Goldfish with possible ich

[brennae]

How does one treat a goldfish with ich? I didn't think I could turn the temp to 86 so do I use meds? These are very large goldfish sold as feeders when then we're tiny that my mother grew into 10 inch fish.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Tank Girl]

You can use the heat and salt method or if you prefer a medication, Aquarium Products Quick Cure or Kordon's Rid Ich+ work very well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DaddyD]

How does one treat a goldfish with ich? I didn't think I could turn the temp to 86 so do I use meds? These are very large goldfish sold as feeders when then we're tiny that my mother grew into 10 inch fish.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

In February, I didn't quarantine a bristlenose long enough and even though it looked fine, it was dead next day. Soon after, two of my goldies had ich. So I went crazy online looking for options to save them.

In my 60 gallon I lowered water to 40 gallons, added 1 tablespoon salt per 5 gallons, slowly raised temp to 89 and my two aquaclear 70's ran full speed with all 4 goldfish and common pleco for a month. 10 gallon (25%) water changes and salt replenish every two days. Only fed them once a week. They shared zuchini with the pleco.
Spots disappeared. Slowly dropped temp over two days and daily water changes to get the salt out.

After, biggest goldfish showed possible fin rot and fungus. Put him in 1:1 water/salt in one of my 5 gallon buckets, swapping the bucket every day. Didn't help the fungus spots, but the frayed edges went away.

Another goldy developed fin rot and fungus. So for all 4 goldies, I did 30 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide and 8 oz of tap water dips @ 30 second pops every 2 days for 2 weeks to clear up. The first two times the goldfish with signs of rot were in shock, the tails bubbled up and the tails ended up jagged (So apparently the salt didn't get rid of the rot on the big one). But once back in the big tank they came back to life.
The fungus spots disappeared and then the tails grew back.

They now are spot free & the most active I have ever seen them in 3 years.
The common pleco never showed a sign of ick or any other disease but went along for the ride.
This whole process took about 3 months.

In conclusion, they can handle the temp increase, the salt, the hydrogen peroxide, and several days without food.

 

[brennae]

WOW! Sounds like you sure had a rough time there. It turned out the it was a fungal infection of some sort. I bought a Tetra preparation (don't know the name off hand, box is two floors away) and within 24 hours the fish not only looked better but acted so much better. Tonight they got a water change of about 1/3 of the tank water (total is 45g) and then the second dose of the meds. I have no idea how they got the fungus. They didn't have it when I left to go out of state for 6 weeks but when I came back I started to notice something was off. I'm not sure what my mother did or if she stressed them somehow or what. She swears she didn't add any new fish, but usually when I am gone she goes behind my back and buys new fish and doesn't qt them and just puts them in her tanks. As an aside, I also caught her pouring Prime straight out of the bottle into the tank. She didn't use the cap to measure or anything. Needless to say she got an earful but she's 65 so what can I do?

I appreciate your feedback and advice. I really wasn't sure if the goldies could handle the heat and I was reading conflicting things on other websites. Now I know for certain that they can.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Common goldies can take the heat. Fancies are not supposed to be as hardy to heat, but I have no personal experience with them.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Tank Girl]

Fancies can handle the heat just fine, too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brennae]

Turned out it was bacterial and it's all better now. Thanks!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[DaddyD]

Good to hear! Mine were fantails btw.