Ich, Goldfish And Colour Change

Hello,

Despite quarantining all my goldfish for 3 weeks in one of my cycled QT tanks, it seems that after transferring them to my big aquarium, my oranda has developed ich. I've started treating my big aquarium for ich and have noticed that over the space of a week, my oranda's black colouring has faded rapidly. I know that black colouring in goldfish is unstable and tends to fade with age, but I'm surprised it has faded so suddenly? I've only recently purchased him. Could this have anything to do with the ich? His colour loss seems to coincide with the ich outbreak.

Aquarium set up: Planted 350l/92g Juwel rio 300
-Eheim 2217 filter
-Juwel Rio 300 Bioflow 6.0 filter
-Eheim 400 air pump x 2

-Fancy goldfish x 10
-Bn pleco x1
- Assassin snail x1

The tank has been running for a month, fish were added two weeks ago after cycling finished. Water parameters: Nitrite 0, ammonia 0, nitrates 20ppm. 20 wc done once every two weeks, though I've increased this to once every 2-3 days because of the ich outbreak

Ich treatment so far:
-Added API salt
-Seachem paraguard
-Increased temp to 28c over several days to avoid shocking my fish

So far, the fish have reacted well to the treatment with visible improvements but I'm wondering about my oranda's colour change: Could this be because of the ich? Will his colour return?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

I think he’s just changing color. My fancy went from black and orange to all orange in about a week. You are overstocked on your tank though. You really need to remove 2 of the goldies and the pleco. For fancies, it’s 20G for the first fantail or fancy and 10G for each additional . The pleco is another 10. The stress of overstocking may be contributing to the ich. I hope this helps some. Good luck!

 

Thank you for your response, reassuring to know his colour change is probably nothing to worry about!

I realise my tank is overstocked, I was gifted some fancies by my well-meaning family so have ended up with more than I anticipated. I've added a second filter and I plan to upgrade my tank t0 a 600l/800l so overstocking shouldn't be a problem for too long.

Thank you for your help

 

Hello,

Despite quarantining all my goldfish for 3 weeks in one of my cycled QT tanks, it seems that after transferring them to my big aquarium, my oranda has developed ich. I've started treating my big aquarium for ich and have noticed that over the space of a week, my oranda's black colouring has faded rapidly. I know that black colouring in goldfish is unstable and tends to fade with age, but I'm surprised it has faded so suddenly? I've only recently purchased him. Could this have anything to do with the ich? His colour loss seems to coincide with the ich outbreak.

Aquarium set up: Planted 350l/92g Juwel rio 300
-Eheim 2217 filter
-Juwel Rio 300 Bioflow 6.0 filter
-Eheim 400 air pump x 2

-Fancy goldfish x 10
-Bn pleco x1
- Assassin snail x1

The tank has been running for a month, fish were added two weeks ago after cycling finished. Water parameters: Nitrite 0, ammonia 0, nitrates 20ppm. 20 wc done once every two weeks, though I've increased this to once every 2-3 days because of the ich outbreak

Ich treatment so far:
-Added API salt
-Seachem paraguard
-Increased temp to 28c over several days to avoid shocking my fish

So far, the fish have reacted well to the treatment with visible improvements but I'm wondering about my oranda's colour change: Could this be because of the ich? Will his colour return?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hello Faw...

I keep large tanks of Comets and other Goldfish and I can tell you a few things I've learned: Putting chemicals into the tank water isn't a good idea. You don't know how your fish will react. Ich can be treated simply with large, weekly water changes of 50 percent or even more. Do a good job of vacuuming the bottom too. Salt is important to Goldfish. I add a small spoonful to every 19 liters or 5 gallons of water.

You don't need to increase the water temperature, this will remove more oxygen and Goldfish need cool water and high oxygen in their water to be healthy. Moving fish is stressful for them and the stress could weaken the fish's immune system.

You never want to mix Goldfish with tropical fish. The Goldfish need much cooler water. Keep things simple and the fish will recover.

Old

 

HI Old,

I agree re putting chemicals I try and avoid chemicals as well. Decided to try the more 'aggressive' approach and added the paraguard as I'm going on holiday soon and wanted to try and get a handle on it before I leave; post-poning the holiday is not really an option as I don't think my parents would delay it for the sake of my fish!

I'm looking into getting a neighbour to pop in and feed/monitor my fish whilst I'm away.

I've lowered the water level of my fish tank and added another air stone to increase surface agitation and aeration as I know higher temps hold less oxygen. I had read on multiple forums that increasing water temp was beneficial in treating ich so that's why I increased it.

Re the pleco I thought bn plecos lived within the same temperature range as fancy goldfish and can live in indoor, room temperature aquariums? My tank is usually at 21c and my pleco seemed happy with this (feeding, rasping, growing in colour and size etc)

Thank you for your advice, I'll slowly bring down the temperature and focus on treating the tank with salt and water changes (yay for python hoses)