Pet Bass problems. White fuzz found today.

[cfire]

Hello i recently got a tiny bass from my brother in law out of his pond and i thought it would be cool to raise it. And i know a bunch of people are going to tell me the legalities of it please don't it was caught and on private property. i just want to help it get better. It started having fuzzy grainy looking things on its face and fins. i will admit i am new to fish caring but its 4 inches long largemouth in a 10 gal tank (for 2 weeks now), until my 55 gal is done and i have all the needed equipment. There are 3 minnows in there with it for food and a rock. I'm going to get the water checked today but reading other blogs have informed me that its exhibiting some of the white spot symptoms. It is swimming towards the top of the tank as well. what medication or treatments do i need to get for it or what should i do next. Water was changed once a week ago. I know their hearty fish so i want to be able to at least take care of this fish before i buy nicer more colorful freshwater fish. please help thanks.

 

[duanes]

1st off, a 55 will be too small for a bass in only a few months, if it lives, a 6ft tank will be needed.
That said, most wild fish have a parasite or two like ick (white spot), that under natural conditions, are only an irritant, but in the confines of a small tank increase in numbers logarithmically, and constantly reinfect as an epidemic.
To combat ick in a 10 gallon, you need to add 1/3 lb of salt (rock salt, water softener salt, (NaCl)), and keep that salinity for about 2 weeks (3ppt(parts per thousand)) salinity.
This will kill all emerging ick, and help with secondary infection. They have a 3 stage life cycle, and are only killed when not on the fish.
If moved to the 55 you will need 2 lbs of salt added to kill ick.

 

[cfire]

How often will i need to add salt to keep the salinity. Same dose every week or two weeks? And i also go ick treatment from petsmart and its seems to be doing much better. Some of the fungus has even begun to come off it and its not swimming sparatically. Ick treatment recommends 2-3 weeks as well as removal and boiling of decorations, plastic bacteria card inside the filter and to throw out the carbon filter. Anyone want to add anything or offer a better recommendation?

 

[cfire]

And thank you very much duanes for the knowledge so far.

 

[Chefken]

The salt will not evaporate.....only the water. Top of with unsalted water as needed and remove salt with water changes after treatment. Keep up treatment 5 days or so after ich as disappeared. You may want to raise the temp to 87 degrees if possible to increase the speed of treatment as this quickens the ICh life cycle. FYI only use pure salt or aquarium salt. Kosher salt works just fine!

 

[duanes]

A good thing to do when ick appears, is to do water changes, where you vacuum the substrate.
When an ick spot on the fish erupts, some young ick that pop out fall to the bottom for a slight dormant period, and are somewhat immune to treatment encased in an impermeable cell wall.
If you vacuum them to waste, you are reducing potential ick reinfection numbers, so if you remove half the tanks water, so you add half the salt you originally added.
The reason I did not suggest raising the temp, is...I believe this is a bass from the US that prefers cooler temps, and may have other infections, temps in the 80s often make bacterial infections more virulent, and may stress the bass even more.
If you use NaCl it is salt, aquarium salt is no different than any other NaCl, like table salt, or rock salt.
Kosher salt may only be important if your bass is Frum.
Some people will recommend not using Iodized salt, or table salt because it has a non-caking agent, I consider these warnings BS. The Iodine may actually help, being anti-bacterial.