Is this whitespot/ich?

[MarcW]

Hi Everyone,

I have a group of

Entomocorus gameroi

and for about 6-8 weeks I've suspected they they have had whitespot, however I don't see spots on all of them, and none at all on the sturistoma I also have in that tank. They are all behaving and eating normally, the water is usually 29 to 30c. Thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

[Viktor Jarikov]

From my end looks definitely like the ich.

[MarcW]

Thanks Victor.

I've not had to deal with it before, luckily I have some medication to hand, so I'll start a course of treatment.

[Bas Pels]

I hope it works. It´s quite a severe case.

[TwoTankAmin]

Research has shown that some fish which survive a bout of ich acquire an immunity to it. Some studies show this to be a shorter term immunity and others appear to indicate a longer lasting one. This could explain why some of the fish in a tank may not be affected even as the rest are seriously so.

If this acquired immunity is common in many, it would explain what you are seeing. It may even be passed on to offspring?

Here is the abstract to one such study as an example:
Immunity to Ichthyophthirius infections in fish: A synopsis
H.W.Dickerson R.C.Findly
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 5X13001675

If you would like to read papers on this, go to Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/ and enter "acquired immunity to Ichthyophthirius multifiliis" in the search box. I would also suggest you might want to limit the time period on the left side of the page to something starting between 2000 and 2005 and 2019.

[MarcW]

Thanks everyone, I've treated the tank with the first dose of medication and will continue as directed over the next week.

Interesting TwoTank, thanks for the link I'll try to have a read of that tonight.

[MarcW]

The course of treatment has finished, allowing me to do a water change, and most fish appear to be free of ich.

A few still have white patches, I'll leave it a few days to see if it's just irritation/scabs which need to heal.

If not I'll do another course to try and wipe out the ich.

Unfortunately I lost one of the worst affected fish, a large male, right at the end of the treatment, the rest appear to have come through it well though.

Thanks for everyone's help.

[bekateen]

Good luck with them, Marc. It's a nasty time for fish when disease is running around.

Regards, Eric

[MarcW]

I didn't want to wait any longer so just performed a 75% water change and started a second course of treatment.

Hopefully after this one the ich will be gone.