Goldfish With Ich

I have 2 juvenile oranda goldfish in a 35 gallon tank. One developed ich and has several small spots on his body. I have quarantined him but I am unsure of the next step. I am concerned the heat method may kill him because goldfish are coldwater fish. I am able to get ich medication and I have several bags of aquarium salt. Please help! Thanks!

 

Even though goldfish are cold water fish, they can actually tolerate very high temperatures. If you raise the temperature slowly, like a degree or two every hour, it should be fine. The warmer water will speed up the parasite’s lifecycle, So they will enter the free-swimming stage faster. Only then will medications or salt work.

 

I have 2 juvenile oranda goldfish in a 35 gallon tank. One developed ich and has several small spots on his body. I have quarantined him but I am unsure of the next step. I am concerned the heat method may kill him because goldfish are coldwater fish. I am able to get ich medication and I have several bags of aquarium salt. Please help! Thanks!

I would put him back in the 35g and treat the whole tank since both are likely infected. Using the heat method alone (no salt needed) is very effective but you need to raise it to 86F for 2 weeks. I wouldn't be concerned with the raised temps affecting them as it's just temporary. Add an extra air stone to increase oxygen levels and do a water change/gravel vac every other day to pick up ich spores. I wouldn't use both heat and meds at the same time.

 

Other than the heat and cleaning, is there anything else that needs to be done to prevent this from happening again? Is the heat method 100% effective? Would using only medication be as effective? These goldfish are my mom's babies hahaha

 

I've treated ich successfully with just the heat method alone. From what I understand, there may be heat-resistant strains of ich where only meds are effective. If you choose to go that route with meds, I hear Kordon Rid Ich Plus is very good. But again, don't use both methods at the same time - it's too harsh on the fish.

 

I've treated ich successfully with just the heat method alone. From what I understand, there may be heat-resistant strains of ich where only meds are effective. If you choose to go that route with meds, I hear Kordon Rid Ich Plus is very good. But again, don't use both methods at the same time - it's too harsh on the fish.

We are going to do the heat method and see how it works. Our other Goldie hasn't shown any signs of ich. He is very lethargic. Should that be a concern? He is also an Oranda with a very large wen that covers his eyes and a long flowing tail.

 

It could be affecting him even if you're not seeing any spots. What are the parameters in the tank - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?

 

Nitrite and Nitrate are both 0 and Ammonia is a He's always been a little lazy but he's more so now

 

Nitrite and Nitrate are both 0 and Ammonia is a 7.4. He's always been a little lazy but he's more so now

 

I think you mean the pH is 7.4? What is your ammonia reading? How long has this tank been setup? I'd think you'd have some nitrates with 2 goldfish?

 

I think you mean the pH is 7.4? What is your ammonia reading? How long has this tank been setup? I'd think you'd have some nitrates with 2 goldfish?

Nope! I just double checked again, both 0. Ammonia is between 0 ppm and .25 ppm. We are very good about doing water changes. We just did one a few days ago.

 

How long has the tank been set up?

As for the lethargic goldfish, could be nothing or the ich affecting him. Either way, I would treat right away.

 

How long has the tank been set up?

As for the lethargic goldfish, could be nothing or the ich affecting him. Either way, I would treat right away.

We set the tank up early August. I plan on heat treating the whole tank

 

My common goldfish has ick. I ordered Kordon's rid ick plus and set up a quarantine. (The other fish in her tank have NO symptoms of ick). She has white spots on her fins, one fin is starting to rot away, and she has a red streak on one fin. She should go into quarantine later today (I'm not coming home until 6pm). However my tap water has an ammonia of 1ppm. I use Prime to detoxify and I put some cycled media from my main tank into quarantine to instant cycle it however, there is still ammonia cause my tap has so much. Is it safe to add her since I used Prime?

 

Don’t set up a separate quarantine. You’re supposed to treat ick in the main aquarium. To rid of ick you have to treat the entire tank, even with fish that show no signs. That should simplify things for you.

Also, can you post a pic? Are you absolutely certain it’s ick? Red fins are not a sign of ick, nor is fin rot. It should literally look like salt granules. In bad cases it appears the fish was seasoned with it.

 

My common goldfish has ick. I ordered Kordon's rid ick plus and set up a quarantine. (The other fish in her tank have NO symptoms of ick). She has white spots on her fins, one fin is starting to rot away, and she has a red streak on one fin. She should go into quarantine later today (I'm not coming home until 6pm). However my tap water has an ammonia of 1ppm. I use Prime to detoxify and I put some cycled media from my main tank into quarantine to instant cycle it however, there is still ammonia cause my tap has so much. Is it safe to add her since I used Prime?

I have learned even if the other fish are not showing signs doesn't mean they don't have it. Keep a close eye on everyone ick can come out of nowhere. I would try an lower the ammonia before introducing her to the tank I would hate for her to get ammonia burn while your treating for ick. Best of luck

 

Yeah I agree with scarface do not move the fish and treat the whole main tank. The parasite will hang out in the substrate and just start infecting other fish.

While the chemical treatment of Ich will cure it on its own I would also supplement it with a heat treatment to ensure success. Turn the heater up 1 degree each day until your tank reaches 84-86 degrees. Do not do this any faster. 24 hours gives the fish time to adjust to the temp (even for those who do not like it hot). Once you reach the target temp maintain this for 2-3 weeks. This will kill any Ich on your fish or hiding in the tank. Be sure to temp match any water change water while doing this and do deep gravel vacuuming at each water change. Once you reach the 2-4 week mark you can start to turn down the heater by 1 degree per day until you are back to the temp you typically run at. Once you reach the desired temp do a 50% water change 2 days in a row, again with a deep gravel vacuuming during each water change.

You will not likely see Ich again using this method as long as you do not add more fish who have not been through a quarantine.

Hope this helps!!!

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Bearwithfish (sorry). It is not recommended to treat with meds and heat. Meds can reduce oxygen in the water and warmer water holds less oxygen.

Plus, since goldfish are cold/temperate water fish, it's probably better if your don't treat with heat.

But that said, I agree with scarface in that from what you are describing, it does't sound like ich. It might be helpful if you could post a photo.

From what you described, I would have been more inclined to thing that you have elevated ammonia and/or nitrites in your tank. Have you tested lately? And if so, what test kit are you using?

To answer your other question, a standard dose of Prime can detox up to 1ppm of ammonia for 24 hours. So if you treated your tap water with Prime, your fish would not be exposed to toxic ammonia.

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Bearwithfish (sorry). It is not recommended to treat with meds and heat. Meds can reduce oxygen in the water and warmer water holds less oxygen.

Plus, since goldfish are cold/temperate water fish, it's probably better if your don't treat with heat.

But that said, I agree with scarface in that from what you are describing, it does't sound like ich. It might be helpful if you could post a photo.

From what you described, I would have been more inclined to thing that you have elevated ammonia and/or nitrites in your tank. Have you tested lately? And if so, what test kit are you using?

To answer your other question, a standard dose of Prime can detox up to 1ppm of ammonia for 24 hours. So if you treated your tap water with Prime, your fish would not be exposed to toxic ammonia.

I can respect your disagreement jdhef .

I should have noted that this was from my personal experience, not a general rule. I often forget that not everyone sets up quite like I do with extra filtration which moves the water a bit more to assist with such issues.

In general, up until last week (literally), I did not use meds if they could be avoided in general terms. I have so far been convinced that there are some benefits to this methodology.

 

I have tested today and yesterday. I use the API liquid testing kit. Ammonia is 0. Nitrite is 0. Nitrate is 10-20. I will treat the whole tank. And since goldfish are coldwater, I will not be using the heat method. But thank you for everyone's responses.
As far as whether it is ick or not here are all the symptoms:
1. Fin rot
2. White spots but hard to see
3. Bottom Sitting
4. still eating
5. Not scratching
6. have not added any new inhabitants
7. Clamped fins
I'm 100% sure it is not a water quality issue. I keep up with water changes (once a week or maybe even twice.)
I was reading a different thread where ick completely destroyed the fins. I'm going on vacation in 10 days! So please help get her better asap.
If it's not ick what does this sound like to you? I can't get a good enough picture but I will however find one on google that look similar to what my fish has and post it here:

If you zoom in on this goldfishes back Caudal fin you will see white spots. that is EXACTLY what my fish looks like.
Bearwithfish scarface @RachelFishHero

 

I have tested today and yesterday. I use the API liquid testing kit. Ammonia is 0. Nitrite is 0. Nitrate is 10-20. I will treat the whole tank. And since goldfish are coldwater, I will not be using the heat method. But thank you for everyone's responses.
As far as whether it is ick or not here are all the symptoms:
1. Fin rot
2. White spots but hard to see
3. Bottom Sitting
4. still eating
5. Not scratching
6. have not added any new inhabitants
7. Clamped fins
I'm 100% sure it is not a water quality issue. I keep up with water changes (once a week or maybe even twice.)
I was reading a different thread where ick completely destroyed the fins. I'm going on vacation in 10 days! So please help get her better asap.
If it's not ick what does this sound like to you? I can't get a good enough picture but I will however find one on google that look similar to what my fish has and post it here:

If you zoom in on this goldfishes back Caudal fin you will see white spots. that is EXACTLY what my fish looks like.
Bearwithfish scarface @RachelFishHero

Picture isn’t very good, but the spot appears too big to be ick. Ick literally looks like tiny salt granules or even white sand. If it doesn’t look like that or appears much bigger then you don’t have ick. Google it, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I don’t want you medicating with harsh chemicals for no reason.

My best guess is carp pox, which usually isn’t a big deal. But really, we need a better photo.

 

I looked up pictures of carp pox and it doesn't look like that. If it was carp pox and not a big deal my fish wouldn't be dying. Everyday when I come home I make sure he is still alive because he looks so sick. His fins are clamped, torn and it doesn't look like salt but it is many tiny white spots. I can't think of anything else it could be. The medicine will be here tomorrow. Since we are not sure it is ick I feel like I should treat him with it in quarantine. That way the other, healthy fish don't have to go through the harsh chemicals. But at this point if I don't do something, he might die. His fins have gotten even more torn yesterday.

I will take a picture in the morning when he is still sleeping and still so I can get a better view.

 

What other fish are with him? Any fake decor? Clamped and breathing hard?

 

What other fish are with him? Any fake decor? Clamped and breathing hard?

2 other common goldfish. Yes, a fake spongebob house. His fins are clamped but he isn't breathing that hard.

 

Ok have you seen any white poop?

 

Ok have you seen any white poop?

I did so I posted a separate thread about it. I was told that it is a symptom of internal parasites and to treat with API General Cure. I did for a little less than 2 weeks and they ALL have brown poop now.
This is the best picture I could get, sorry. Look at the white fish's back caudal fin. The second picture is the original and the first picture is darkened so you can see the spots better.

 

I have the ick medicine. Should I use it?

 

The link you posted says I don’t have permission to view or something along those lines, so I can’t see pictures. Thus, I can’t really say.

Have you checked Google s of ick and compared it to your goldfish? You should know clear as day whether or not your goldfish has it.

Also, as I said earlier, if you’re going to treat your fish of ick, you’re supposed to treat the entire tank, as well as the other fish in it, not just the one showing signs.

 

Some of the pictures on google look like it but some don't. If it's not ick what else could the white dots be?

 

Can you see the pictures now?
I was reading that it could be Fungus but I don't think it is. The spots are not cottony or fuzzy at all. I'm going to start treating for ick tonight. scarface
it is still not active and swimming around. I have added emerald entree to its diet (once a week) and bloodworms.

 

Can you see the pictures now?
I was reading that it could be Fungus but I don't think it is. The spots are not cottony or fuzzy at all. I'm going to start treating for ick tonight. scarface I have added emerald entree to its diet (once a week) and bloodworms.

 

I'd set up a quarantine for the one fish and treat it. Keep a bare bottom and higher temperature slowly rising day by day to 85 to kill ich and do many water changes. Ich treatment has copper so it can be dangerous only do the one fish. Do water tests daily.

 

I'd set up a quarantine for the one fish and treat it. Keep a bare bottom and higher temperature slowly rising day by day to 85 to kill ich and do many water changes. Ich treatment has copper so it can be dangerous only do the one fish. Do water tests daily.

I've been using the Kordons Rid Ich Plus in the main tank with the other fish for the past 2 days and they show no negative side effects. However the one that is showing the symptoms of Ich, is bottom sitting again and showing no improvement.

 

Hi, I bought a new goldfish 4 days ago and I did the usual procces and that is to put him in quarantine, today I checked and I saw some white dots (I have experienced some really bad ich in the past so I think this is not that bad jet, there are probably less than 10 white spots) . I'm really scare of ich, this is the third time that I face ich and sadly in the past the ich mortality rate is about 100% I have tried a lot of medicines, melachite green, melachite green + Nitrofurazone, kordon ich attack and salt (I tried separately all the medicines with different fishes as it infected a lot of my fishes, but the result is always the same).
I just bought seachem paraguard and I have high hopes (I'm currently waiting as I just did a water change and added prime so I'm going to wait a few hours) so right now I need your help, I know that a lot of people are not scare of ich and they know how to kill ich very effectively.
The problem that I have seen with ich is that it kills my fish very fast in less than 3 days so I can't complete the treatment. A mistake that I think was doing is to add heat, because I think that the heat+medicine is what weakens my fish, so do you think I should only apply the medicine?
My goldfish is really small, is a 2 inches or less black ranchu is in a 20 gallons quarantine tank for the last 4 days, with a waterfall filter plus air pump. Please I don't want to lose this fish.

 

Those meds should have worked as ich is very easy to cure, unless it’s been goin on for a while. Perhaps the med and heat treatment together was too much for the fish. I personally use Kordon Rapid Cure. Could it possibly not be ich at all? Seems odd. Can you post some pics please?

 

HI scarface, tomorrow I'm going to try to get a picture as right now I don't want to bother the fish as I just did a waterchange and because it only has a few white dots is going to be hard to take a good picture, but I'm pretty sure is ich, here are some of my other fish that got ich in the past (and sadly they died). With the molly I tried only melachite green and with the guppies I tried melachite green + nitrofurazone, I tried kordon ich attack with a goldfish but it was the worst result of all (I don't have photos of that goldfish, but it was pretty bad).

 

Hmmm. . . Have you followed manufacturer’s directions exactly? I have to ask because you can’t really go wrong following product directions, imo, and I’ve seen a surprisingly large amount of people who fail to follow it, for one reason or another. The other thing I can possibly think of is not removing the carbon from the filter or anything similar that could remove meds from the water column, before dosing.

Also, because of the prasite’s life cycle, it shouldn’t take more than a week to cure.

 

Hmmm. . . Have you followed manufacturer’s directions exactly? I have to ask because you can’t really go wrong following product directions, imo, and I’ve seen a surprisingly large amount of people who fail to follow it, for one reason or another. The other thing I can possibly think of is not removing the carbon from the filter or anything similar that could remove meds from the water column, before dosing.

Also, because of the prasite’s life cycle, it shouldn’t take more than a week to cure.

I'm pretty sure I followed the steps xD was just addint a certain amount of drops.
What I'm also thinking is that maybe the medicine killed my benefical bacteria, I read in seachem forum that paraguard only last 24 hours so right now my plan is to do a water change before adding paraguard just to be sure.

 

I'm pretty sure I followed the steps xD was just addint a certain amount of drops.
What I'm also thinking is that maybe the medicine killed my benefical bacteria, I read in seachem forum that paraguard only last 24 hours so right now my plan is to do a water change before adding paraguard just to be sure.

Generally meds don’t affect bacteria. Not from my experience anyway. I never tried Paraguard. Hope this time it works out for you.

 

Generally meds don’t affect bacteria. Not from my experience anyway. I never tried Paraguard. Hope this time it works out for you.

Thanks in your experience how fast do ich take to disapear (atleast the visible white spots symptoms) when using melachite green?