Hi all
Could someone please give me their advice of now best to get rid of white spot. I have noticed it on one of my cardinal tetras & also one of my 8 week old baby guppy. I also have a pleco in there, neon tetras, adult & baby guppies, which so far aren't showing signs.........Yet!!
A friend recommended Esha Exit. But on reading several different web sites, some say do a total water change daily, others say just to do a 20% change daily for 4 weeks. Also I'm confused as to add aquarium salt in the process of tackling the problem.

All advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm a beginner in this fantastic hobby.

Many thanks

Hi

It will be easier to advise if you can give us some details.

How big is the tank?
How long has it been set up and was it cycled before any fish were added?
Test results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
Temperature?
How often do you change water and how much each time?
Have you added any new fish or plants recently?

A few pointers:

Esha Exit is an excellent white spot medication, but as with all meds don't use salt at the same time and don't do any water changes during treatment - unless you have any issues with ammonia or nitrite in which case concurrent water changes and careful redosing calculations may be needed.

Don't use aquarium salt at all, these are freshwater fish and the Cardinals especially will not like it.

Is your water hard or soft? Cardinals and Guppies aren't really compatible as Cardinals like really soft, acidic water and Guppies do better in the opposite: hard, alkaline water. One species or the other will not do so well in your local water depending on how hard it is.

EDIT: Also, what species of pleco do you have? There are hundreds of different ones who range in adult size from 3 inches up to 3 feet so it's important to identify which you have. If you aren't sure, post some photos and we'll see if we can tell you

Thank you for your reply.

it its a 60 ltr biorb I have. Temp is at 25 & water is near perfect. Was all cycled before fishes were added & we have soft water. Have had a problem getting my nitrate down recently so day before yesterday I did a 50% change & replaced filter for new one. My daughter bought me some new guppies the other day, but the fish showing most signs was bought several weeks ago.
I'm not sure what type of pleco it is I have, will try to post a pic. He is roughly 3" long.
Also with the nitrate level being so high recently I have been doing a 50% water change for the last 3 weeks.

Hope that helps & many thanks for responding to my plight.
:)

Can you post actual test results please?

When you replaced the filter did you keep the old one too, or add the media from the old filter into the new one? How did you cycle the tank?

If you have very high nitrates that indicates that you're overstocked and/or not doing enough regular water changes. High nitrate stresses fish and affects the immune system which is what allows infections to take hold. How may fish do you have - overstocking also causes stress and may be a factor, as is having a plec in the tank. Plecs produce a lot of waste and so affect water quality, plus the shape of the Biorb is not great for what is potentially a large fish. Even at his current size of 3 inches he's really too big for it.

Post back with actual test results and the answers to the questions about numbers of fish and about the change of filter and we'll advise on the best course.

Also if you have very soft water Guppies won't do well long term as they are a hard water fish.

DO NOT DO A TOTAL WATER CHANGE! This is bad for the fish and will probably just create more problems! Do you put aquarium salt in the tank? It won't cure this disease, but it will greatly help protect against other diseases such as fin rots. I would just go to a LFS and see what they have. Sometimes u can do the most with the least. I would also isolate the fish from the other fish to help cease any spreading, especially to the fry.

Changing water is not harmful even in large quantities if the tank is well maintained on a regular basis and the temperature is matched. The only issue with large water changes is when tanks have been neglected as so the chemistry of the new water is very different to that in the tank.

For most fish problems, water changes are the first line of attack in effecting a cure, and a good water change regime prevents many common issues from developing in the first place.

Salt should not be used in fresh water tanks as a matter of course - it raises the TDS as well as salinity and is not only unnecessary, but can be harmful long term. Salt can be useful in some situations (for instance in protecting against nitrite toxicity), but should only be used short term with species' that can tolerate a small amount of salt and should be removed when the problem is over.