wisecrackerz

So, the LFS next door to where I work doesn't take the greatest care of their fish. A lot of them are sick and/or munched on. But I can't stay away. I snagged a bunch of loaches a while back, in hopes of saving them (only 1 out of the three made it, but now s/he is enormously fat and tears up my tank every day. yay!). bad habit of mine... i saw a great little commet, who was intended as a feeder fish for an oscar that was sold, so he was just hanging out in an enormous tank, with that great, inquisitive commet personality. I convinced myself that I didn't really have the resources to house another commet right now, and left him where he was. Went back a couple of days later, and he had ICH. I knew the store wasn't going to invest any effort into healing a 39 cent feeder fish, so I haggled with the owner, and got him to sell me the fish. I have him in a 2G (yes I know it's too small, I'm doing 2 water changes every day, 25% each) hospital tank, with a non-carbon nano filter, a hidey-bridge, and a cup of cycled gravel from my main tank (I find it's easier to keep such a small tank clean if I have just a minimum of gravel in an underwater container). The temperature fluxuates between 80 and 76 (it drops when I do the water changes). I picked him up Saturday, and started ich medication that night. On Monday morning, I started a 1/2 dose of melafix, to help prevent infection of his ruptured cists. I've been continuing this double medication, ich at night, melafix in the am.

His cists are gone, but I'm keeping up the medication to prevent repeat infection, to make sure all the nasty little squirmies are gone, and to make sure that all my other fish will be safe when I eventually add this guy to my tank.
Now, the problem.
His fins are clamped, he hides under the bridge unless it's food time, he lies on the bottom of the tank, just sort of drifting and blubbing in that sad way that sick commets have. I thought it might be ammonia poisoning, despite my water changes, but the readings are 0.
Now I'm worried that the ich was just a secondary infection brought on by something else... any ideas what he might have/what I might be able to do for this poor guy?
I knew he was sick when I got him... but that doesn't mean I don't want to give him the absolute best shot I can.

gremlin

It could still be his reaction to the ich, medication, and stress. Can you see any red on his fins or gills or anywhere? It could also be that the temp is still a bit warm. Goldies tend to be a bit sluggish when the temps are on the warm side. You could try to get the temp down to the upper 60's lower 70's. It might help.

wisecrackerz

I have the temp high to help fight the ich. I was told that it would speed up the ich's life cycle so that it could be killed sooner. His cysts are back, but i cant see any red around his gills or fins. He is not really eating much now. He was coming up every now and again to gasp for air, so I gave him a bubble tube. He stopped gasping for air, but I think he is afraid of the bubble tube. Should I lower the temp and just continue the medication for longer? Or should I cut the medication down to half doses? Or should I pick up a stress reducing product? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated

gremlin

High temps does help fight the ich, but goldies have a hard time with the higher temps. What ich medication are you using? I like Ich Attack for goldies - it has worked well for me in the past. I don't think he would be afraid of the bubbles, but in such a small tank it may be that there is no place for him to rest out of the current.

wisecrackerz

i got an air stone for the bubble tube (it was just a tube before) and now, while everything in my tank is blue forever, except Icky himself, he seems much better that happy, active, curious comet personality is back, and he hasn't had cysts in days. I'm planning on moving him in with everybody else today; yay!