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19... White Spot
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Information on white spot disease:
White-spot disease, or Ich is caused by the ciliate
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. The body of this organism is spherical
in form and is large by protozoan standards, growing up to 1mm in size.
The parasite spends most of its life on a host fish, and, by the use
of its cilia; it rotates vigorously burrowing into the surface layer
of skin where it feeds off skin cells and surface debris. The burrowing
action causes local irritation and the skin eventually grows over this
enclosing the parasite under the skin, thus forming a white spot.
The parasite has a three-stage life cycle, and depending
on the temperature, can take up to 20 days to complete, reproduction
occurs away from the host fish:
- The first stage is spent growing on the skin of its host as
already described.
- After maturing on the skin, which can take a few days to a few
weeks depending on the temperature, the parasite bores its way out
and drops to the aquarium floor, as a jelly-like cyst. Rapidly,
within the cyst, cells start to divide, and in just a few hours
several hundred individual cells have been produced.
- The individual "daughter" cells (swarmers) have now broken out
of the cyst and have to find a new host in which to start the whole
process again, unless they do this within three to four days they
will die.
The disease is easy to recognise, the whole of the
fish’s body will be covered with noticeable white spots. In severe cases
the spots may merge together to form grey patches. The skin will become
slimy and the fish will close its fins and rub its body against objects
in the aquarium, eventually becoming thin and listless. Under a microscope
scrapings of mucus from an infected fish would reveal the constantly
rotating parasites.
All species of fish are vulnerable to attack by this
highly infectious disease, although in an otherwise healthy aquarium
it may be nothing more than a short-lived attack with very few parasites.
There could still be a danger however, some fishes fight off the disease
and become immune, these "survivors" may show no signs of the disease
but may be potential carriers of it.
The real threat is when the parasite is introduced
into an aquarium that accommodates less than healthy fishes due to some
other factor, such as poor water conditions for instance. An already
weakened fish will succumb to the infection and before you know it the
parasite will have taken control, covering the whole of the fish’s body,
the wounds left behind by the parasite will give rise to secondary infections,
all in all this could prove fatal.
If you suddenly get an outbreak of this disease in
an aquarium that is otherwise perfectly healthy, it is most likely that
the parasite has been introduced either on a newly acquired fish or
as a cyst, on a plant for instance. To be certain of maintaining a healthy
environment for your fishes it is best to quarantine all new stock,
including plants (and anything else that goes into the aquarium for
that matter), they should be housed for about two weeks in a quarantine
tank prior to introducing them into the main aquarium; this will go
a long way to ensuring that you have a disease free environment for
your fishes.
Treatment
Once the parasite has been identified it is best to
treat it in its third stage (free-swimming stage), this is because it
is in a protected-state while on the body and in the cyst. Also since
the parasites life cycle can take up to 20 days to complete, the treatment
should last accordingly to ensure complete removal of it.
Reliable, pre-mixed, ready-to-use medications are available
nowadays; as soon as the problem is identified you should seek out the
appropriate ready-to-use remedy from your local aquatic store, and follow
the manufacturers directions.
Also see
Method of Treatment for extra information.
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