It is usually stated as 86 deg F so when I converted that it came to 30 deg C?
There are probably more myths online about whitespot than anything else. We all know about myths. When we gain more knowledge and learn that the myth isn’t true, nothing happens to the myth. It carries on regardless. It’s like the blind leading the blind.
There are 3 ways to kill whitespot.
1. Chemical treatments. These don’t work unless the stressor (the cause of the infection) is removed, hence the myth that chemical treatments on their own don’t always work, and the myth (ime) that there are ‘resistant strains’.
2. Diatom filter. Filters out the free swimming tomonts so they don’t get back into the tank. This method is also a preventative.
3. Raising the temperature to 32C. When it gets to 32 the whitespot dies. The temperature needs to be raised and lowered gradually only for the sake of the fish.
At 30C whitespot stops reproducing. But when the temperature is dropped again, hey presto, reinfection, leading to the myth that you have to keep it at 30 for a long time.
If you use the heat method, it’s pointless using chemical treatments aswell. The chemical treatment doses are timed for key phases in the disease’s lifecycle at ‘normal temperatures’ (25C, I believe). If you raise the temperature you speed up the life cycle (at 32 the life cycle is twice as fast as it is at 22), so the chemical treatments will not work.
Whitespot really is nothing to worry about. It only becomes a ‘serious’ disease because of all the misinformation that stops people from treating it properly. I think of it as the fish equivalent of a cold. Rectify the problem as soon as it appears and chances are the fish will get rid of it by themselves.
If you see whitespot on your fish, your first question should be ‘why?’