Clarification on Ich and something else?

[GEOlson]

My goldies have ich and I'm in the process of raising the temperature. Results from the test kit is coming in...

pH: 8.1
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 160 ppm ? (above 80 ppm)

Here are some pictures of my fish:

Here is ich on a Moor

And I've read in some places but wanted to make sure that the red spots are a part of them having ich, the parasite leaving the fish. Is that right?

The other question I did have though was about "white" skin. I don't know how well you can see it in the pictures, it's really hard to get a picture of because the light has to be entering the camera just right.

In this first picture the area I'm talking about is visible right in front of the dorsal fin right about the top of the 'hump.' You can see it looks a little frosty.

This second picture you can see the frosty patch in the same area, starting just in front of the dorsal fin and it looks like it goes down the side of the fish.

I was treating with melafix and pimafix until I saw the dots of ich. At that point I did a 50% water change to get rid of some of the meds and added salt. The temperature is currently 82 degrees F.

Is the frosty skin part of having ich, or is it just a side affect or stress like 'fin rot?'

 

[GEOlson]

*bump*

Anyone?

 

[LyndaB]

I'm not a goldie kinda person, but I've gone through ich before. I have not noticed the red spots on my fish but, then again, the coloration of my fish wouldn't necessarily make that easy to spot.

Why are your nitrates so high? I know that goldies are really messy but is that even close to your normal reading?

Aside from raising the temp, do water changes (50%) every 2-3 days to remove spores from the substrate.

 

[GEOlson]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah I usually have high nitrate. I know the tank is overstocked but my 75 is high too and that's definitely not over stocked. Maybe it's a sign I need to do pwc more often.

 

[LyndaB]

High nitrates may contribute to the fish being stressed, which may contribute to ich.

With your "high waste" fish, you should be doing a minimum of 50% water changes/gravel vacs weekly.

 

[GEOlson]

Yeah, I try my best to keep up with weekly water changes, but I usually do 50%. I'm hoping that at the end of the week I will have a 75 gal set up to move them.

 

[Fishguy2727]

That is definitely horrible water quality, which will cause problems. What is the nitrate in your tap water? Most likely it is just a matter of inadequate water changes, which needs to be addressed now. Daily 50% water changes are required to get back on track and stay there. The nitrate concentration determines if you are doing enough water changes. If you can't keep it under 20ppm you are overstocked.

What size tank is this?

 

[GEOlson]

The Goldfish are in a 29 gallon. I will retest the water tonight. They are tentatively scheduled to be moved to a 75 gallon tank in 4 days.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Definitely overstocked. As stated you need to do water changes as large as needed to keep the nitrate concentration under 20ppm before a water change. IMO the sarassas need to go into an even larger tank before they are full grown, bu the 75 will help a lot and last a while (at least 6-12 months).

 

[GEOlson]

6-12 months will be plenty. I rather like my comets but do have a home for them when the time comes that they outgrow what I can provide them. I knew I should have paid more attention to folks on here than what my LFS was telling me. It's just a small Mom & Pop shop that's been there for ages, but it makes me wonder about the best interest of the fish. I kept asking "Well what about when the Comets get bigger?" and they kept saying it's fine, 4-6 goldfish either fancy or not will be okay in a 29 gallon. Why do sellers have this mentality if it's not what's in the best interest of the fish? Is it to sell more fish at the expense of their well being?

 

[GEOlson]

I will say I feel bad not going with what I felt was right instead of what I wanted...

 

[Fishguy2727]

You had conflicting info and you did what you thought was right (and when in doubt lean towards what you hope is right). You are now doing even better by accepting that this was not right and handling it properly.

It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just like when they sold the baby turtles everywhere and said they could live their whole lives in those little plastic bowls. They could and did, because their lives were only a few weeks because of poor care and diet. If we decide that oscars don't outgrow 55s and say that is big enough then we will never see oscars that are too big for 55s.

There are MANY myths when it comes to goldfish (like how they are 'coldwater'), so they are even trickier.

What are you feeding?
Have you tested your tap water's nitrate concentration yet?

 

[GEOlson]

Here are my test results tonight before a water change.

pH: 8.1
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 40 ppm? (rather subjective based on the color but more orange than red on the API color scale)

Nitrate from Tap: 5 ppm

I typically feed flake and pellets. I have Omega Goldfish Flakes and Premium Medium Pellets. I also have HBI Goldfish Discs, they're smaller so I use them for my Moor. Sometimes I feed Omega Shrimp Pellets to change it up a little, and then more rarely I put in a few frozen cubes of Brine Shrimp and Bloodworms.

I never heard of goldfish being trickier than tropicals. That's interesting.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Trickier as in getting accurate info. There are a lot of myths and regurgitated misinformation out there, so figuring out what is actually right can be tricky.

I only feed and recommend New Life Spectrum. IME it is by far the best thing out there. It is all mine get and I have not had any issues (they don't get ANYTHING else, including peas).

 

[GEOlson]

Oh wow, that sounds good. That will definitely be what I get them once this is gone then. Is that what you would exclusively give tropicals, too? I did notice the difference of "Facts" about goldfish from different internet sites. I noticed the biggest sway in opinions was max length of them. I know some sites say Comets get 8"+ and others say 12"+ and that's quite a big difference.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I feed NLS to all my fish and everything at the LFS I work at.

I don't know where some get their info. It could be whether they are measuring just the body or the total length. 12"+ is more accurate. IMO any long-bodied goldfish should have at least a 125.