White spots on the fish skin - Ichthyophthirius parasite

Ichthyophthirius is one of the largest single celled parasites that can be seen with the naked eye and on fish skin the parasite looks like white spots, an infected fish will die if medical treatment is not applied.

In the early stages of infection the fish is rubbing against the substrate or plants to remove the parasites from the skin.
The parasite is fixed on fish where it feeds for some days until reaches adulthood, once the parasite is matured it will drop on the substrate and begins to divide many times, after this stage hundreds of parasites are looking for fish to attach so the cycle begins again.

To remove Ichthyophthirius (White spots on the fish skin) from an infected aquarium I recommend using JBL Punktol but before you apply the treatment you must do the following things:
• 50% water change prior the treatment
• Increase water temperature, 27 - 28 °C, above this temperature parasite multiplication is stopped
• Do not feed the fish for 3 days, in the 4th day feed only with a small amount of food
• Clean the filter
• Clean the gravel with gravel cleaner, in this way you removed all the parasites from the substrate level.
When the treatment is finished it is a good idea to add some bacteria starter.
If you see white spots on the fish skin it is advisable to take action as soon as possible, in this way you limit the parasite spreading.