# white spot and plecs



## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi,

Well I got some new fish for my tank the other day including a small plec. The day i brought them home i put some carbon media in my filter to remove and traces of white spot treatment from the other week as when i added my first lot of fish to my tank they developed white spot.

The following morning my fish were back rubbing themselves on the leaves...baring in mind the ammonia was 0ppm and the nitrites had risen to around 10ppm i think it was so i imagine there defences were down a little and the Ich had struck.

So that day i did a 40 percent waterchange and that night added half dosage of the Ich treatment again.

Then today i get up and my plec is lifeless sat under his rock barely moving ....my other sucker thing (dont know what its called but looks like a tiny shark with a sucker face lol) he isnt moving around much either and normally he goes daft.

Ive done nother large waterchange and added my carbon media back in to remove the Ich treatment.

Does anyone have any ideas what may be wrong?....could it be the treatment??


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2009)

I'm just wondering how long has your tank been set up and how many fish have you added in the last 2-4 weeks? Also the full set of results from your water tests would be good.


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi,

Been testing my tank all the time got an API water testing kit...i made sure before every new batch of fish i put in that the water was fine every time.

My ammonia is at 0ppm, nitrite 10 ppm, ph around 7.6 has always been there and then nitrates around 40 ppm i think yesterday but ive been changing water daily to balance it all out.


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## Lavenderb (Jan 27, 2009)

Try to avoid doing too big a water change too often. It affects the natural healthy bacteria levels in your tank water. These healthy bacteria will help your fish fight off nasties especially those which attack the skin and fins. This is the only thing I can think of right now. Your tank may just need to readjust to all the meds and water changes. Plus you have added new fish which adds to the bioload on the filter. 
Do the fish have white spots on the fins?


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

Nope no white spots....just flicking themselves so i thought i should treat them....i hope my little pleccy pulls thru


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Ok, lets start at the beginning - how big is your tank and how many & what kinds of fish have you got in there?

If you've tested 10ppm for Nitrites that is a bad sign - has that figure gone down much since you've done your water change? I imagine if it's still high, you'll need to keep doing water changes until it goes down, as that is a dangerous level for Nitrites to be at.


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi, My tank is around 60 litres and i have 5 mollies, 1 balloon mollie, 1 plec, 1 frog, 1 shrimp thing??, 1 very small sucker fush thing, 1 red finned shark.

I know each time you add fish your water changes and nitrites go up and then stabilise...the water was fine before i added my new fish...i test it every few days and all levels were 0ppm for a few days so decided time to get a few more.

I will go test my water again now and see what happens im sure im not over stocked but i think i made the mistake of getting a plec with 3 other fish when i should have got him by himself judging by the mess he makes in the tank so maybe the nitrite peak was too high...

what do you think???


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

gr33neyes said:


> Try to avoid doing too big a water change too often. It affects the natural healthy bacteria levels in your tank water


Most of the good bacteria will be on the gravel, on any ornaments and in the filter, so doing large water changes should not be a problem. If your Nitrite and Nitrate levels are still high, you are much better off continuing to do large water changes to try and lower those levels. So long as the clean water is dechlorinated and the same temp as your tank water, it shouldn't stress the fish too much and will only do them good


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

well fingers crossed eh....right im gonna go have a look at my little guys and do another water change and i will post the results on here :dita:


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2009)

gr33neyes said:


> Try to avoid doing too big a water change too often. It affects the natural healthy bacteria levels in your tank water. These healthy bacteria will help your fish fight off nasties especially those which attack the skin and fins. This is the only thing I can think of right now. Your tank may just need to readjust to all the meds and water changes. Plus you have added new fish which adds to the bioload on the filter.
> Do the fish have white spots on the fins?


Despite what a lot of people tell you, water changes won't harm the aquarium. Filter bacteria only colonise hard surfaces such as the filter media, glass and decor. :wink:

10ppm of nitrite is lethal to fish, I would carry out several large water changes and cut out the feeding until the nitrite reads 0ppm on the test kit.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Hmm - I don't know a huge amount about tropical fish, but I think that as a general guideline you're recommended to have 1 gallon of water per inch of fish. 
Your 60 litre tank is about 13 gallons, and I don't know how big your mollies are atm but I think they can grow to about 4 inches? Which means you could well be overstocked, unfortunately


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

OOpppppp totally got the nitrite readin wrong.....it was 0.25ppm...lol phew...still a little more then what they want tho.

Ive just done another reading and it is between 0 and 0.25ppm so its coming down.

All my other fish are fine and normally the mollies show signs of sickness first. My ammonia is still 0ppm and nitrates are reading low too...forgot exactly but not a worry anyway.

Could it be the temperature?....its at 27 c

Im actually thinking of turning it up when pleccy looks a bit better to try and get rid of whatever is making them flick the plants....what do you think???


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Phew! That must be a relief! I did think 10ppm was awfully high 

I have no idea if the temperature could have anything to do with the white spot, though 27 c sounds fine to me. It still could have been the Nitrite levels - hopefully now that they're going down your fish will start to improve?


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

well the lil sucker guy is on the mend hes going daft round the tank...water change must have done the trick, im sure it was the meds i put in last night that did it.

My pleccy has had a little movement and opened his fins out a bit a few times, just not as lively as usual...will pop some bloodworm in now and see what happens...theyve got a peice of cucumber and they are going mad for it


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2009)

Some species of plecs (especially Panaque and Hypancistrus species) prefer warmer temperatures however they also need a reasonable level of dissolved oxygen in the water. This means adding an air stone or turning up the flow from the filter might be a good idea. Also unlike some other fish plecs don't have scales, instead they have a row of large plates on their flanks called scutes, this lack of scales makes them somewhat sensitive to chemical medications.


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

yeah i thought they was supposed to be a bit sensitive...i only gave a half dose but this must have been too much

think im going to just raise temp a little bit
i been thinking bout an airstone...i got pipes n things might see if they still work and pop em in,......i got fluval 2 plus filter with a good air flow and i got 2 live plants but im going to get another one tomorrow cos i like a good planted tank.


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