Neons with white spot

[DazF]

Hi all, last week my neons appeared to have whitespot.
They are in a tank with a Betta and some shrimp who are both fine
I added have completed a course of treatment but it doesn't appeared to have work.
I don't have another qt tank just my 150litre. I don't want to move the Betta or shrimp into that tank as firstly they aren't really compatible and secondly even though i cant see anything they might have the disease...

What should i do? I was going to try the method of upping the temperature and adding aquarium salt, would the betta and shrimp be ok with this or should i maybe just put the betta in a bowl for a few days?

Thanks guys

 

[DazF]

Any advice would be highly appreciated guys
A little stuck right now

 

[Delapool]

How long was course? I've used heat and meds and it took a week and half at least from memory to get rid of the last spot. Then you have to treat for at least 3-4 days (at higher temps) after.

Edit - could you move the shrimp to just a heated container? I'm not sure if shrimp can get ich (don't keep them) does anyone know?

Another edit (it's late ) - if you increase temp, increase aeration and increase temp slowly. Generally temp and meds is not done as you need really good aeration as it is a double whammy on O2 levels. I needed to knock the ich off quickly so I could get the tank temp down.

 

[DazF]

Well it was dose one, then 4 days then dose 2 which i done 4 days ago, no change... One of the neons has passed today should i try taking the shrimp and betta out and increasing the temp? Or should i leave them in?

 

[Delapool]

I would leave the betta in, not sure on the shrimp. Sad news on the neon. Since the medication can only really kill them in the free swimming stage, this doesn't seem too long at 8 days(?). Are you seeing the spots coming and going and coming again as it goes through the life cycle? What is your temp now?

I would also start increasing heat a few degrees F every hour. Note: At 86F ich will stop reproducing (but still present). Getting to that temp depends on how your fish go and if they can stand the stress. Also at that temp on 'heat only' cure you don't want any cold dead spots.

Medication as well with temp increase also causes stress but any temp increase you can do will speed up the ich cycle and make medicating more effective.

When medicating the first 24hrs I've found are most stressful for fish, after that tank organic material start to soak up the medicine and reduce impact. So water changes will help make the meds more effective and gravel vacs will help get rid of ich.

 

[DazF]

I went to the store today and they didnt have any aquarium salt so i will have to start it tomorrow temp is currently 25 degrees...
Got home today and another 2 have died the shrimp and betta seem ok but just 3 neons left

 

[DazF]

Thanks for the advice i will start raising the temp gradually tomorrow

 

[Delapool]

Those neons sound tricky . When established they are fairly hardy so perhaps the ich/meds are just knocking them around. Fingers crossed they make it through.

That's not too bad at 25C, if you can get it to 30C then the heat (plus salt if no plants) method should work. In C you would be looking at something like a degree C every 3 hours. That's still a steep increase so slow it down if they look really stressed. I've had the tank go to 32C so the fish can adjust, it's just how long it takes unfortunately. The other bad news is that increased heat also increases the risk of bacterial infections so more water changes and clean water can all help.

 

[DazF]

Thanks buddy... I will keep you updated and let you know how it goes later, fingers crossed! The betta has a small white patch too, cant figure out what it is he is acting fine... Hopefully this sotts that too

 

[Mekachu04]

Hey daz- if your store is out of aquarium salt, go to your grocer and buy a box of kosher salt (or other additive free salt)

Sent from my XT907 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[DazF]

I have just done a WC, added the salt and over the last 4/5 hrs increase the temp to 27... I will get it up to 30 and see how they do, how long should i leave it at a high temp?

 

[Delapool]

3 to 4 days after last white spot as minimum and 10 days is suggested

 

[altum angel]

Add aquarium salt with API meleafix pimmafix and turn the temp up to 81 degrease

 

[Delapool]

Add aquarium salt with API meleafix pimmafix and turn the temp up to 81 degrease

I'm going to disagree on the 81 degrees based on reading / experience and stick with 86. I'm open minded though if you have read this somewhere or found it worked?

 

[DazF]

I have it on 30 (86) at the moment. Fingers crossed

 

[Delapool]

How are they doing?

 

[DazF]

One of them died on the first day :/ but he other 2 'touch wood' seem to be cleared up... Thanks for the help guys