in the water and Hypancistrus species belongs to them. That is my experience.

Janne

[magnum4]

Esha Exit. Here in Sweden we have something called
Protozin which should work on Ich, this can be an option too.

Any of the above would be the better choice, IMO as they have no harmful effect on filter bacteria. Methylene blue at levels of 1.0mg/l is reported to inhibit, 92% of filter bacteria.

[Anders]

The spots I found on one of the zebras are now gone without any medication
at all .

I got the advise from a guy very interested in plecos and sometimes works in
the LFS that the conservation substances which are present in most normal fish
medication should/must be avoided when treating plecos.

He sold me some Malachite green which I now keep in case of any problems
in the future. The dosage when treating plecos should be half dose compared
with when treating common aquarium fishes. He recommended 1 drop per 4 liter
per day during 10 days or until the spots disappear. Is this a correct dose?

[plesner]

He recommended 1 drop per 4 liter per day during 10 days or until the spots disappear. Is this a correct dose?

That's impossible to answer without knowing how concentrated the Malachite Green is. If there's no sign of spots anymore and your plecos look fine, odds are that it wasn't way off.