Whitespot / Ich
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis is a parasite that lives on fish and eventually leads to a fish disease commonly known as Whitespot or Ich. White spot is easily spread between fish and typically has the following symptoms:
White spots on the skin (0.5 - 1mm)
Redness from excessive scratching/flashing
Folded fins, usually with white spots
Cloudy eyes
Rapid gill movement and loss of appetite.
If left untreated it can cause death, but if detected early and treated the disease can be cured; Methods include:
Heat treatment
Three phases of Ichthyophthirius life-cycle (Adult, Cyst, Free swimming) take about 4 weeks at 21ºC (70ºF) to complete but only 5 days at 80ºF. For this reason it is recommended that the aquarium water be raised to 28-30°C (82-86°F) for the duration of the treatment.
Avoid fast temperature changes; water temperature should be raised or reduced gradually 0.5-1ºC (1-2°F) per day. There are species of fish that will not tolerate the high end of temperatures needed to be effective. If the fish can stand it, raise the temperature even higher, up to 30ºC (86ºF).
Raising the temperature also, presumably, reduces and kills the free swimming parasite.
Chemical treatment
Chemical treatments include formalin, malachite green, chelated copper, copper sulfate and potassium permanganate, though these may harm plants and invertebrates such as snails; should be removed before applying them.
There are also a large number of proprietary treatments available for the treatment of whitespot, and the related Oodinium (velvet disease).
Although based on the chemicals mentioned above, they are generally considered to be better for the safety of both the aquarist and fish than the pure chemical form of the treatment.
All treatments target the free-living theronts and tomonts, which only survive about two to three days in the absence of a host fish, so treatment should be continued until a few days after the last white spot has disappeared from the fish. This will usually take about a week; 10 days is typical at 27°C (80°F) and 6 days at 29°C (84°F).
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| "Ichthyophthirius." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2005. Answers.com 24 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/ichthyophthirius |
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