Grrrrr white spot

[sieski]

Due to my QT tank being full of fry I haven't been quarantining my new fish. I had some white spot in my big tank and now in my smaller tank but after my other outburst. COuld I transfered it via the net? if so whats best way of steralising my nets?

Also I had great results with the king british meds with malachite green. so I'm going to use it again on the smaller tank. Problem is I have apple snails and cant find info on if it will or not harm the snails. I do however have a bit of info they dont host the parasite so i could remove them to my qt/fry tank but if they CAN host it then theres no point. I don't fancy raising the temperature as i also read alot about them being less tolerable to the higher temps

really if they host and will die through treatment then I'll have to try the temperature method

 

[kaiofcanada]

Hi seiki
you canm transfer the ick with the net. I would use a 20% bleach solution and rinse it very well with water followed by prime treated water between uses.

But, the snails will not tolerate malachite green. They should however be fine in a bowl with plants...just some moss or guppy grass should be fine for the duration of the treatment. It is possible for them to have ick on their shell or in the water they keep in their locked shells, even though they don't host it. I would not transfer them directly into your fry tank for this reason.

Ick has a staged life cycle...without a host they should die off in the bowl with the snails while you treat your tank. It is a minor risk with transfering the snail, but one that I would not take with fry. When I have had to move snails before I have kept them in a bowl with loose plants for weeks at a time changing the water daily to keep it clean and aerated. Nice thing about snails is that they will come to the top for air if their is not enough in the bowl. You could also add an airstone.

 

[sieski]

Hi seiki
you canm transfer the ick with the net. I would use a 20% bleach solution and rinse it very well with water followed by prime treated water between uses.

But, the snails will not tolerate malachite green. They should however be fine in a bowl with plants...just some moss or guppy grass should be fine for the duration of the treatment. It is possible for them to have ick on their shell or in the water they keep in their locked shells, even though they don't host it. I would not transfer them directly into your fry tank for this reason.

Ick has a staged life cycle...without a host they should die off in the bowl with the snails while you treat your tank. It is a minor risk with transfering the snail, but one that I would not take with fry. When I have had to move snails before I have kept them in a bowl with loose plants for weeks at a time changing the water daily to keep it clean and aerated. Nice thing about snails is that they will come to the top for air if their is not enough in the bowl. You could also add an airstone.

WHat about water temp? I presume room temp will be ok remember i'm in the uk and my room temp goes from 13c (55 f) to 18c (64f) in the day at this time of the year.

 

[kaiofcanada]

The snails should be fine at room temp...if your tank has a heater with the temp set significantly higher I would be sure to acclimate them by putting them in a bowl of temp matched (to your tank) water/dechlorinated and let the temperature adjust back to room temp. After that just temp match your room temp with water changes.

 

[sieski]

But, the snails will not tolerate malachite green.

Well my pest snails are thriving lol still I haven't taken the risk and they out.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Well my pest snails are thriving lol still I haven't taken the risk and they out.

I found the same with copper and other medications when I tested these out in a QT tank once. Other than baiting snails I have never seen pest snails really become eradicated by these medications. Even though I have used a number of different supposedly toxic treatments in my QT tank I still have malaysian trumpet and ramshorn snails in there. When I consulted my LFS, they said that pest snails are much harder to kill than apple or mystery or nerite snails. Like you I never took this as a sign of leaving my lovely mystery snails in the tank because of the risk.