PlanetCatfish.com

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)?

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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?

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.