I had an outbreak in my aqaurium I noticed it on one small Pleco first then I noticed all my feeder fish has it my oscar has no visible spots yet neither any of the other pleco's I have been treating for four days now and no visible improvement on the feeder fish (I have since moved the pleco to the hospital tank) I am scared the Oscar will get it as well as my Pleco's...

I have added the medication set up the temp and I added salt what can I do???

Well thankfully I haven't had a big problem with white spots over the years. However, once the white cysts are appearing on the fish, the parasites are normally immune to medication. Medication will get rid of the free swimming parasites. Raising the temperature to 30°C speed up the life cycle of the parasite of the fish. It can take up to 10 days so you might have to wait a little longer. Like I said before, I haven't got a lot of experience with White spot which I am not ashamed to admit. Hopefully somebody who has had to deal with it more than me can give you the benefit of their experience and may be able to elaborate on what I have said.

Finally, White spot can often be brought on by such factors as sudden temperature change, introducing infected fish etc. White spot can be avoided.

Yes, and just keep treating them and the temp high.
As Penn said, the meds will mainly deal with the free swimming stage of the parasites, which is why you don't want to stop treating too early, 10-14 days is normal. If you still see parasites on the fish at this stage, doesn't mean the treatment has no effect, it can take a while for all parasites to complete their life cycle.
Also, most ich meds are sensitive to light so it would be good to leave the tank lights off while treating. Make sure the tank is well aerated.

I neither had to deal with it in quite some time, but it happens, especially when introducing new fish/feeders. It's not too hard to get rid of though, and if caught early, it's often enough to treat with salt and high temp.

Oh, and just to make sure: Did you take the carbon out of the filter in case you're using any?

My tanks had a ick breakout a few months ago. Just follow the directions that come w/ the meds and you should be fine.

My experience went something like this. I raised the temp to 86F/30C, removed carbon(threw it out) and then treated w/ meds for 4 days(2 separate doses), which is about 2 life cycles of the ick parasite at that temperature. The colder the temperature, the longer the life cycle. After I was done treating, added carbon back to the filtration to remove the meds. I have not used the salt method of curing ick, so I cannot comment on that.

6 out of 7 of my feeder fish (rosey red minnows) died shorty after being treated. Red lesions appeared on their body and they just croaked. My pleco, Oscar and JD's all survived tho. Which is all I really cared about. The scales where the ick parasite were, appeared to fall off, which made them appear quite beat up. But the scales grew back fast over a couple weeks.

Of course keep a close eye on the tank after your done medicating. If even one survives somehow, then you may have to treat again.

I see you mentioned u got a hospital tank if its big enough move all yr fish to that tank.

cyst can on live on live fish and yr tank will cure itself with no fish in it.

as long as the temp is up and u have put alot of salt in and u have been keeping the lights off then u should be fine.

at first it seems like nothing is changing and as yr stress level rises u will realize one morning that most of the white spot has gone.

remember that u need 2 keep treating for min 3days after all visible spots hv gone.

if the scale damage is really bad u can put sum meth blue in yr tank,but i hv to warn u that meth blu makes everything blue and it takes many months to get yr ornaments,silicon ect back to normal color,so use meths blu in the hospital tank rather

forgot to mention that fish can handle alot of salt so put heaps in there to help with yr spots

Vbaby wrote:


I wouldn't overdose with salt. Some can handle a lot but some can't, like quite some catfish/pleco species. Same goes for ich meds and tetras and scaleless fish where you should rather dose only half of the generally recommended amount.

sorry my bad let me just correct myself here.

not all fish can handle salt, mainly fish with no scales will suffer in salted water.


as for the oscars they do fairly well in salt ive just treated white spot with heaps of salt and high temp.But as meeto said it i could be differnt from fish to fish so just keep an eye on yr O's

thanks I will try my best not having fun

keep us posted & good luck.

Well the outcome was pretty good I jacked up the large aquarium with another filter pushed up the temp to 30 degrees added salt, meds and oxygen tabs...

White spot is gone without loosing a single fish...

I had it some weeks back brought infected fish in with it,didnt no till the morn after.Treated with protozin it killed the white spot orite,but alsaw mi bacteria and all the plants so i moved everything to the hospital tank to sort out mi big tank which is still high in ammonia,just to get up the next day to see the ich was back.Vbaby is write though dnt just stop treatment once the last white spot dissaperes,carry it on atleast 4 days id of said and i would put salt in,i do,its suppose to take the slime coating off the oscar makin the parasite susceptable to the treatment,id check on that but salt is defo worth putting in.Im still treating now had it a week.Good luck