White Spot-Not Ich

dancexonxwater

I realize that I've noticed this too late, and my chances are slim. I've put in some stresscoat and a few drops of prevent-ich which prevents harmful dinoflagellites and stuff from harming the fish when theyre under stress...

Stats: 10 gallon tank, freshwater, been set up for almost a year, three platies, one baby Platy (three months ish), temp = 78F

History: One of my Platys has a white mark on the side under the fin. It's not the one I expected to go first...and I'm upset I didn't notice it early (but..finals week...haha..). About a month ago one of my other platys was having a problem with raised scales. I left it untreated since the fish store I went to said the price of the medicine is just not worth it. My fish actually recovered with no treatment. By recovered I mean started acting normally, the scales are still raised.

Current Issue: Sunburst Platy has clear infection or disease. Only lays on bottom , when it tries to swim,w ithein a few seconds itll chose to dive headfirst..pretty fast too..into the ground and lay there again. =/ I took a picture. I understand that I'll lose the lil fella..which is upsetting, but I'm more ocncerned about why my tank has been getting so many infectous diseases, whether these are contagious or not, and whether its just sort of common for this type of thing to happen.

dancexonxwater

You can see the white spot here. I think maybe it's a fungal infection that I just should have caught earlier.

MoneyMitch

i agree with you, it is a fungal infection- if its fuzzy, if its not fuzzy the fish might have flashed on something and broke skin. to keep your fish healthy and stress free keep up on weekly w/c nothing better than claen fresh water for your fish.

dancexonxwater

Hmm..it doesn't look particularly fuzzy. Perhaps he cut it on something then..the only thing I could see him cutting himself on would be this one rock, but it's not even that sharp. Maybe I'll remove it from now on anyway.. Wouldn't some other issue cause the flashing, though?

I usually change the water about every two weeks, I should increase this to once a week?

teddyzaper

definatly once a week

MoneyMitch

flashing is usually caused by the fishs skin being irritated, can be alot of things that cause this a upcoming outbreak of ich or a water flea or something idk much about that fishinpole does i think he mentioned sometimes theyll do it just to show dommance or from playing.

Pasfur

This is a very common problem with livebearers. Your picture is a sight I have seen literally hundreds of times. The curious thing is that this occurred to you on an established system. Am I correct that you have not added any new livestock?

On established systems that have a sudden display of disease, I generally look in 2 directions. First, test the pH. Fluctuations in pH, in my humble opinion, are responsible for most freshwater deaths in established systems. What happens over time is that the buffering ions that make up General Hardness are depleted, and the small partial water changes are not effectively replacing what is utilized by the system. As a result, the aquarium eventually hits a breaking point where pH starts to drop. At this point water changes are bringing the pH back to an acceptable level, and often the fishkeeper is only testing the water after a water change, as opposed to before the water change.

Another big factor to consider is diet. Livebearers need a good variety in their diet, which should include significant amounts of algae matter. Spirulina flakes are a good supplement, as are many frozen food preparations which contain algae. Do not underestimate the benefits of feeding a good quality food. Diet is critical to boosting the immunity system so that fish remain healthy to fight off infections. One good question would be... how old is your flake food? Did you buy a bulk supply that is currently over 6 months old? Most dry flakes loose almost all nutritional value within 6 months of opening the lid.