VickieS VickieS
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  • Posted on: 7/3/2021 11:31
White spot treatments #1
Hi, I'm a complete newbie just joining the forum this morning. My Molly has white spot and I've read so much conflicting advice I'm now confused what is the best method to treat her.
I read to increase the temp, which I have done but have read it's not very helpful.
I have a bottle of white spot treatment arriving today from Amazon so was going to do a 50% water change before adding the first dose.

My filter is a Ciano cf80 and the carbon is inside the clear water cartridge I'm currently using, I have no way of removing the carbon before treatment and I know if left in the carbon will remove the medication.
If I remove the cartridge then I'd only have the sponge left in the filter and wouldn't the bacteria on the cartridge die if removed from the tank?

Before the white spot appeared i had been cleaning the filter media (in tank water) with every water change, has this maybe caused the white spot by killing the bacteria off with too much filter cleaning?
I'm using Tetra water test strips and the Nitrite and Nitrate levels are high so could this be a possible cause too?
I have ordered the Api master test kit for more accurate results going forward.

My apologies for a very long winded post and many thanks in advance for any help and suggestions offered.
Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 7/3/2021 12:17
Re: White spot treatments #2
Raising the temperature is outdated advice and a good white spot medication will deal with the problem without needing to raise temp.

You can remove your carbon cartridge safely as the sponge is where your beneficial bacteria live. As long as the cleaning has been done in tank water that won't be the cause of the white spot.

If you have high nitrite and nitrate they are the most likely culprits as the stress caused by them will have compromised the fishes' immunity and allowed the infection to take hold. Which white spot treatment did you order?
VickieS VickieS
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  • Posted on: 7/3/2021 12:28
Re: White spot treatments #3
Thank you so much for your reply.

I've ordered King British White Spot Control.
Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 7/3/2021 16:58
Re: White spot treatments #4
My only concern with that medicine is it needs to be re-dosed every 48 hours until all the spots have gone, which can take a while, and with nitrite in your water, you need to be doing water changes that would remove it. I think the best advice is to do a large water change the day before you start treatment, then don't feed the fish while treating as that will minimise the production of ammonia/nitrite during the time that you can't change water.