Calm down. No one is trying to bother you. People are only trying to help. Some may get a little annoyed when you ask them to go to other threads for simple questions. They also tend to stop helping when you yell at them for not being as diplomatic as possible. I didn't see any posts that warranted that response. If any of mine came across that bad, sorry, that is not what I meant. Sorry for bothering you. That is not what I meant to do.
I'm not saying you bothered me -- and I suggested that you calm down as well, because it seems like people are just all about barking commands and orders at people. Herein is the issue: You claim that you didn't see any posts that warranted the kind of reply I mustered -- but indeed, you made it very clear, via a staunch, nearly rabid-like statement of "DON'T TELL ANYONE TO..." and
that was rude.
You still have not provided your tank's parameters, something any thread about any problem should include. We don't need an in depth discussion of your tank's parameters, we need numbers for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and temp. We need to know what has happened lately. How long after a water change did the fish start showing signs? What are the parameters today? We need to know current parameters, not ones from whenever you started the other thread.
This is being taken out of context -- I directed you to that other thread not to back up claims of "needing" an in depth discussion, but to point out that it was discussed ad nauseum in that other thread, and that I couldn't remember the results offhand.
What I do know is this: Ammonia was around .25, NitrIte was zero, NitrAte was difficult to make out, but I don't think it was 100 percent ideal. The fish started showing symptoms after these readings were taken -- your "demand" of needing to know what the parameters are RIGHT NOW are again asking for something that doesn't fit into the context of this problem, as I DO NOT KNOW the current numbers. I fell VERY ill with a case of Bronchitis on top of severe flu, and I just started walking around recently. I didn't do a water change in some time, to answer your other query.
The salt will dissolve in the tank, but it may be slow. Mixing it in a stagnant bucket of water will not dissolve all of it. If you had a pump in the bucket to keep things moving it would. Just topping off evaporation with that bucket won't help. You need to add salt to the tank to treat with salt.
Well, what's done is done -- the day I was able to get out of bed and do the evaporation replacement, the salt was already in the bucket that was ready, so that got dumped into the tank. As of right now, the water looks awful between the salt compound and Tetra Parasite fizzing tablets I dropped in on advice from someone to ease what may be going on with the goldies.
I wouldn't go above 85F or so with fancy goldfish.
I'm not doing the heat method.
Honestly I wouldn't get too crazy about anything yet. Asking about it and what to do if it gets worse is great. Being ready to handle a big problem is perfect. Fortunatley ich is one of the most common and most easily handled diseases out there. Bump the temp up a little, add a little salt, but I wouldn't go beyond that yet if you don't see the characteristic 'salt grains' of ich.
Thanks for this advice; this heartfelt sentiment is greatly appreciated, and is the EXACT kind of tone we all should be having with one another here. Unfortunately, I already dropped the Tetra Parasite Guard in plus the salted water, and the water is horrendously cloudy again and doesn't look good. Between this and the stained ornaments I have from the diatoms that have taken over my tank, I again am in a huge pickle and dilemma with this aquarium.
It may indeed be time to shut down shop, permanently, because not only can I not get this tank to cycle, I cannot stop the algae outbreak nor the wild, swinging variations in tank conditions that seems to happen. And so the first thing I need to do is get serious about selling these fish to someone, or finding them a good home because I will not destroy them.
