Goldfish with Ich :(

[Phoenixphire55]

My 30 gallon goldfish tank is having an ich outbreak. Two of the six fish have a few of the spots on them and I don't think they had them yesterday. I have aquarium salt for the tank so I'm going to try that method but any input from people with goldfish would be appreciated. Can goldfish deal with that much salt? I've read 1-2 teaspoons per gallon is recommended to kill ich. That sounds like a lot to me but I'll do it if that's correct.

[MisticX]

before doing that stop ...

i've never heard of that method, and i think you might make a mistake.

please allow some more feedback to accumulate before doing it.

[jsoong]

No mistake .... salt is proven method to treat ich.

you can add salt to your tank up to 0.3% <3 teaspoons per gallon> (I do it gradually over 24hrs ... say a third now, a third in 12 hrs & the rest in 24 hrs.) As long as you don't have other salt sensitive fish (or plants) you can treat the whole tank. <And pre-dissolve the salt before adding ... goldies like to eat the grains if you just drop it into the tank .... not too good for them.>

I generally treat my fish in a hospital tank. I would salt dip my fish (0.5 to 0.9% salt = 5 to 9 teaspoons or 20-36 grams per gallon, I usually weigh the salt for accuracy) in a bucket for up to 15 minutes before transferring the fish over. This is to strip off the slime coat to shed off as much of the ich as possible, and to kill all free swimming tomites. The fish is then transferred to a totally clean tank, so the ich that is in your tank can't get back on the fish. <I would crank up the heat to 90 F in the tank for a few days to kill those.> With salt dipping & transfer to clean tank, I can usually get rid of all spots within 48 hrs, although the fish stay in 0.3% salt for a couple of weeks just to be sure.

If your fish had never been salt dipped before, you should start on the low side. And always watch the fish during the procedure. Remove fish as soon as it shows signs of distress or if it passes out (salt is also an anesthetic at 1% or higher).

BTW - make sure you actually have ich before treating (and not something normal like breeding stars).

[Phoenixphire55]

I wish it was breeding stars. Thank you very much for your advice Jsoong. You're always very helpful with the goldies. one more question: If I do 0.3% salt should I remove the carbon from the filters?

[jsoong]

Carbon makes no difference with salt .... I would leave it in just in case there are ich hiding in there.

[Phoenixphire55]

I've added salt but if it doesn't work I'm wondering which of the two medications I should use. One that I have is Quick Cure (Formalin, Malachite green) is liquid and it says to add a drop per gallon daily until the Ick is cleared. The other is Ick Clear by Jungle (victoria green, acriflavine) which is a dissolving tablet and it says to use one tablet per 10 gallons and treat every 24 hours as long as Ick persists.

Another problem: my fish are having long stringey poop, some of it whiteish. I've been feeding them Jungle anti-bacterial fish food for a little over a week now.

[jsoong]

What is your tank temperature? Ich is only susceptible to treatment in the free swimming tomite stage, so you have to wait for it to mature & drop off the fish before you would see any difference. At 80F, the life cycle is 3-5 days, so you have to wait at least that long before giving up on the treatment. At 70F, it might take a couple weeks for ich to go through its cycle.

Personally, I would wait longer if the fish are showing no other sign of distress. In the case of fish distress (usu. due to ich in the gills), the consensus out in the goldies boards is to salt dip & remove fish from tank (which is presumably full of ich). People are not too fond of using meds for ich.

IME, I have never lost a fish to ich treating with salt (4-5 times now .... mostly in QT'ed new fish .... have not have an outbreak in the main tank for a few years .... fingers crossed!), but I have lost fish using meds. If you MUST use meds, Quick cure is supposed to work better .... but again, I would suggest waiting & staying the course.

BTW - what are your tank parameters? Ich usu. rears its head when fish are stressed. Your goldy tank is crowded and need lots of work to keep it healthy. At any rate, I'd suggest large pwc and good gravel vac every day or 2 for now. This would help in removing accumulated DOC's that might be causing problems even when your tests are negative. Also, vacumming the tank help remove the ich cysts. <And don't forget to replace the salt with each pwc to keep the level stable.>