Ich (White Spot Disease)
Unfortunately, fish are susceptable to a variety of diseases, especially in the aquarium, due to the close proximity of other fishes. The most common disease encountered by fish is ich (pronounced ick). Ich, also known as white spot disease, is caused by the parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.
The ick parasite is round, covered by cilia (hair-like extensions), and about 1 mm in diameter and so it is visible to the naked eye.
The ich parasite burrows its way into the skin of the fish and feeds off the fish's blood. The gills may also be affected. In an ich infected fish you will see small white spots on the fish. The fish may act ill, with fins held close to the body, and you will often see the fish glancing off of rocks, presumably to dislodge the parasite, as they are irritating to the fish. If the gills are affected your fish will gasp for air.
After a few days of feeding on the fish's blood, the parasite bores its way out of the fish and forms a cyst in the tank. This is the reproductive stage, and when complete, about 1000 free-swimming young parasites are released. These are much smaller than the adult stage and are not visible to the naked eye.
This free-swimming form then seeks out a host, burrows into their skin, and the whole cycle begins again. In addition, because of the small size of the free-swimming stage, they are easily able to enter the gills of the fish. By the time you find white spots on the fish's fins and body the gills are usually already heavily infected with ich.
There are treatments available. Treatments work only for the free-swimming stage. So don't expect the white spots to disappear off your fish immediately. You will have to wait for these to fall off, form the cyst stage, and when the free-swimming stage emerges they will be killed by the treatment. While you are treating your fish for ich (described below) it is a good idea to turn the temperature in your tank up a couple of degrees. The ich life cycle moves faster at higher temperatures. In this way you'll get the cysts to the free-swimming stage much quicker and can kill them off.
It is important to treat the fish because ich can be fatal. It can also lead to secondary bacterial infections due to the irritation of the fish's skin.
If you go to any pet store that sells fish, you will find a wide variety of different brands and treatments for ich. Some of these seem to work better than others.
If you read the ingredients you will find that not all of them are using the same chemicals to treat ich. Some are formalin based, some contain malachite green or methylene blue, and some contain copper sulfate.
I once purchased some corydoras catfish for one of my aquariums from a pet store that didn't practice the best fishkeeping methods. Unfortunately, the fish had ich. I knew it was a possibility when I bought them, but I was planning on keeping them in their own tank with no other fish and so I thought that I could treat them. In fact, I thought I was "saving them" from the fate they would most likely encounter at the pet store.
I began treating them with a formulin based medicine. It didn't work and two of the fish died (there were 5 total). I did a partial water change and then used a copper sulfate solution (at half dose) and the ich problem cleared right up.
As an FYI - if you use copper sulfate in your aquarium, be sure to read the directions and don't overdose your fish. Also, some fish are overly sensitive to copper sulfate and don't do well when it is added. This is true for scaleless fish (e.g., kuhli loaches, clown loaches, corydoras, and some others). Invertebrates can't tolerate copper sulfate either and so don't use it in a tank where invertebrates are living.
I've used copper sulfate to treat ich many times over the years and it generally works for me. I use the Mardel brand. The other brands of copper sulfate (if there are any) are probably just as good for treating ich, but I've always had good luck in using the Mardel products to treat a variety of fish diseases. With the Mardel products, in most cases, you don't even have to remove the activated charcoal to treat your fish. This is usually true for all of their products.
This is the product that I use to treat my fish for ich:
Fritz Aquatics Fritz Mardel - Coppersafe
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After using the copper sulfate solution the remaining three catfish are living ich free to this day and it's been about 8 years now.
You can also use a small amount of aquarium salt in your freshwater tanks to help prevent and cure ich. You can buy aquarium salt specifically made for freshwater fish, or you can buy uniodized salt at the grocery store. Don't use salt with iodine in it (iodized salt)!! It will kill your fish. I usually use about 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt for every 5 gallons of water. Keep in mind that if you have a 10 gallon tank that your rocks, heater, and other items in your tank take up some space and so you may not actually have 10 gallons of water. Also, salt doesn't evaporate and so when you replace water in your tank don't add more salt to it. You can, however, add more salt when making water changes (as long as it doesn't exceed the recommended salt level). Keep in mind that some fish don't tolerate extra salt as well as others (such as Bettas).
Doing partial water changes when treating your tank for ich is also a good idea. This is because it helps to reduce toxins in the water, as well as to remove some of the free-swimming ich larva. Just remember that if you remove water you are also removing some of the medicine from the tank. You will need to replace this, but don't exceed the total recommended dosage.
One way to help prevent ich in your aquarium is not to overcrowd the fish, don't overfeed them, and make sure you do partial water changes at least once per week. More frequent partial water changes are even better.
Another way that ich can be introduced into your tank is through plants. Only buy plants from pet stores and dealers that keep the plants separate from the fish. All too often you will see pet stores keeping their aquatic plants for sale in the same tanks they are keeping fish. If you buy plants from one of these tanks and put them into your tank you are putting your fish at risk. It is also recommended that when you buy new fish to use a quarantine tank until you make sure the new fish is healthy. However, this only works if you have more than one aquarium. Generally, a quarantine tank can be small (such as 5 gallons) and it will help protect your existing fish.
