platy fish has white spots

[Ipadmad]

Hello, this is my first post and I'm new to fish, so this is a steep learning curve.

We bought 4 platys about two months ago. One of them was quite a bit smaller and got bullied as a result. He was acting quite reclusive last week and died on Saturday. I thought it was due to the stress.

However, one of the other fish has now developed following symptoms in last couple of daya:
White spots on back, almost like grains of salt stuck to him
Yesterday, he spent a lot of time next to the filter and at the top of the water
Today, he is quite lethargic and spending time at the bottom of tank

We went to pets at home yesterday to get their advice and advised to buy anti-fungus treatment. However, since getting backing home and putting the solution in, I've done some more research online and actually think he has ich.

I am posting up to try to find out the best plan now and have several questions...

If we put in treatment for white spot, will it be safe (ie the fact we put in the anti-fungus treatment last night - phenoxyethanol).

I've read about heating up the water, but we can't do that as it's not a heated tank.

We did a third water change yesterday (normally do it weekly).

Any advice or help would be appreciated. Oh the pets shop tested all the water levels. They did say nitrate was a bit high, but that was expected as we had cleaned out the filter the day before and that it will settle back down (is this true?)

Thanks for reading, really hope I can save the others. Much appreciated

 

[sinibotia]

Hi, welcome to AA!

What size is your tank? If you have high nitrate it may mean your tank is too small or you need to increase your water changes.

You mention your tank is unheated- platys are tropical fish so it would be wise to invest in a heater unless you keep your house very warm or live in a tropical climate.

I recommend changing most of the water and then adding the ich treatment. You can use regular table salt at about 1 teaspoon per gallon to treat it; this shouldn't bother the platys at all. Increasing the temperature does speed up the treatment.

Finally, I would stop listening to your fish store. If they advised a fungus medication for ich it sounds like they're just trying to make you spend more money on things you don't need. Sadly many, many fish and pet stores do this. I recommend buying your own test kit as well. The API freshwater master testkit is very easy to use, costs around $30 and will last for several years.

 

[Ipadmad]

Thankyou so much for replying. We were sold them as cold water fish. But we can get a heater. Pets at home seem to just give inconsistent advice. I need to find a better shop.

Do you think it's better to get treatment for ich (meds) or use the salt water ratio you suggested?

The poorly one has just come up to feed. Really hope we don't lose him. How often do you suggest we water change?

Tank is 25Ltr I think (again, the shop said this was fine?)

 

[sinibotia]

Thankyou so much for replying. We were sold them as cold water fish. But we can get a heater. Pets at home seem to just give inconsistent advice. I need to find a better shop.

Do you think it's better to get treatment for ich (meds) or use the salt water ratio you suggested?

The poorly one has just come up to feed. Really hope we don't lose him. How often do you suggest we water change?

Tank is 25Ltr I think (again, the shop said this was fine?)

25 liters is about 6 gallons, so that's a little small for 4 platys but should be workable. I would keep doing weekly water changes but change 60% instead of 30% weekly and see if that keeps the nitrate down.

Sadly a lot of shops are like yours; it can be hard to find one that isn't. Your best bet is to get your own information from a source you trust (This site is one of those sources!) and then smile and nod at whatever nonsense the store tries to feed you.

I use salt rather than meds for most of my fish. Platys actually tolerate salt very nicely (they're closely related to/hybridized with brackish water species) while ich does not tolerate it at all. And salt is also effective as a treatment for a number of other things so it's a good first treatment step. As long as you don't have any live plants it's your best bet for now.