I'm new to the forum and I've had a couple of fish for a few years, but I'm afraid I haven't always been a good fish mother. I didn't learn about water testing until just recently, so I don't have ammonium, nitrate, etc. levels for you.
I have two goldfish and a pleco in a 20 gallon tank. My calico goldfish, Harry, has tiny little white spots on his fins, but not on his body. Earlier today he was sort of leaning to one side, but still swimming around. He's eating. I just did a 50% water change and changed the filter.
Any idea what might be wrong with the little guy and what I can do for him? We've had him for two years and I'd sure hate to lose him.
This is the best pic I could get. I'm camera-less at the moment and relying on my iphone. You can kind of see the little white flecks all over his tail as it fans out.
Yeah, it really does look like salt. I just read up a bit on ick. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. The pleco is new and I'm thinking I didn't quarantine him for long enough and he probably brought this home from the pet store. I'll read up on ick treatment, but does anyone want to give me the quick run down? I remember reading about green malachite, I think.
I'll get a testing kit (not strips, I know!) while I'm out. I think I have some ammonia too. Poor lil guys.
The best way to treat ick is buy turning up your heater. The ick spores don't do very well with heat so increased the temp and gravel vac every day. What kind of Pleco do you have?
The easiest way to get rid of ick is by raising the tempertature ( i knoow.. you have goldies... lol) so i am not really sure how to get rid of ICH on godies... i suggest you hold off medication, untill we figure ths one out. Im not sure if godies can handle a temperature of 84º... thats how high it needs to be to get rid of it...
as far as ammonia, you can keep the ammonia and nitrites down y doing daily 50% WC´s while dosing with prime. Prime detoxes ammonia for 24 hrs, so the next time you do a WC you dose with more prime to get rid of it
The goldies should be able to handle the temp fine. Ease it up slowly so it isn't a big shock. The temp in my pond on a summer afternoon here can easily hit over 90 degrees farenheit. When it does that my goldies sit at the bottom of the pond in the shade under the lilies. It cools off at night but seldom drops below 80 during the hottest part of the summer. Ich Attack works fairly well if you want to go the medication route. The 20 gallon is really only suitable for 1 goldie, so with 2 you were already overstocked and probably had an ammonia issue. When you added the pleco, which is another fish that produces lots of waste, it probably pushed your tank over what it could recoup from and the resulting ammonia spike would have increased the chance of ich which could have been brought in with the pleco. What kind of pleco is it? If it is a common, then the three fish would do best if moved into at least a 40 gallon and a 55 gallon would be even better. Good luck and please keep us posted!
The pleco died shortly after I originally posted this. He was new and I think he was probably sick from the petstore and I didn't quarantine him long enough. My calico fantail was the one with noticable ick. The common goldfish looked just fine. I treated for ammonia and have been doing daily 50% water changes, treating with Prime, and treating the ick with malachite green. Ammonia and nitrates are at zero.
My little calico is hanging on. But Tiny, my common who was 2 years old, went from looking great to be completely covered with white awfullness in like 2 days. I'm pretty sure the white stuff was a fungus. He must've had the ick and just gotten really sick very quickly. Last night his scales looked just terrible and he looked almost furry. Poor little thing. He only had the fungus for about 12 hours before he died. Yesterday morning he was looking rather sick, but he'd still eat out of my hand and he didn't have the fungus. I never even got to the fish store to buy an anti fungal. At least it was quick for him.
I've removed and cleaned all tank decorations. I've been vacuuming the gravel like crazy. I plan to remove the gravel soon. I just didn't want to take everything familiar away from Harry all at once. I added some aquarium salt and the temp is just over 80. Harry, the calico, still has ick, but he is not as listless as he was before. I'm planning on continuing to treat with malachite green today. Poor little guy is all by himself now. Anything else I should do for Harry to help him pull through? Thanks.
Last edited by Tiny; October 17th, 2009 at 01:22 PM.
Harry is starting to get covered with the white gunk that killed his buddy Tiny. He's still swimming around, but his fin has half rotten away. I've been doing daily 50% or more water changes, treating with prime, treating with salt, using the ick meds, I've tried an antifungal...nothing is helping. I'd be shocked if he makes it through this.
I can't find pics online of anything that looks like what he has. It's still the white spots that look like ick, but he's absolutely covered and it's like they're growing.
Sorry to hear your going through this, Tiny. Really hope you can save Harry. You & Harry will be in our thoughts. Just try to raise the temp slowly just as Red & Tony advised.
It looks like he has more because the temp is rising which will cause the ich babies to hatch (which is what you want)the spots are actually cysts where the ich babies have hidden in the fish's skin,once there free floating the salt will kill them (evil laugh)
Continue with the water changes and vacuuming that will help get rid of some of the ich parasites and salt if that's what your using,if your using ich meds,did you remember to remove the carbon from your filter?Hope Harry feels better soon!!!
Thank you for the kind responses, everyone. Harry is hanging in there. He isn't eating much and the white gunk is not improving. I've stopped treating with malachite green and am just relying on the heated water and added salt. I am using API fungus cure to help with the fin rot and furry spots. I've also been doing a salt bath in a gallon of water for about 10 minutes a night. And Shellbell I did take out the carbon filter, but thanks for the reminder.
I bought some clove oil today in case things really go south. I'd hate to euthanize him, but if he gets a lot worse I don't want him to suffer needlessly. The video (if it embeds correctly) is of him in his salt bath tonight. It's hard to see all the white gunk, but you get the idea. Is there anything else I should be doing for him? I feel so bad for the little guy.
Last edited by Tiny; October 19th, 2009 at 09:53 PM.
I'm really sorry Harry is looking so bad. Is it just me, or does he look like hes struggling with the salt bath?
I could make out any white gunk. Is this different that what you thought was ich?
I know it's super hard to see the white stuff on the video. I've tried to get pictures of it, but the flash or something...it just is hard to photograph! I'm just not sure if it's ich or not. He actually seems to kind of dig the salt bath, Lucy! I know it's somewhat controversial, but I guess some people swear by it for a few minutes at a time. I figured that since nothing else seemed to be working I'd try it. I think he's swimming around so much because I was standing over him. Once I left him alone and just peeked in on him he was pretty mellow. When he swims lately he has that weird wiggly motion like it's hard for him to swim. His fins aren't working properly. He used to be such a graceful little fish with big full fins.
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by red! 
and salt if that's what your using,if your using ich meds,did you remember to remove the carbon from your filter?Hope Harry feels better soon!!!
