Ok thx I'm going to do that today. He seems to have ick also I'm seeing white stringy goo dangling from his fin also. I medicated him yesterday again with the lip fungus stuff so would it be ok if I completely drained the tank cleaned it n just put him back in there with diff meds for his ick or would it be too soon .. I don't want to over medicate him or have him die on me.. he's my trooper
Okay, this is more evidence that his tank is not on good shape. You see, while ick is a "disease" (it's a parasite), it's also a symptom. Healthy fish don't come down with ick very often. Fish in clean tanks are usually healthier than ones in dirty tanks.
So this is what I would do:
1-Place all the fish in the tank in a bucket or other empty tank with the water they are in now.
2- clean out the main tank to the bone. Wash the gravel (gently if you are going to put it back into the tank) and all the ornaments.
3- refill the tank with new dechlorinated water and adjust ph and temp to what they were in. Turn filter back on.
4- Slowly acclimate the fish back into the new water and don't pour any of the old water into the new tank.
5-Raise the temp up 4-6 degrees to help combat the ick.
6- Medicate for the fungus.
Note: even tho the filter material will have Ick parasites in it, since you will be raising the temp and medicating for the fungus, this should not be a problem as these parasites should be dying off and if no gravel is involved, they would have no place to hide and grow.
Once healed, you want to get into a routine of changing water weekly ( I only do 10%-15% of volume while others claim to do 30%-50%. Your choice depending on the fish's reaction to the change). If you go with gravel, you want to vacuum about 10%-20% of the gravel bed every water change but no more than 1/2 the tank in a month's time. This way, any detritus that has accumulated can be removed and the time frame will give the BB a chance to repopulate the gravel bed. Be mindful about over feeding. This is a major factor leading to poor water quality. (More is not always better
)
I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have further questions