White Spot.

You could slowly start to increase the temperature to speed up the lifecycle of the whitespot.  I would also recommend a thorough gravel vaccing to remove as many spores as possible. This will also do a water change of course which is also advisable in this circumstance to maximise water quality.

I knew I should have got a hamster instead

Having been bitten by a hamster (not my own pet), and had it hanging off my hand with its teeth sunken into my fingers and blood spurting out, I think fish are a much preferable option, despite the misfortune you're currently experiencing. Best of luck; good advice above.

The same thing happened to me when I kept ferrets. It wouldn’t let go when one bit me. I ended up pulling it off my finger and some skin with it. Ouch !!!!

It sounded like more than one fish had the spots from your first post. If this is the case then it is definitely worth dosing.  Can you not see any fish with spots now?

Which med have you bought?

It is known that just heat alone can kill the parasites. If you raise the temperature slowly to 29 to 30 dec C, that could be enough. The higher temp will also speed up the bug's life cycle, so if it is whitespot, the spots should reappear faster.

What I would do is get some med (I like Waterlife's Protozin, eSHa Exit or when there are shrimps in the tank King British original formula WS3) but don't add it the minute you get back. Take some time to look at the tank temperature to see if you can increase it to 29 deg, and examine every fish you can see with a magnifying glass if necessary. If none of them have any white spots at all, hold off on the med. Check the fish every day for a week. If it is white spot, the spots will come back. As soon as you see this, add the med. If the spots don't come back, don't add any med, keep it in the cupboard. If unopened, it will keep to the use by date. (If you open the bottle it will keep for only 12 months or until the use by if that's sooner)


What was the species of the fish that had spots?

Platy Sue. All those that have died were platies

In that case, add the med as soon as you get it. It will probably say to dose on this day, then that day, then another day. Follow the instructions.

If you need to do a water change -
On dose days, do the water change, then add the med
On non-dose days, do the water change than add enough med to treat the amount of water you changed - in other words enough med to replace the amount you just removed.



It is possible that the first platies did die of whitespot. It often infects the gills where we can't see it. And for future reference, this is why it is a good idea to quarantine all new fish. At the moment all you fish are new so it doesn't matter but in a few months or years if you add an infected fish all the existing fish will catch it too. I've been caught out by not quarantining new fish 

It's not to say you need another tank, but simply that it's a good idea to have one. It wouldn't need to be up and running full time, but if that's the case, you'll probably need to cycle it before putting new fish in.

It's just a small, simple tank, to house fish temporarily to ensure that they have no infections (such as whitespot) and so that you can give medication to any fish that do become ill.

Practical Fishkeeping have a "budget" guide here.

Has anyone used the Interpet anti white spot treatment? According to the instructions, I should remove all  silk plants and stones. Seems an awful lot of work

Oh wo is me! 
Another fish with white spot, I've just given 2nd dose of Interpet.
In addition I have some very pretty fern-like algae growing on plants .  Now what do I do.
Does every newbie have these problems, am I doing things wrong or just unlucky