ich

[foxxy2490]

Hello,
I was scanning through websites today to find a treatment for my fish who now has ich. I am very confused. I have a 30 gallon tank, no heater and three fish. The fish that is covered in ich is a black moor goldfish. I recently received two other fish ( dalmatian and dwarf gourami) Obviously my black moor got it from the new fish. I read that the heat needs to be put to 80. I did a 100% water change and scrubbed the sides a little and put hot water in that is now at 80degrees. I wasn't sure how to clean the gravel since a lot of sites didn't mention it. I went out and bought the only ich treatment at petco and now I am thinking I have to find another one. I bought mardel coppersafe. right now the fish is swimming around like nothing is wrong and I know the medicine will not work until the parasites are no longer attached to him. If I continue to due a 25% water change a day and keep it at 80 will this suffice? The medicine says not to overdose and it is good for one month. However, I am doing water changes and have a filter. Oh, and many sites said to take out my filter... how will my fish breath after a couple of days?
I guess my concern is if what I am doing is ok or if there is something else I should do? I love my black moor and I feel horrible for getting two fish for company and now shes very sick;(

 

[amesdrew]

Keep the water as clean as you possibly can. Get a heater in there and keep the water at a steady 80 degrees or warmer. The flux in temperature could be what is making the goldfish weak enough to get affected by ich.

Stay positive.

Some one who knows more then me will help you out with medication questions.

 

[XimeD]

The sites that say to take out the filter mean to take out any activated carbon, if your filter cartdrige has activated carbon in it but you have been running it a while (I would say 3 weeks or longer) then the carbon is already "exhausted" and you don't need to worry about it. If your filter has separate compartments take out only the carbon one. Do not remove the biomedia from your filter since this will cause your tank to go through another cycle.

Also, since you already used a copper based medication don't put any invertebrates in there (Copper will stick aorund pretty long in a tank and is toxic to inverts - not sure exactly how long though) and some ich meds will also affect the good bacteria in the tank (biofilter) so watch out for any ammonia/nitrite buil-ups.

+1 on getting the heater (to avoid those temp spikes, ideally temp should be changed gradually at 1F per hour or less to avoid shocking the fish), not sure how high you can go with the goldfish, but when I had ich in my tank I brought the temp up to 86F, bringing the temp up to 80F will speed up the life-cycle of the parasite so that it enters the "killable" stage faster but will not actually kill the parasite, you need >84F (though the med you added will kill it too). If you are going to go above 80F you should also get an airstone to increase aereation (there will be less oxygen dissolved in your tank at higher temps)

If you ever have to deal with ich again I really recommend Kordon Ich-attack, it is organic and will not harm the filter (or scaleless fish), also you have to dose it everyday so it would solve the dosing and PWC issue. I don't know what to tell on that one since I have never used the kind of med you are using.

Good luck!

Edit: since raising the temp causes the life-cycle of the parasite to go faster, you might a slight worsening in your fish before you see the improvement. Again I don't know if this applies to goldies I hope someone else who does can come along and help, but adding aquarium salt to your tank can help.

 

[mudraker]

With a gold fish, warm termperatures will stress fish badly. Also, 80 degrees actually speeds up the lifecycle of the parasite. 86 degrees or higher will actually kill the parasite. But its a poor option for gold fish.

Gold fish are pretty tolerant of salt and salt is an excellent ich killer.

Salt is also beneficial to mollys which are actually a brackish fish, not freshwater.

This is an excellent source to get started. If you use salt, be sure to use a non-iodized variety. Not table salt. I buy natural sea salt from health food stores in bulk section to save $.

This is an excellent link to get started with.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/29/1/Freshwater-Ich-Yuck-/Page1.html

Best of luck...

 

[mudraker]

Ximed also has good advice, she just posted faster!

 

[foxxy2490]

Thanks guys! Even though it has only been one day my black moor seems to be getting worst. I did a 25 % water change today and raised the temp to about 85. Unfortunately, I can't get a heater today because of work but tomorrow afternoon I can. I figured doing what I can now in terms of raising the tank is better than nothing. I am going to go with the salt and heat remedy. If I have a 30 gallon tank how much salt should I put in?

 

[dkpate]

The temp going up and down is way more stressful for the fish. Since you have already used the meds, I would keep up that treatment and skip the salt and heat.
The ich will look worse before it looks better. The high heat causes it to go through it's life cycle faster, and it can't reproduce in temps over 85*. There is one kind of ich that survived 91*, but it's rare.
Xime is right, you might never be able to put inverts (snails and shrimp) in your tank because of the copper, and I don't think you can ever get rid of it.
Also, your goldfish is a coldwater fish, and the gourami is a tropical fish, so they are not compatible.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Good luck on this... Goldfish are not something I would want to try to cure. The method I prefer (heat and salt) isn't compatible with them. I would also continue using the meds. If the fish dies, it dies. You can only do what you can do.

I would honestly put the heat down. That's not good for the goldfish and might do more bad than the parasite.

 

[foxxy2490]

Thanks everyone. It has been about 5 days and she looks worse. I must say I am completely at a loss. If I raise the temp the parasite will speed up its life cycle and eventually die but my goldfish will be harmed. What am I supposed to do? I bought a heater and have been keeping the tank at 85. I did 25% water changes the first two days and added a few more drops of the coppersafe ich medicine. Her spots are now on her eyeballs and it looks like her caudal fins are covered in a milky fungus or something but the white dots are still noticeable. Her body looks like it has some kind of slime or something. She is still swimming around and eating but it breaks my heart to see her like this. The other fish do not seem to be bothered at all. Any ideas???

 

[uniquecorals]

put the fish in a smaller tank thats esaier to maintain its temp and see if that helps

 

[uniquecorals]

does anyone here know about gorgonia

 

[dkpate]

Sounds like excessive slime coat. Are you SURE it's ich and not a fungus? Ich looks like salt sprinkles, and heat will make fungus worse.