How To Get Rid Of White Spot On Fish?
Although the White Spot Disease can be cured with medications, these should not be applied compulsively when the first spots appear.
Firstly the disease should be identified (is easily confused with other disease, for example fungus). Identified the illness the life cycle of the parasite should be known, to be able to carry out an action in the appropriate moment.
The life cycle can be conveniently accelerated by controlling the temperature of the water in the aquarium.
Knowing the parasite's life cycle is crucial. The parasite presents an infecting phase and a free phase. During the infecting phase the parasite feeds off from the host fish, producing the lesions (the white spot is a cyst caused by the immune system of the fish on the parasite).
In this phase the parasite grows and reaches the maturity. Once mature, the parasite exit the body of the fish to reproduce (asexual reproduction by cellular divicion). The new parasites in free phase will try to find a fish to begin another cycle.
The appropriate moment to administer the medication is during the free phase attacking the new parasites, since during the infecting phase the parasite is encysted and the medication doesn't produce effect.
The infecting phase can last from a few days to a few weeks, depending on water temperature.
It is convenient therefore to accelerate the infecting phase for two reasons: Decreasing the exposure time of the fish to the parasite (so that the fish suffer the least possible and lesions are not increased).
Expose as much of parasites in free phase as possible to the medication.
It is known that the biological cycle of the parasite depends on the temperature of the water, and the time to complete the life cycle are:
- Three to six days at 25 degrees
- Ten days at 15 degrees
- Thirty days at 10 degrees
Identify and Treat Health Problems such as White Spot, Velvet and Fin Rot in your tropical fish, saving on vet bills and headaches.
To optimize the treatment against white spot it is advisable to raise the water temperature in the aquarium, up to 30 degrees in tropical aquariums and up to 22 degrees in cold water aquariums.
The increase of temperature should be made gradually and whenever the fish tolerate it. At the end of the reproductive stage of the parasite, medicate.
It is known that a fish that has suffered the disease and it has overcome it, develops certain immunity against the parasite. The ich is one of the most common diseases in aquarium fish.
Can be cured by knowing what to do and when to do it. The control of water temperature is an important factor of the treatment, but it should not be made in an abrupt way.