Big White Spot

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Terrance
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Big White Spot

Post by Terrance »

My wife was vacuuming 2 days ago. She unplugged my Turg's heater to plug in the vacuum. Today I noticed my Turgidus not coming out for food. I looked closer and found a big white spot on his side. The temp was below 50F. My wife forgot to plug the heater back after vacuuming. I took him out of his tank and put him in a QT tank (shown below). The QT water was the same temp of his normal tank, and now I'm raising the temp with a heater. I didn't want to put him from a cold 50F to a ~76F.

His tank has been good and stable for many months until now. The cold temp caused him stress and weakened his immune system. I'm thinking about treating him for bacterial infection. Good plan? Any better ideas?

Let me know if you need a better picture.
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20g main tank, 20g hospital tank with no tankmate
ammonia/nitrite zero
weekly 50% water change
raw shrimp and worms with snails when I can get them
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Pufferpunk »

Why did you move him? I'd put him back & just add Melafix for now. Get a Jager heater, they turn off when the water level gets low.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Any tank mates in the hospital tank, like a pleco?

I would say melafix and primafix would be a great start.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Terrance »

No tankmates at all. I will get some meds tomorrow because most LFS is closed at 8pm.

I thought his bacterial germs might get caught onto his decor and other stuff in his regular tank. I don't know much about diseases, but basic readings tells me to QT. Once I saw the white spot, I didn't jump online and did research. I got him out of there and into a hospital. Better to put him back now?
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Pufferpunk »

You need to learn more about QT. Put him back.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Terrance »

Alright so he is back in his normal tank and I started the Melafix treatment tonight. I hope everything will look right by next weekend.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Terrance wrote:Alright so he is back in his normal tank and I started the Melafix treatment tonight. I hope everything will look right by next weekend.
Does it seem fungal at all or anything? Does it seem to be spreading or anything like that?
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -- Henry Ford
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Terrance »

Its not spreading. Its just a white spot. Its not fuzzy or growing any kind of layer.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Well that's a good sign at least! =]
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Rocker »

Looks like a typical heater burn to me.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Rocker wrote:Looks like a typical heater burn to me.
Except for his heater was unplugged when this happened.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Terrance »

The white spot if smaller, but still present. No other signs on his body. He is eating well and still comes up to me when I come up to him. Been dosing Melafix as directed on the bottle since 5/18/12. Just did my weekly 50-60% water change for all my tanks today.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by El Scorpio »

Kind of looks like a skin ulcer to me, there is a bacterial skin infection that can cause something a lot like it, I've seen GSP's with it. Melafix seems to be working though, keep it up.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by Rocker »

Still say its a heater burn. Acquired before the heater was turned off.
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Re: Big White Spot

Post by bertie 83 »

Or the heater hadn't cooled, I have been burnt more than once in my time
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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