[Lexus]

Ich/White Spot
White spot (Ichthyopthirius multifiliis) is caused by a parasitic organism which spends much of its life on the host fish, feeding off the skin by digging into the flesh.

The parasite has a three stage life cycle:

Growth, spent on the skin of the host fish.
Cyst, spent on the bottom of the tank.
Free swimming, the infectious stage.

Each cyst may divide into as many as 1000 spores, which, depending on the water temperature, have up to seventy hours to attach to a host.

An attack of white spot is visible as small white spots over the entire body, including gills and fins.

As length of the white spot life cycle is dependent on temperature, the water temperature should be raised a few degrees during treatment. A wide variety of specific treatments are commercially available, most of which contain malachite green. Care must be taken when treating small or scaleless fish, underdosage is recommended.

Once cured, a host can develop an immunity, but may still be a passive carrier.



I use quick-cure or ICK-gone and it seems to work well.