# ick!!!!



## smellslikefish (Sep 25, 2006)

hey guys I am kinda new and I was told toget a ccle startedwith some feeder goldfish,in doing that i've had them for liike a week.andright now i have a dozen feeder goldfish in a 30galtank along w/2 plecos. the water iskinda murky and today I was looking at the goldfish and a few of them have a few small white dots on their tails.i looked it upand found out it is a parasite called ick. iknowthey selltablets buti figuredi'd ask the experts(you guys) and findout what to do?? please help


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## Oceane (Aug 4, 2006)

It would be better and quicker to do a fishless cycle with old filter media. It goes a lot quicker. using cycle fish will take 32 days and you will lose many and also get more diseases. Remove the carbon from your filter. Add a teaspoon of seaspoon of coarse sea salt to your tank and then add the white spot remedy following the dosage on the bottle. Treatment needs to be repeated until the fish are cured. That is if they survive the levels of ammonia and nitrites found in an uncycled tank.


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

first of all...12 goldfish sounds like wayy too many for your tank. they are very messy fish..you would be better off cycling with some danios. anyways...i would check your stats and do several small water changes over the course of a couple of days. are you running activated carbon in your filter? if not, then i would suggest getting some cuz it helps clear up cloudiness. good luck

bri


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## Tracy (Aug 4, 2006)

Usually I would say add aquarium salt and raise the heat...........but goldfish don't like heat


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## starcollector (Sep 26, 2006)

I too have a bad outbreak of ich in my tank. It doesn't help that I'm also having problems with getting my nitrites down. I've been treating for 6 days now with QuickCure, aquarium salt, and increased temps. The ich appears even worse than it did last week, and seems to be increasing in both fish it's on and number of spots. Can I expect a cure - just have to be patient? The bottle says cures in 2 days, but I did read that it's best to treat for 14 days. So far, almost a week and getting worse! Eeeks.


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

a dozen goldfish is not the way to cycle a tank. And plus that is WAY to many anways. I bet those poor pleco's are just suffering...but we can help fix that. I would recommend taking the goldfish back ASAP and along with the pleco's. Get like 3 or 4 zebra danios, they are very hardy fish and will do the cycle process for you. That's if your goign to go with fish. Pleco's need good water quality and thats why I would recommend taking them back. Do you have a test kit? To test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, kh or gh. If not I would recommend the Master Test Kit, it includes all those and I've had lots of success with that test kit. Just to be simple when its over your results should be Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate under 40. Hope to help you more
Nick


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Not with the ich stuck on goldfish, Nick.:blink: If you just return them, then the original owner is to blame for several outbreaks in other tanks if ever the goldfish are placed in other tanks.

Plecs and a dozen goldfish will never fit in the 30 gallons. You have to add 4x the size of that tank.:blink: Apart from that, both are heavy pooing machines. They produce a lot of wastes meaning your ammonia is likely to be at a dangerous level if your tank hasn't cycled. This alone spells several water changes at that.


starcollector said:


> I too have a bad outbreak of ich in my tank. It doesn't help that I'm also having problems with getting my nitrites down. I've been treating for 6 days now with QuickCure, aquarium salt, and increased temps. The ich appears even worse than it did last week, and seems to be increasing in both fish it's on and number of spots. Can I expect a cure - just have to be patient? The bottle says cures in 2 days, but I did read that it's best to treat for 14 days. So far, almost a week and getting worse! Eeeks.


Starcollector, for this, I'd rather treat your fish with salt combined with high temps. Pls see to it that your fish can tolerate high temps. *With goldfish, you are advised not to increase the temp.*
High temp+goldfish=death
I'd just continue treating them with salt until all the parasites are destroyed. Meds will do as long as they don't harm the biological filtration.
On the side note, I wouldn't try to believe everything the bottle says. It will not cure in 2 days. That will depend.

Pls do not use activated carbon when you are treating the fish with meds. This will render the meds ineffective.
Use carbon only when you try to remove the meds.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Topic moved.

This is getting to be a serious situation.:wink2:


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## Tracy (Aug 4, 2006)

My 46 gallon tank now has ich, and I'm quite sure it came from petsmart when I acquired the 4 small silver dollars and a second clown loach. I don't know my water stats but the tank has cylced (was an upgrade from 25 gallons to 46 gallons at the end of July). 

Questions: Should I treat with salt/heat, or meds, or a combination of both? The temperature is normally 78 degrees F; how high can I turn it up and how will my fish tolerate it? Besides the silver dollars and clown loaches, I have 4 gouramis, a sclarae angel, common plec and one cory cat. Are there any of them that won't like the salt? This is very disappointing  About 18 months ago I lost a big pleco to disease after adding neon tetras, and I dont want this to happen again.


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## crazie.eddie (Sep 1, 2006)

starcollector said:


> I too have a bad outbreak of ich in my tank. It doesn't help that I'm also having problems with getting my nitrites down. I've been treating for 6 days now with QuickCure, aquarium salt, and increased temps. The ich appears even worse than it did last week, and seems to be increasing in both fish it's on and number of spots. Can I expect a cure - just have to be patient? The bottle says cures in 2 days, but I did read that it's best to treat for 14 days. So far, almost a week and getting worse! Eeeks.


Follow the directions and continue the treatment.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

*MEDS + AMMONIA AND/OR NITRITE = DANGER, POSSIBLY LETHAL!*

WAIT!!!! If you are using meds and your ammonia or nitrite is reading anytthing at all above zero, this could bring certain death to your tank! Meds can be a good thing, but water quality must be in good condition, or meds can and usually will have an adverse effect on the fish. I would get carbon into that filter, get the meds out, and work on cleaning up the water quality first!
Not ALL meds will effect the biological cycle in your tank, either. Some fish are sensitive to certain meds, so just because a medication says it treats ick, doesn't mean its safe for all of the fish in your tank with ick. If that were the case, there would only be 1 type of medication to use for that particular problem.
I saw 2 different posts here with ick problems, I will go back and try to sort them out for you, and post again seperately for each of you, I just wanted to get this warning out there while it can still help save some lives!


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Ok, smellslikefish:
As the others have pointed out already, that is way too many goldfish for a 30 gallon tank, and for 2 standard plecos. Chances are, by now, some of the goldfish have died.  A 1/2 cup of salt added to the tank and a series of daily water exchanges of 10% should help you out... and get some carbon into that filter ASAP! There are other filter medias you can use in this kind of situation, with the carbon. I would add either Polyfilter or PuraPad, both will help to clean the water quality up quickly. Watch the temp on the tank, try to get it down to 65- 68 degrees farenheit, but don't do it too quickly. The daily water changes with room temp water would be the best way to do this, along with an air stone or 2. The extra oxygen from the air stones will help the goldfish tremendously. DO NOT USE MEDICATIONS AT THIS POINT! Get your water tested ASAP for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH. If you post the readings here, we can help much quicker. If there is a heater in the tank, turn it off, unplug it! The plecos can handle the lower temps, but I can't promise they won't also have huge problems because of the water quality. Go easy on the feedings, only every other day what the fish will completely finish in 1 minute. The plecos will also need to be fed, or they will starve to death in a new tank. Algae wafers are a good solution, also zuchinni squash slices works well. Remember that plecos and goldfish are both vegetarian fish, so they will all have to compete for food. It will be tempting to overfeed, be careful not to.
I'll watch this board for your post with water quality test results, and I will do all I can to help!
Good Luck!
Oh, and once this is over, I'd have arrangements made for the goldfish and plecos, as they can't stay in that size of a tank. Comet goldfish (the standard feeder goldfish) reach a size of 14 inches each, and they grow fast. It's not uncommon for a 1 - 2 inche goldfish to reach 5-6 inches within the first 8 months. The standard pleco grows to about 18 inches, and also does so quickly. The cute little 2 incher's you see in the stores can reach 6 - 8 inches in the first year.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

OK, starcollector:
In your situation, please stop the meds asap!!! Get some carbon into that filter to soak the meds out. Quick Cure will surely wipe out your tank in a matter of a few days to a week if you are showing ammonia or nitrite levels. That can be a wonderful medication, but it is not designed to work in poor water quality.
I will suggest Polyfilter or PuraPad to you, also, as this will help to soak the nitrite levels quickly, along with excess ammonia and any nitrates that will begin to build as the nitrites break down.
Small daily water exchanges of 5 - 10% for a week, and your water quality should look much better, and will give your fish a fighting chance. When ammonia and nitrite are at zero, and nitrates are under 40, then it will be safe for meds. At that time, remove the carbon, polyfilter, purapad from the filter, and follow the directions on the meds bottle.
Instead of QuickCure, I would consider using a med called "Formalin", again, following the directions on the bottle. This will usually work pretty fast, and is SAFE to use. One course of treatment for 5 days will usually do the trick. After the treatment period, then put carbon and either polyfilter or purapad (fresh media) back into the filter to soak up the medications.
Good Luck with it, let me know if you need more help.


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