White Spot in my Aquarium!
 

I bought some fish a couple of weeks ago and now all of those are dead and one of my Clown Loaches has died this morning. Noticed it a couple of days ago and treated tank immediately, but obviously it was too late.

Because everything was OK before the new fish were introduced and white spot is a parasite, do I have any come back from the shop at all?

I've not had much disease in the tank before, so feel really guilty. Our other Clown Loach is four years old and even has a name! :(

Has anyone successfully blamed the shop and got money back or had their tank restocked, or am I clutching at straws?

TIA
Clare

P.s. the ones I introduced were tetra neons and black tetras and these together cost £24, which I don't think is cheap! Have fish prices increased? I'm sure they weren't this much before....

Clare first thing is to check the medication you used in the water. Some will reduce oxygen levels and this is deadly to clown loaches where other fish wont be affected.

Clown loaches need a higher concentration of oxygen in the water than most other fish so anything that reduces oxygen levels is extremely dangerous to them.

Call a different fish shop to the one who gave you the medication and ask them about the medication you were told to use.

I just got interpet white spot treatment which had a picture of a clown loach on the front, so it better have bloody been safe!

Tank does have aeration from 2 sources; pump and air block.

The loach that was dead did look a bit manky, not like he'd just stopped breathing... Gutted!

You should put any new fish in a quarantine tank for several weeks before even thinking about introducing them to an established tank. I doubt the shop you bought them from would be interested, they'll just say you had the infection already. If you're lucky they might refund you for the diseased fish you bought but there won't be any compensation for your fish. :(

I thought as much, but it's never been a problem before and investing in another tank is not an option at the moment. Feel really guilty.

Bizarrely, this just happened to us this week! New fish last wed and and outbreak this thurs. Lost 3 neons and 2 black widow tetras with tons of whitespot but my other 12 fish, shrimps and frogs are unaffected completely, IE no whitespot on any of them.

The other thing here is that they might have been fine in the fish shop. When you move fish from one tank to another if there is a big difference in water chemistry the fish will get stressed, become ill and possibly get white spot.

It is very difficult to get a fish shop to admit it was their problem as they will more than likely put it down to the above. A gesture of good will is possibly the most you will get from them in giving you some more fish.

That's what I was thinking. They're not going to admit liability, are they? I know I wouldn't! However, if white spot is a parasite, where does it come from?

Blame the muslims!

Not the shops problem mate clown loaches have no scales so thay are more prone to the white spot parasite so even stress can cause an out brake.
How long has the tank been running for ,check for nitrite,ammonia and Ph as clown loaches live in brackish waters witch are acidic and tap water is more alkaline so you might have to buff the water?

I blame the neon tetras, I lost all mine. Must have a weak immune system as my other fish fare well. Never buying tetras again.

Can't agree with that, neons are very hardy.

I got the unlucky bunch then :-(

Add some aquarium salt to the water and increase the tank temperature by a couple of degrees and white spot should not be a problem. I would advise more frequent small water changes too.

First sensible post I've read!
:lol1:

Depends on what other inhabitants are in the tank.... Salt can kill frogs shrimps snails and some breeds of fish.

I replaced my filters based on the pet shops suggestions and killed 80% of my stock ..

I was gutted .. they didn't care ..

You would need to take the dead fish back and show them, I would expect .. depending on how good a shop they are most have a money back on fish ..

The pet shop won't care, they could argue it was in the tank for months before it was noticable.

Unfortunately I have also just had a break out of White spot too. I seperates all the badly affected fish, which was my male rainbow fish abs 12 cardinal tetras. So a few ££ worth. We used water life protozyn as a hardcore treatment for these, and a king British white spot control in my main tank which gave my plants a bashing, but they are slowly coming back nice.

Sadly I lost I'll the cardinals. Possibly down to the ilness, but maybe also the shock of the chemicals. Also the female rainbow fish went on the rampage for 4 days, and harassed all the other fish.

To be honest I think my tank had been harbouring the White spot for a while, and to be safe, all my new fish are quarantined befoe going in the 300l.

On a positive note, all the fish are now healthy, despite being treated for ther nipped tails, and one of ny mollys had 26 fry today!

I need to get some plants .. but I have sand and Plecks ..

You have to be careful with salt, some plecs and catfish are very sensitive to the addition of salt. Smaller amounts are ok for them, but not enough for the task.

Raising the temp alone can sometimes kill off the parasites, as it speeds up the lifecycle so fast, it cannot stay alive. If your fish can stand it above 85 then you can do a pretty good job. Personally I didn't want to risk it about 85.

Have you got any substrate? If not, I have a few on bogwood that look great! Or you could get some potted.

Well, that's pretty much it. I have 1 tetra neon left, 2 brittlenose catfish and 1 small plec. The neon must be a right hardy little bugger! Had to fish out my largest Clown Loach today, so I am well pissed. Rang the fish shop, they said white spot would have been noticeable after 1 day if the new fish had it. I've checked my water today and all is fine! They suggested a water sample and asked if there was anything which stressed the fish to which I replied only the addition of the new fish and that was done as per shop instructions.

The salt would be harmful to my plec and catfish???

my plants grow very happly in sand and yes the plecs have ripped some apart but far from all

If you are going to put salt in the tank then why don't you go marine i did and have never looked back?
Here are a few pics off my 160 gallon tank enjoy?

Last week I replaced all my plastic plants with real ones as I was worried that my blackmoor would damage his eyes on the sharp plastic plants. Well instead of damaging his eye on the plastic ones, it looks like he's caught and infection from the real plants ffs!

They just don't tolerate salt well. If they are already weak, then I would not use it.

It's such a shame it's done this to your fish. I have lost a total of 15 fish down to it, and it really got me down.
I am working on getting my numbers back up, and with 20+ baby mollys to help that won't take long!

Been to the shop today with my water sample (which was fine) and they've not admitted liability, which we knew they wouldn't, but they've said they will replace the fish. Fair enough, I'll go back next week.

Will get some more tetra neons, but will see if they'll replace the black tetras with some clown loaches up to that value.

Is there anything else I should do before then to make sure the parasites are all dead?

BTW, I cannot believe I still have my original neon tetra. He must be one hard bugg3r!

Keep the tank nice and warm change the water regular.
What have you treated the tank with?

The White spot could still be in there, after it leaves the host it lays dormant until the parasite can find another host. So you need to keep on top of things for a while.

I've treated the tank with Interpet White Spot treatment which you treat twice over 4 days. The remaining fish seem fine. I've even seen my plec a few times which a year ago I would have said was dead! :lol1:

Will get some more fish next weekend. Might treat again on Wednesday.