I want to give up...

[Big Bubble00]

I just bought 3 rosy barbs to accompany my lonely rosy barb. I named them: Gold Leader, Mothership, Scout and Attacker (not really an attacker, I just ran out of names).

Tuesday... one of my goldfish got some ich (there were only like around 5 spots on its fins) I have no other tank but a big bowl and put him there.

Thursday(Today)... scout got ich. I noticed him swimming on his own and not with his other 3 pals. Then I saw a bunch of ichs on his top tail fins. I put him in another big bowl and confused how am I supposed to treat him when my mother only allowed me buying fish stuff every 2 weeks after I bought new fish stuffs (The last time I bought them was at Saturday).

All this problems gave me headaches and sometimes makes me almost give up and just felt like throwing them away (but I don't want to).

I looked at my little sister's 20×20×15 planted betta tank and realize how dumb I am. Taking care of a not so hardy fish and having a big 59×37×32 tank.

The only way I can cure their ich is by letting nature take its place. When all if them fall off the fish, I'll put them back in my main tank.

All those problems makes me want to restart my tank and only put guppy fishes in there as they are hardy fish.

This post is made just to express my stress over my tank.

 

[Angellove78]

Understandable! It's frustrating when you get new fish and then start having problems all of a sudden, and mom don't realize every 2 weeks for fish stuff isn't enough. It's like having kids. Things happen, things come up. Kids get sick and mom has to drop everything and run out and get meds, or take them to a doctor. This is no different than your fish's needs. Put the fish back with all the others, cause most likely they are just stressed out alittle. Try doing a few water changes, keep the light off. And condition the water to bring the stress level down. Maybe mom will understand if you tell her what I told you. Good luck!

 

[Big Bubble00]

Understandable! It's frustrating when you get new fish and then start having problems all of a sudden, and mom don't realize every 2 weeks for fish stuff isn't enough. It's like having kids. Things happen, things come up. Kids get sick and mom has to drop everything and run out and get meds, or take them to a doctor. This is no different than your fish's needs. Put the fish back with all the others, cause most likely they are just stressed out alittle. Try doing a few water changes, keep the light off. And condition the water to bring the stress level down. Maybe mom will understand if you tell her what I told you. Good luck!

But my tank is planted, remove plants?

 

[Big Bubble00]

Understandable! It's frustrating when you get new fish and then start having problems all of a sudden, and mom don't realize every 2 weeks for fish stuff isn't enough. It's like having kids. Things happen, things come up. Kids get sick and mom has to drop everything and run out and get meds, or take them to a doctor. This is no different than your fish's needs. Put the fish back with all the others, cause most likely they are just stressed out alittle. Try doing a few water changes, keep the light off. And condition the water to bring the stress level down. Maybe mom will understand if you tell her what I told you. Good luck!

My mother agreed and allowed me to buy the cheapest heater. So,can I do a 30°C water temp and salt treatment for my rosy barb? I was thinking that I'm going to treat the entire tank which it contains 4 goldfishes (including the sick one), 1 angelfish, 4 rosy barb (including scout), 1 amazon sword and several egeria najas. I'm afraid that 30°C will make my rosy barbs stress out and die.

 

[Angellove78]

can raise the temp higher. Or just take all the fish out and put them in something else raise heat and no lights. Along with water changes daily.

 

[Big Bubble00]

can raise the temp higher. Or just take all the fish out and put them in something else raise heat and no lights. Along with water changes daily.

How much and how about my infected fishes?

 

[Angellove78]

I'd try little by little. Angels like 78-80 degrees and goldfish like cooler so try to creep up to 85 degrees. Keep an eye on your gold fish thow. They might set on the bottom for a while. They don't like it that warm. But if you do it slowly they might adjust to it. Did you tell mom thanks? ?

 

[Angellove78]

Make sure you do water changes!

 

[Big Bubble00]

I'd try little by little. Angels like 78-80 degrees and goldfish like cooler so try to creep up to 85 degrees. Keep an eye on your gold fish thow. They might set on the bottom for a while. They don't like it that warm. But if you do it slowly they might adjust to it. Did you tell mom thanks? ?

Yep, I feel like there are some hopes left for my tank. Another goldfish got one spot on its tail, should I put back my sick fishes (not cured yet) into my main tank now? Or wait until the heater and salt arrives?

 

[Big Bubble00]

Make sure you do water changes!

Should I do the water change before putting the salt in or after?

 

[Angellove78]

Wait til you get everything. I'd do the water change and put the salt in with your water change.

 

[Mebbid]

Ich will only be successfully treated in a few different ways.

1st: This is the most problematic for you due to having to buy new stuff. But there are a number of medications that treat ich.

2nd: Increasing the heat to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and holding it there for 2 weeks after the last sign of ich. This is my favorite method.

Ich goes through a few different stages as it lives. It starts out attaching itself to substrate or decorations in the tank and multiplying. Once it breaks free from the attachment it becomes free swimming. Lastly we will see it attach to fish and form the white dots that you are seeing. Without treating the tank the ich problem will never go away. Thankfully, a temperature of 86 degrees is sufficient to kill the ich while still being safe for the fish.

Some additional things:
1: Some people use salt while heat treating, I would just skip it. But NEVER use medications while heat treating.

2: Warmer water holds less oxygen. You can remedy this by either using an air stone or lowering the water level so the filter causes more surface agitation.

3: Lights being on or off will not affect an ich infestation.

4: All your fish have to be treated at the same time. Ich frequently infects the gills where it cannot be seen.

5: Increase the temperature of the tank by 1 - 2 degrees every hour until you hit the target temp.

 

[Big Bubble00]

Ich will only be successfully treated in a few different ways.

1st: This is the most problematic for you due to having to buy new stuff. But there are a number of medications that treat ich.

2nd: Increasing the heat to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and holding it there for 2 weeks after the last sign of ich. This is my favorite method.

Ich goes through a few different stages as it lives. It starts out attaching itself to substrate or decorations in the tank and multiplying. Once it breaks free from the attachment it becomes free swimming. Lastly we will see it attach to fish and form the white dots that you are seeing. Without treating the tank the ich problem will never go away. Thankfully, a temperature of 86 degrees is sufficient to kill the ich while still being safe for the fish.

Some additional things:
1: Some people use salt while heat treating, I would just skip it. But NEVER use medications while heat treating.

2: Warmer water holds less oxygen. You can remedy this by either using an air stone or lowering the water level so the filter causes more surface agitation.

3: Lights being on or off will not affect an ich infestation.

4: All your fish have to be treated at the same time. Ich frequently infects the gills where it cannot be seen.

5: Increase the temperature of the tank by 1 - 2 degrees every hour until you hit the target temp.

Thanks for the tips! Most of the tips I found are so complicated.

 

[Big Bubble00]

Ich will only be successfully treated in a few different ways.

1st: This is the most problematic for you due to having to buy new stuff. But there are a number of medications that treat ich.

2nd: Increasing the heat to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and holding it there for 2 weeks after the last sign of ich. This is my favorite method.

Ich goes through a few different stages as it lives. It starts out attaching itself to substrate or decorations in the tank and multiplying. Once it breaks free from the attachment it becomes free swimming. Lastly we will see it attach to fish and form the white dots that you are seeing. Without treating the tank the ich problem will never go away. Thankfully, a temperature of 86 degrees is sufficient to kill the ich while still being safe for the fish.

Some additional things:
1: Some people use salt while heat treating, I would just skip it. But NEVER use medications while heat treating.

2: Warmer water holds less oxygen. You can remedy this by either using an air stone or lowering the water level so the filter causes more surface agitation.

3: Lights being on or off will not affect an ich infestation.

4: All your fish have to be treated at the same time. Ich frequently infects the gills where it cannot be seen.

5: Increase the temperature of the tank by 1 - 2 degrees every hour until you hit the target temp.

Thanks for the tips! Most tips I found on internet are so complicated! Btw, if I do water changes, the day after I put the salt in, do I need to re-add the salt or no?

 

[arnoldndana]

No need to add extra salt after the first time.

When I got ich in my saltwater tank I treated the fish with pure ground ginger. I won't tell you to do that because I don't know how bad it is but if you use it with their food it will raise their immune system.

 

[lewis.r]

All I did when my fish got ich is drop them into a 2.5 gal and put around 2 teaspoons of aquarium salt and left them In there for 2 days, I didn’t even add a heater.
Days days later dropped them back into the main aquarium and all now fine! 1 also had fin rot and before I discovered it was fin rot rather than my amano shrimp attacking them I didn’t loose a couple of fish to ich And fin rot!
But all seems well now, I didn’t end up treating the main tank with salt due to having plants, but ever since I treated the 2 fish that had signs of bacteria infection all other fish in the main tank have been fine!!

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks for the tips! Most tips I found on internet are so complicated! Btw, if I do water changes, the day after I put the salt in, do I need to re-add the salt or no?

If you are looking to treat the ich with salt then add salt back into the tank to match the volume of the water you take out.

 

[Autumnsky]

Having sick fish is never really easy and certainly never fun. Always stress and extra work.

Sorry to hear that you are having issues.

Here is a link for the Ich article which will be a good resource to be able to see all the info in a orderly way.

Biggest thing is that as mentioned by Mebbid there are life stages, just because you do not see it doesn't mean it isn't there. And Medicines can kill invertebrates like shrimp and snails. Also make the tank tainted with copper so future snails or especially shrimp couldn't live in there. Unless treated to remove it.

Also make sure when you do a water change, to make the water just a tiny bit warmer than the tank water. That can help reduce stress.

Cupra-sorb
Seachem - CupriSorb

Freshwater Ich? Yuck! - Aquarium Advice