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Water and Health
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Whitespot life cycle
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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
Whitespot life cycle
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26 Apr 2014 09:43 - 26 Apr 2014 09:44 #1
by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
So whitespot attaches itself to the fish in the form of little white cysts ( for want of a better word)
My question is this..When the cysts burst ( fall off) is the shell (again for want of a better word) still visible as a whitespot on the fish while the little ick hatchling has fallen to the gravel readying itself to find a new host...
or does the complete whitespot fall off the fish giving the impression that the fish has healed while the cysts still exist in the tank readying themselves for a new host...
I ask this as I am wondering when the best time to add ick meds is after increasing the temperature...I know that only the free swimming stage can be killed..so when exactly does the free swimming stage occur
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26 Apr 2014 10:13 #2
by paulv (paul vickers)
You sure have done your home work, the life cycle is dependant on water temp, higher the temp the faster to life cycle, generally it takes 7 days to complete. I always treat the tank at very first signs of ich and repeat after 7 days to kill the new parasite.
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26 Apr 2014 10:28 #3
by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
So let me get this right!
Whitespot appears on the fish.....
Turn the temp up....
The whitespots fall off completely making it appear the fish is cured.....
BUT in fact they have hatched and are free swimming even though it appears the fish is cured....
This is the best time to treat with meds....
Is this correct?
Treat for 7 days and then treat again for a further seven days after a large water change and gravel vac just to make sure...
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26 Apr 2014 11:15 #4
by paulv (paul vickers)
Ive re-read a fish health book ive have. The white spots you see are the fully grown adults, they fall off the fish and free swim for 4 to 5 hours in open water, at this stage meds or salt will kill them. Once they land on plants, wood any surface they incast and cant be killed. Here they reproduce many times, after 4 days they spore into open water again looking for host fish, again they can be killed. Once they attack a fish they are safe from chemical attack. Most ich meds are used for atleast 5 days to catch the 2 stages of free swimmers. I repeat after 7 days. Use aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per 5l. Raise temp to 27deg and increase air in the tank, very important about the air, as the fish are under stress. Treat once you see the spots, slowly raise temp to 27 over several hours, add extra air stones or water agitation, use ich meds and or salt for 5 days, do large 30% water change, clean vacuum thd tank, repeat this 7 days after you first notice the spots. Keep up salt for 2 weeks, high temp and high water aeration.
Hope this helps.
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26 Apr 2014 20:17 #6
by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The tormont stage can last from a few days to a month (depending on a number of factors....temp being a key one).
So, taking the full cycle of a week as a parasite stage plus a day and a half free swimming mature critters plus a month in the reproductive stage plus 2 days in the infective free-swimming stage......you're looking at near a true quarantine period (= 40 days, ~ 6 weeks) to be sure to be sure.
That time can be reduced by increasing temperature.
But the main point here is that the disappearance of the trophonts (parasite stage) from the fish does not mean the tank has been rid of the things.
That is a point missed by many.
In the treatment, though, not all fish will cope with the increased temp to decrease the life cycle period, not all species will cope in the long term with addition of salts, and some species are particularly sensitive to many of the medications (eg clown loaches, chocolate gourami, wild rams).
So the exact method of temp/chemical treatment needs to be modified for the species of fish.
However, one item in the treatment that is a must is cleanliness.....ie disturbing the longest stage of the cycle (= tormont = reproductive stage) by making sure all corners and nooks and crannies are cleaned and there is plenty of water circulation to disrupt the settling of the critters in nooks/crannies/corners etc.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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27 Apr 2014 18:16 #7
by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
The tormont stage can last from a few days to a month (depending on a number of factors....temp being a key one).
So, taking the full cycle of a week as a parasite stage plus a day and a half free swimming mature critters plus a month in the reproductive stage plus 2 days in the infective free-swimming stage......you're looking at near a true quarantine period (= 40 days, ~ 6 weeks) to be sure to be sure.
That time can be reduced by increasing temperature.
But the main point here is that the disappearance of the trophonts (parasite stage) from the fish does not mean the tank has been rid of the things.
That is a point missed by many.
In the treatment, though, not all fish will cope with the increased temp to decrease the life cycle period, not all species will cope in the long term with addition of salts, and some species are particularly sensitive to many of the medications (eg clown loaches, chocolate gourami, wild rams).
So the exact method of temp/chemical treatment needs to be modified for the species of fish.
However, one item in the treatment that is a must is cleanliness.....ie disturbing the longest stage of the cycle (= tormont = reproductive stage) by making sure all corners and nooks and crannies are cleaned and there is plenty of water circulation to disrupt the settling of the critters in nooks/crannies/corners etc.
ian
Good to know thank you Ian
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Whitespot life cycle
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