White Spot Or Ich Is A Common And Lethal Pond Fish Disease
White Spot Bacterial Ulcer Diseases In Backyard Fish Ponds
Bacterial Ulcer Disease is a serious koi disease and is symptomatic of an internal bacterial infection, caused by Aeromonas and Pseudomonas pathogenic bacteria, brought on by your ornamental koi or goldfish becoming stressed.
This can be likened to humans who are more susceptible to infection when their immune system is weaker, due to tiredness, too much activity or even stress etc.
Click for All Fish Disease Articles on this site..
Calico Goldfish With White Spot Ich
White Spot or Ich; scientific name Ichthyophthirius is a fish parasite that is extremely common and capable of affecting nearly all species of fish including your prized ornamental koi, fancy tailed goldfish etc.
As with many fish parasites, Ich (Ick) is often initially introduced to healthy garden ponds by the introduction of new pond fish and aquatic pond plants.
It is always advisable to quarantine new fish and observe them for a period of time prior to releasing them into your garden fish pond. This will allow you to see if they show signs of this and other parasitic infestations before you infect your entire pond fish population.
Ich fish parasites are capable of causing extensive damage to the body tissue of the infected host fish. The damage is caused by the Ich parasite feeding under the skin as well as the actual entry and exit to and from its host victim. The damaged tissue, particularly to the gill region is a major cause of pond fish disease and fish health problems.
As with other parasitic fish infestations such as flukes and anchor worms it is often not the Ich parasite that causes fish fatalities but the consequences of the damage left. White Spot Ulcers, caused as a direct result of the damaged tissue becoming infected will often spread rapidly on ornamental koi and other pond fish.
How Do I Treat The Ich Parasite?
Please note that the Ich parasite can only be treated whilst it is in the free swimming stage of its life cycle, which is only around 3 days. When there are trophonts under the skin or the tomont cysts have formed you can't kill the Ich parasite. Treatment needs to be ongoing and continued over a few week period, so as to kill the emerging Ich parasites.There are several Ich treatment medications available online, including Appond Cure Ick,Aquarium Solutions Ich-X and Jungle Pond Ick Guard. These Ick treatment pond medications utilize either Malachite green, methylene blue, quinine hydrochloride or mepracrine hydrochloride; all of which will sucessfully kill the Ich parasite. What to do:
- Raise the pond water temperature as the lifecycle of the Ich parasite is reliant upon pond water temperature. The higher the pond temperature the shorter the incubation period and the sooner the Ich parasite can be treated with a medicated Ich treatment.
- Continue with routine pond water testing, using a suitable pond water test kit, to check for ammonia and nitrate, to ensure that your biological pond filter beneficial bacteria isn't affected. These beneficial bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter) live on your pond bio filter media and are responsible for converting toxic to pond fish ammonia compounds into nitrates.
- It is also recommended that the infected pond fish is isolated, so as to not infect your other pond fish inhabitants.
A Biological Pond Filter Reduces Fish Stress & Fish Disease Problems
A major cause of any lethal pond fish disease is poor pond water quality, increasing pond fish susceptibility to stress. Poor water quality is often the result of poorly specified and inadequate biological pond filtration. Stressed pond fish, often the result of high levels of ammonia are more susceptible to infections in the first instance, as their immune system is weaker. By using a branded, reliable pond filter you will certainly be helping to maintain a healthier garden pond environment. A pond filter is the heart of any pond environment and an absolutely essential piece of pond keeping equipment.
I would recommend either the box type gravity fed Fishmate pond filter or Oase Filtoclear pressurized biofilter for small to medium sized backyard fish ponds. These industry recognized, high quality pond filters will give you years of trouble free operation.
If you intend to have a large backyard fish pond and intend to stock large koi then you will need a professional Bead filtration system, capable of purifying large volumes of pond water. In the USA the Aquadyne Bead Filter and the Aquabead Filter are amongst the most popular.
Click for All Fish Disease Articles on this site..