Tiny

Hi again,

Wasn't sure if this warranted a new thread, so please merge if appropriate. I wrote a few days ago about my calico fantail with suspected ick. Since then, my pleco (he was pretty new) up and died. I know my tank was overcrowded, so the pleco won't be replaced with any other fish. Now I have two goldfish in a 20 gallon tank. Still overcrowded, I know. I replaced our old filter with an AquaClear rated for a 30 gallon tank and I included the ammonia filter with it as the fish were showing signs of high ammonia...I noticed a couple of red spots on each fish. I did 50% water changes for two days and last night I did a dose of Prime with the water change.

The calico fantail, Harry, still has the white spots (haven't treated the ick at all yet), but now he's just laying on the floor of the tank. I haven't seen him swim at all today. His tank mate, Tiny, was hanging out with him in the corner of the tank, but I figured Tiny was just being a good friend. Tiny would still eat and swim around, then go hang by Harry. Today Tiny is also on the bottom. Neither will eat, even their favorite treats like brine shrimp or algae tablets.

I bought a liquid test kit and the ammonia is reading .5 and nitrites are 0. I also tested the pH and that is 8.0...not sure what it's supposed to be.

Both these guys are about two years old and though I didn't know anything about water testing until recently, I have been doing water changes every week or so and they have been happy campers, except for a bout of cloudy eye which I managed to clear up.

Should I continue doing the 50% water changes and using Prime? Do I need to treat the ick? Only Harry seems to have ick. Tiny looks great, he's just not doing much.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated by me and my fish! I've attached pics taken just moments ago of both the little guys. They look pretty bummed out.

Attached Images

	DSCF2018.jpg (19.0 KB, 22 views)
	DSCF2020.jpg (20.9 KB, 22 views)

Lucy

Hi Tiny sorry your fihs aren't feeling well and you lost your pleco.
If you could fill in your aquarium info, that would be great. It's under My Settings at the top left.
I see in your other thread it was recommended to increase your temp to 84F. To fight the ICH. Leave it there for at least 2 weeks. You'll also want to increase aeration to make up for less oxygen in warmer water.
Do thorough gravel vacs with water changes to pick up all the ich spores and decrease the ammonia.

I looked at the pic in your other thread. It's really hard to make out what's going on.
If it's ich, is your fish as covered as he looks?
If so, you might want to consider meds.
Best of luck.

Tiny

Thanks Lucy.
Is it okay to crank the heat up that high with goldies? And Harry isn't totally covered in the ich dots. He has quite a few on his tail, but not many on his body. I bought some ich medicine, but it says to turn off the filter so it doesn't filter the meds. I'm afraid to do that with any ammonia in the tank.

Lucy

You're welcome
It's ok for the short time (2 weeks) to help with the ich.
If you decide to medicate, you don't have to turn off the filter.
I'm sure it'll be fine it you just remove the carbon. That's what would filter out the meds.
How long does it say to keep the filter off? I wouldn't want to do that either.

Tiny

You're right. I had misinterpreted the directions. It says to just remove the carbon. So I did that and still have the foam and bio filter in there. I used a malachite green med. Just added it to the tank. I also plugged in the heater.

I just noticed a very spots of ick on Tiny now. I'm sure that's what has these little guys feeling sick. Hopefully I can get rid of it before they get much sicker.

Lucy

I hope so too, please keep us posted.

gremlin

Raising the temp is not going to hurt the goldies. They are used to seasonal temperature changes anyway, so they may just think it is summer. My pond temp reaches the 80 and 90 in the day during the summer - my goldies just sort of hang out in the shade of the plants until it cools off in the evenings. If you want to go the medicine route, Ich Attack is a pretty good one. Drs Foster & Smith carry it.

Just a note, you may want to look at some of the other threads on bare bottom tanks. They work quite well with goldies since it makes vacuuming the poop much easier. That way you could do a quick vacuum each day to help cut down the ammonia without worrying about removing as much water as it would take to vacuum the gravel. Anything you can do to cut down the ammonia will help your goldies.

aquarist48

Hello Tiny. So sorry to hear you're dealing with ICH and ammonia. Great advice above.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Ken

shellbell4ever

The above advise is the best,i also think bare bottom is the way to go with Goldfish as they are very messy and quick cleanup daily works best for me Speedy recovery for your fish