Find here the essentials and best sellers for our pond owners.
Find here the essentials and best sellers for our pond owners.
In a pond, you may notice tiny spear spots appearing on the body of your fish. The greatest connoisseurs among you often call it " ichthyo ", a white spot disease that affects most freshwater fish.
One of the first symptoms is abnormal agitation of your fish which begin to rub and jump. This is also a time when you can even see the white spots on your fish with the naked eye. Your fish will tend to lack appetite and move abnormally. We must act quickly because it is a very contagious disease.
It is one of the most common diseases in aquariums and garden ponds. The white dots will spread all over the body of the fish. There is suddenly a production of excess mucus which may prevent your koi carp from breathing. Then the fish will remain motionless on the bottom. Lesions in your fish affect osmoregulation.
This attack can be treated by respecting a few rules. It is possible to treat the white point with FMC , salt, potassium permenganate (be careful to know this treatment well, malachite green, ...
The treatment we recommend most often is malachite green mixed with formaldehyde . The free form of the parasite in water (theronts) is sensitive to treatment products. It is therefore necessary to treat several times to eliminate all the whiteheads. To treat and choose the dosage and the timing, you will have to measure the water temperature in your pool. Discover our garden pond thermometers here.
Below you can observe the white point development cycle. When this parasite is in its advanced (mature) stage, it is called trophont (stage 2 & 3). It stops feeding and leaves the skin of your fish to settle on the bottom of the pond, on plants, on the edges of the pond. At this stage, it is no longer called trophont but tomont. A tomont is protected by a gelatinous mass and will multiply at an incredible speed (step 4 & 5). They will divide in a binary way which will generate the creation of tomites (step 5 & 6). These tomites leaves the gelatinous heap.
When these " tomites " leave the gelatinous cyst, they are called therons. They are attracted to your fish's mucus and will penetrate your fish's skin.
It is then a new trophont which will grow under the epidermis of your fish and the cycle continues without stopping. It is therefore important to kill free-living parasites in the water. With FMC, you break the shell on the first try but not the white dots contained inside. This is the reason why it will be necessary to treat between 2 to 3 times. It is also for this reason that plants or other fish can bring white point.
When the trophonts are under the skin of your fish. They feed on the epithelium. They will cause necrosis of the tissues of your fish such as koi carp and will create necroses which risk being contaminated by secondary bacteria.
In short, white spot disease is complicated to treat. We recommend that you validate the analysis of the fish with a specialist using a microscope before performing any treatment. You have a question? Contact us directly via support@foudebassin.com
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