White spot

[flukes]

Learning my lesson i thought id ask before i do anything drastic -
All of my 3 discus seem to have little white dotts on their fins and some on there back, on each there about 6-10 little whtish dots, they kind of look like little air bubbles attachted to their skin. I was wondering if it could be white spot desease?? Any suggestions and other symptoms of white spot would be great! Also if someone can find some pics of a discus with white spot that would be great, so i could compare the two. Ive already done a larger water change (50%) but before treating i want to make sure it is white spot.

Cheers
Scott

P.S i know pics would help but I have to get my sisters digi and she is in one of those "moods". But ill try to get some, but in the mean time any comments would be great.

[Proteus]

ok, this is what I would suggest...

crank your temp up 1-2 degrees... the ich parasite dont like heat, and add some aquarium salt (NOT table salt or other salts) say at the rate of 1tblsp per 20L... that is the best not medicated way to get rid of white spot, for just about ANY freshwater fish...

[kevkoi]

crank it up to 29-30degrees C, use a proprietry medication for whitespot and all should be fine.

White spot is like the flu..... Temperature fluctuations cause an outbreak of whitespot. Keep it nice and warm and it shouldn't happen.

kev

[flukes]

Thanks guys,
I set the temp to 30c and wrapped the tank in towels so should get there soon (already 29), i added some multicure made from Aqua-serene, but only at half dose. This has in it methylene blue, malachite green and Acriflavine. Hopefully all will be well, I didn't have any aquarium salt on me so I thought the multicure at half dose over night will do till i can get some. Thats if i see no results.

Cheers
Scott

[Proteus]

If you have already dosed the tank dont worry about the salt...

I am a firm believer in the thermal/salinity method of ich treatment... in my experience I have had a 100% success rate with just about every type of freshwater fish that has succumbed to the ich parasite...

[flukes]

Well i used activated carbon to get out the multicure and then dosed a 3/4 amount of melafix, first time i used this stuff!! Smells like that chest rub stuff. Anyway it createlittle air pockets on the top of the water?? Can you use this product with a air powered filter??

Cheers
Scott

[flukes]

Actually now i look at it, it doesn't look good i dont know if it was from the melafix or because i made quick release taps for the canister filter out of garden hose equipment and didnt wash it first. But id say it was the melafix because i had it running a while before i put the melafix and there was no sign of these bubbles.

Its hard to discribe but its like a oil patch but with bubbles ontop of the water?

Make sense, iam confused

Scott

[kevkoi]

Melafix does create an oil-slick bubbly surface... Nothing to worry about. How are ur fish behaving?

kev

[luvfishies]

Also, Melafix doesn't kill ich, sorry to say. It's a mild antifungal/antiparasitic, but not near strong enough to kill off the ich parasite.

I'm with MollyMan/Proteus. Salt and heat is the way I go, it just takes a while longer is all.

[flukes]

Well its wierd, remember hen i said they acted likethey were really itchy?? well anyway now they dont do that anymore but the scopion snake, has 3 white dots on his back fin, about 4 on each gill and maybe 3 over the body. (More on fins than body) and the blue diamond just has a couple on his fins. The pigeon doesn't seem to have any at all.
The fish are establishing the pecking order so things are a bit crazy atm, the smallest pigeon blood wants to be king of the tank, so everyone's fighting but when i do a water change they all seem to stick together like a family. Also when feeding none seem to be missingout so iam not too concerned about that.

But yeah with these dots, at first i thought it was ammonia burns but ive tested for ammonia every time i do a ph test and its always 0ppm. For the first time today after cleaning my filter i had a little nitrite at 0.25ppm but i think it just needs time for the filter to get its bacteria working again.

But what should i be looking for if it is white spot?? Because all i see is the spots there is nothing ab-normal behaviour wise.

Cheers
Scott