Lots of sick goldfish

[zenkatydid]

At the pet shop I work at, we got a shipment of about 35 goldfish, with whitespot/ich. I'm livid. The cdoimpany has offered to replace them, but won't take the sick ones back to treat them. Our options at this point are;

1. Cull the sick fish and treat the tanks before getting replacements.
2. Sell the sick fish and pretend we didn't know.
3. Find somethinhg to do with the sick ones and get replacements.
4. Keep the sick fish and treat them.


Obviously I'd prefer this but not so good for business and my boss isn't too keen. I'm not sure where else to turn. Anybody in Sydney want 35 free goldfish if you'll treat them?

 

[Zagz]

I'd treat them if I were you, add some salt and ich meds. But of course I can't imagine euthanizing them, it isn't their fault. It's not ethical to sell them without letting people know. JMO.

 

[Sati]

I agree with Zagz 100%. That's a tough thing if tank space is limited. Though when dealing with large quantities of fish it has to be something a fish/pet store has likely seen before and is prepared for, no?

 

[zenkatydid]

i agree completely. i could never cull them just for being a bit sick

i chatted to the boss today and thankfully she agrees. we're going to treat the sick ones and hope the ones that aren't sick at the moment, stay that way.

we will be getting a credit at the supplier, and looking for a new supplier after this lot are sold. this has happened too many times. *sigh*

is it feasible to add salt to treat goldfish? i didn't think you could. how much do i add? aquarium salt, table salt, anything special?

 

[Guest]

i think you would use aquarium salt for goldfish... but might just be better to use the ich meds for them. Most tropicals you could just raise the temp to about 86 for 2 weeks, but not really good for goldfish :? so if you are in central filter system you will have to treat all the tanks that are filtered by that system.

 

[zenkatydid]

no, they're all filtered separately - we're just a little old school corner pet shop

i've been treating another tank that has had ich for more than 3 months now. at least one of the fish still has spots. it's driving me insane. maybe the meds are out of date...?! but they must be doing something or the fish would be dying and they're not - no losses. i really don't want to be treating the others for this long as well!

 

[dyrodium]

I'm in sydney! lol where abouts are you? I might be able to take some off your hands, how bad is it? :?

 

[Guest]

definitely check the expiration date of the meds. If they are tropicals (not goldfish) they can be treated with heat of temp of 86 are higher and that should cure it no problem. For the goldfish check the expiration date of the meds... it shouldn't take longer than 2 weeks to treat... and also raise the temp in teh goldfish tank as high as they can tolerate... because the heat helps speed up the ich lifecylce.

 

[Zagz]

For goldfish you can use salt but I agree with Ashley, ich meds are better. For the tropicals, raising the temp to 86 F has never failed me at all, no meds needed.

 

[zenkatydid]

there's no heater in the goldfish tank, being coldwater fish we don't have spares, unfortunately. but, it is stinking hot here at the moment, so the water will be slightly higher than normal.

we have two different medications, one is "rapid white spot remedy" (Formaldehyde and Malachite Green) and one is "multicure" (Malachite Green, Methylene blue and Acriflavine). i've gone through a long period with both individually, and also tried both at once, at half doses each. the both at once seems to work best. what do you think?

this is just so frustrating. i must be doing something wrong!