Goldfish has ick, what do I do? (Update-False call 2 males)

[Comus]

Hi everyone I'm new here and have discovered that my 2 goldfish have ick. Only a few whites spots near to their gills. They have a few scales missing as well (I think from rubbing themselves against the drift wood and rock).

I've looked it up on here and the best way people are going about this seems to be to crank up the temperature slowly to about 85F. Is this right? I have 2 rosy barbs in the tank as well and I've read they like a temp of around 73F so if I was to crank up the temp would this kill them? Would I be better to chemically treat the tank instead? How slowly should I raise the temp and keep it at what exact temp and for how long (if this is the way to go)?

Forgive my ignorance on this but I am new to keeping fish. My tank is at 7.5PH, ammonia seems to stay around 0.25ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, but I've found my Nitrate is really high at about 80ppm. I was going to buy a Nitra-Zorb media to place inside my external filter to sort this out tomorrow and buy a heater and/or some ick solution.

My tank was cycled around 6 months ago. I used to have an internal filter but at Christmas got the big external filter. I washed the media with the water from the tank and squeezed all the old internal filters sponge into this water to help the new filter mature quickly and have been cycling this new filter since Christmas, but everything seemed fine with the tests Ph, Ammonia etc. I got some driftwood and plants around the 28th of December to place in my tank due to a snail eating them all. The snail went back to the shop. Could the ick have come from the plants or driftwood?

A bit of a long post but I thought the more info people had the better response I might get on the problem at hand.

My main tank and details are in the footing of this posting. (minus the snail)
Thanks Neil

 

[rich311k]

Actuall y raising the temp with goldfish in the tank is not a good idea. You would be better off using the salt method. Add a tablespoon per gallon slowly this should clear up you ick. Do you have any catfish or plecos?

 

[Comus]

No just 3 goldfish and 2 rosy barbs, I intend to start off small and see how things go before working my way up the chain so to speak, with a bigger tank and with more fish. Is this normal salt (I'm guessing not) or aquarium salt? How much and how often? Do I introduce slowly?

 

[rubysoho]

salt is an excellent suggestion as goldies don't do as well in the warmer temperatures (above the lower 70's) but you also need to address the reason why ick came into your tank in the first place. I don't think it came with the driftwood or the plants, but it is a possibility. Did any of the water from the fishstore get into your tank? Had you seen ick at the fish store? Most LFS's have a central filter for multiple tanks so if you see one tank with ick there is a good chance other tanks have or will have ick.

but I've found my Nitrate is really high at about 80ppm. I was going to buy a Nitra-Zorb media to place inside my external filter to sort this out tomorrow and buy a heater and/or some ick solution.

most of those chemicals, like Nitra-zorb, are very bad for your tank in the long run. It is a short term fix that will eventually lead to a meltdown. The best way to prevent any disease is to change your water and vacume the tank frequently. Goldfish are very messy fish and so it is very important to stay on top of cleaning the tank. A good cleaning once a week is a must, especially with goldfish.

Also, are you taking readings from the strip tests or the liquid droplet tests? The strip tests are known to be inaccurate and have caused many frustrations with fish keepers who can't seem to find the reason for their problems.

Lastly, welcome to AA!!! Keep us posted on your decisions and if you have any more questions.

 

[rich311k]

reguilar salt without iodine.
Here is an article about it: http://aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

Good luck.

 

[Comus]

. Did any of the water from the fishstore get into your tank? Had you seen ick at the fish store? Most LFS's have a central filter for multiple tanks so if you see one tank with ick there is a good chance other tanks have or will have ick.

but I've found my Nitrate is really high at about 80ppm. I was going to buy a Nitra-Zorb media to place inside my external filter to sort this out tomorrow and buy a heater and/or some ick solution.

most of those chemicals, like Nitra-zorb, are very bad for your tank in the long run. It is a short term fix that will eventually lead to a meltdown. The best way to prevent any disease is to change your water and vacuum the tank frequently. Goldfish are very messy fish and so it is very important to stay on top of cleaning the tank. A good cleaning once a week is a must, especially with goldfish.

Also, are you taking readings from the strip tests or the liquid droplet tests? The strip tests are known to be inaccurate and have caused many frustrations with fish keepers who can't seem to find the reason for their problems.

Lastly, welcome to AA!!! Keep us posted on your decisions and if you have any more questions.

Yes water from the fish shop did get into my tank when I introdued the rosy barbs, but I never noticed any of the fish at the store had any ick on them or on the rosy barbs.

I know what you mean about the mess with goldfish I found this out quickly within the first 3 weeks of having them. I do a good clean up every week with a 40% water change.

The testing kit I use is a master test kit which is the liquid drops kit. I've found that my tap water nitrate is around 20ppm and I can't seem to get the nitrate down in the tank. I'm getting brown alge because of this I think. I thought using Nitra-Zorb was the way but not so sure now, any other suggestions about the high nitrate or am I worrying about nothing?

 

[rich311k]

With a tap nitrate that high you will never get nitrates down. You probably need to look into distilled water or get yourself a unit to make your own water.

 

[rubysoho]

hmm, well you aren't worrying over nothing. You could try using more live plants. Since you have goldfish this will be tricky (goldies loooooove nibbling at live plants). Perhaps some anubias or java will be tough enough that the goldfish will leave them alone. You could also try anachris or some floating plants.

is the spike in your water coming after you top off the tank? This would make sense because when you top off, you aren't taking away the bad nutrients but rather just adding more since there is already some in your tap water. So you would be inadvertantly adding to your problem. You could just try changing the water more often (maybe twice a week?) or even go the route of RO water. But I would try more plants while you combat this ick.

Oh, I don't remember this being mentioned but you'll want to keep up the salt for two weeks after you see the last spot of ick. Ick has an incubation period and so you want to make sure you get it all.

 

[Comus]

reguilar salt without iodine.
Here is an article about it: http://aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

Good luck.

Thanks for the article very helpful, and thanks to you both for your advice. I think I'll look more into R/O water. I've looked into this already and to buy a filtering kit for tap water can be a bit expensive from what I've seen, but if this is what it takes . .. .

I'll try more plants by replacing the fake ones for now, but will the salt treatment do harm to the plants?

Thanks again, Neil

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Note this in the article...

** It is recommended to use pure salts such as aquarium, kosher or rock salt, NOT regular table salt. There are some concerns the chemicals added to table salt (such as iodine, and iron cyanides which are sometimes added as an anti-caking chemical) can be injurious to fish. Salt is also not a recommended treatment for planted tanks.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I'll try more plants by replacing the fake ones for now, but will the salt treatment do harm to the plants?

Depends on the plants. Plants like java fern and java moss will not be affected, even in mildly brackish water. If you post what kind of plants, people in here will let you know if they will survive or not.

 

[Comus]

Right ok, I might just go for a ick solution then that won't harm the plants and like it say's in the article extend the treatment period for another 2 weeks after the last white dots have disappeared just to be sure that all the ick have cycled through. Thanks again.

 

[Comus]

News up date!
It turns out that 2 of my goldfish are males and the white spots on their gill plates are just what appear when they are ready to spawn. I've noticed that one of them keeps chasing the 3rd goldfish around the tank nudging at its rear so I suspect this one is female. So no ick problem, false call by myself but it's all in the learning curve I suppose! Thanks for help anyway guy's, and at least I'll know what to do if ever there is an ick problem. Oh I'll be keeping a close eye on them just to be sure.

 

[jsoong]

Yes, breeding stars do look like ich spots ... but they are localized.

Keep an eye on the female - with 2 males chasing her she can get exhaushed or injured. In small tanks, the males had been known to knock the females out of the tank. Provide some cover/hiding spots if you can.

Also, if you want to keep the babies, you'll need some place for the females to lay her eggs & hiding places for the fry. Some dense fine leave plants (hornwort, edorea) would be handy.

 

[Comus]

The two males are one Common, and one Comet. The female is a Fan Tail. Can these still breed being different types of goldfish?

Only the Common seems to be bothering the Fan Tail, the Comet doesn't seem interested (maybe he's gay,lol).

 

[jsoong]

OH yes, common & fancies will interbreed (they are the same species). There are even reports of Koi & goldfish interbreeding.

However, interbreeding between common & fancies will not result in fancies. You are likely to end up with single tailed babies, some may even revert to wild colour (brown/green rather than gold) .... so generally people don't keep the babies. But for fun, you can try.