Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
white spot..
- Gavin (Gavin)
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dont make me come over there.
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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Im assuming this is white spot,,,
So having read this thread ive altered heater to 30 degrees as an initial step...
Im reading the postings about garlic,,,but how is it delivered TO the fish,,,how is it mixed in with the food to get them to eat it,,,
I dont want this killing my clown and spreading to the others,,,

Or can anyone suggest an alternative ...I am NOT adding any copper to the tank,,,
Thanks
Vince
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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the 30 degrees thing is for freswater, i never heard of doing it for marines. most people lower the salinity to 1.009 (in qt). if you set up a qt you have a much better chance and have the option of medicating if necessary. here is the hyposalinity way (copied from some website):
Isolate the fish from any invertebrates or sharks and rays
Lower the salinity to 12-14‰ (specific gravity: 1.009 @ 27°C) over a 72 hour period
Closely monitor the pH and specific gravity
Do regular water changes with low salinity water
Keep the salinity at 12-14‰ (specific gravity: 1.009 @ 27°C) for 4-6 weeks, or at least 4 weeks after the last disappearance of the \"Ich\".
Raise the salinity to normal over a 3-7 day period.
this link has loads of info in it.
www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=87
sean (fr.jack) is the man to talk to if you decide to use medication.<br><br>Post edited by: lampeye, at: 2007/08/13 11:27
lampeye
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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Andy in Ashbourne told me to raise temp,,,im gonna try it..
Dya have any ideas on garlic ??
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- ChrisM (ChrisM)
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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maybe frjack can comment on this if he's reading.
do you want a loan of a qt tank?? you really should have one. and as chrism said are you sure its whitespot? are they new clowns?
lampeye
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- kieronr (kieronr)
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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I added 2 clowns last week...wed....
Been out all day n come home to find the second one has it...
I cant be EXACTLY sure its white spot,,,al;l i can tell u is that these 2 clowns has tiny white spots on tail,,2/3 each,,,and one r two on fins,,,.One is now actly weirdly,,,swimmin on his side,,,
I have lowered the saline level a TINY bit,,,and upped the temp , a TINY bit,,,,
The feather dusters ,scallop and hermits r all doing fine,,,well at least they seem to be..
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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pm me if you want a lend of a qt tank.
what size is your tank?
how much (in weight) live rock do you have?
if its ich and you dont sort out this prob immediatly you may lose all your fish and have to leave your tank fallow for up to 8 weeks.
lampeye
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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ive lowered the salinity level a bit,,,ive also raised the temp a bit,,,
This mornin they seemed a LOT healthier, and more lively,,,
the white spot,,,assumin it is white spot,,,seems to b mostly gone from them,,,
Today , ive soaked brine shrimp in garlic to feed to them later,,,,
The scallop feather dusters and hermits all seem to still be pretty happy too,,,
I kno i need a QT,,,Anthony and Chris emphasised that when they called tome last week,,,
This is still a learnin process for me,,,Im almost embarrassed to admit as to the circumstances of me actually acquiring the tank n deciding on marines..
Somehow ive a feelin that unless i get lots more readin doen, and research the net,,,Im bound to lose more fish...
Keep on with the advice,,,its all greatly appreciated...
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- ChrisM (ChrisM)
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Even if you read 25 books not many go into the actual lifecycle of white spot (WS).Some shops even make the mistake that if they cant see it, it must be gone.This couldnt be further from the truth,what actually happens is the WS exists in 3 states
1)Attached to the skin (or under) of its host as a cyst (Visible Form)
2)These die then fall off and rebirth more WS (Invisible Form)
3)Free swimming WS searching for a host (Invisible Form)
In order to fully eradicate the WS all of these need to be killed.Otherwise they will persist.Right now you might be still lucky enough that the WS have not reproduced on a large enough scale for a full tank outbreak.But act quick!
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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I have dealt with WS twice in my life, once 15 years ago and once 6 months ago.
Both times the treatment got it.
AFAIK raising the temp will increase the speed of the life cycle, once the cysts drop off and hatch then they are vulnerable.
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- kieronr (kieronr)
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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kill inverts. I would contact Steve and ask him about it.
Plenty of garlic in their food helps too.
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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Point taken about the spots droppin off as a result of the temp being raised a bit,,,I stupidly assumed this might actually kill them,,

Any hints tips r advice on what to do to kill them before they re-attach ??
I am NOT puttin copper into the water,,,
Thanks.........
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- serratus (Drew Latimer)
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- kieronr (kieronr)
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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They look happy and healthy now,,,but, given the fact that Im only at this 2 mths..who am i to say they r ok,,,another more experienced person could take one look and say they r in bits !!!
i wud even go so far as to say the clowns have grown a fair bit in 2 weeks..( do they grow quickly ?? )
So , from what ive read , there doesnt appear to be an effective method of treating them IN the tank...coz i aint puttin in copper,,,,
Wud it be a possibilty that I could take them from the tank and put them into a copper bath IF i think they have it again,,,?
I have a small tank that was used for tropicals by someone else,,,they gave it to me,,,i could set it up as a QT / treatment tank??
Again THANKS a million for all the help and advice,,really appreciated,,,all that money wuda been a waste if it wasnt for this forum and Andy.
Are there any marine people in santry area willing to come around and tell me what my next step should be?
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- paulm (paulm)
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Paul
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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vincent, keep your eyes open, you may have had a lucky escape. i think it takes 7-10 days to re-appear on the fish . (read it on another forum, might be wrong) so once u get past two weeks after the spots disappeared u should be fine.
lampeye
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php
lampeye
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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Am givin up...im gonna take up knitting instead,,,,,,,,,,,,
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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lampeye
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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if you go the medication route do dome reading in the article above, i think this may kill filter bacteria so daily water changes would be required. maybe father jack could clarify this? if you go the hyposalinity route and need some seeded filter sponge let me know.
lampeye
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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Will do some research now and loadsa readin,,,,ihave a small tank that someone gave me a while ago,,,and wud u believe the one fish she had left alive is still swimmin around happily !!!
I cuda used as a QT,,,but i really dont have the heart to dump this little lad...
I read the article posted by u above...he seems to favor hyposalinity ,,,am wonderin can i do this in the tank itself???
Actually, I have been lowerin the level slightly every day ..and have raised temp a bit,,,
Really weird...Most evenins the white spots seem to be gone,,,but then next mornin they r back ...
How long does it take for this white spot to actually kill the fish?
They all seem to be very happy n healthy ,swimmin around , diggin their little holes (goby), eatin,hermist r fine, as are feather dusters,,,,and the clown wrasse and goby have not, apparently,been affected by this at all,,
Are they immune to it,,,like some are more prone to it?
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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lampeye
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- Sean (Fr. Jack)
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Basically the horce is before the cart, in other wordes inverts are introduce after the planed LAST fish with a 3 week delayd to introction.
P.S if the fish are smothered in white spots in servere infestations its too late to save them with the dosage recommended on the comerical treatments, the only way then is a 24 hour bath basically means putting the fish in a bucket over night with a airstone with a triple dose, putting the alarm on at 4AM to cheak that wrasses and eel are OK as they are the most sentive to malahite green and would croke first. the add them back to the tank with a reommended dose for the rest of the 10 days. forget about raiseing the temp or lowering the salinity for glaric or prays in your local church, non of them are proven to work in marine wholesalers.
That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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- Vincent (Vincent)
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Well,,,,maybe i shud go away more often...I get back to find them all alive n lookin healthy
Its now 10 days I think since i lowered salinity r raised temp...
Keepin eyes peeled for its probable return !!
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