Goldfish with ich - safest treatment option?

[OliveFish05]

Hi. We bought a group of goldfish from the same supplier over the course of three weeks. Because they were from the same supplier, we didn't feel the need to quarantine each shipment separately. One came with some minor redness around his mouth. Over the first couple of days it worsened. We moved him to a quarantine tank, where We treated him for a fungal infection, which cleared up the mouth rot completely. The quarantine tank hasn't got a light on it, but we put a little extra one on last night to check that the mouth rot was really gone. Well it just illuminated hundreds of ich spots, the fish is absolutely covered from head to tail.

What would be the best route for treatment? Heat? Medication? Which medication? I've treated ich before in my tropical community, way back about this time last year, so I know that heat is generally the best route. Buuut, would a goldfish tolerate the 86 degree temps???

 

[Colin_T]

Hi. We bought a group of goldfish from the same supplier over the course of three weeks. Because they were from the same supplier, we didn't feel the need to quarantine each shipment separately.

Fishy tail slap for not quarantining your new fish

What would be the best route for treatment? Heat? Medication? Which medication? I've treated ich before in my tropical community, way back about this time last year, so I know that heat is generally the best route. Buuut, would a goldfish tolerate the 86 degree temps???

If the goldfish are in warm water (20C/ 68F) or higher, you can use heat but raise it up over a couple of days.
If the water temperature is less than 20C/ 68F), then use chemicals because the fish won't tolerate the big sudden increase in temperature.

Copper or Malachite Green will treat white spot and any other external protozoan parasites.
I prefer copper but it kills invertebrates (shrimp, snails).
Malachite Green is carcinogenic (causes cancer).
Both work well but you need to work out the exact volume of water in the tank and do not overdose.

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

 

[OliveFish05]

Fishy tail slap for not quarantining your new fish

It wasn’t me. They were all from the same supplier. They didn’t know

the tank is currently at room temp, around 72. I prefer treating with heat, it seems more reliable to me. I don’t like to Use meds if I have other options. I will throw the heaters in the tanks tomorrow. These tanks are so exhausting at least it's enjoyable exhaustion.

 

[Colin_T]

Raise the temperature slowly over 2 days.

Do a 90% water change and complete gravel clean each day until the water is at 86F. The huge water change and gravel clean will remove most of the parasites from the tank so if any do hatch, there should be fewer to reinfect the fish.

Clean the filter too, so you get rid of most of the parasites in that.

 

[OliveFish05]

Raise the temperature slowly over 2 days.

Do a 90% water change and complete gravel clean each day until the water is at 86F. The huge water change and gravel clean will remove most of the parasites from the tank so if any do hatch, there should be fewer to reinfect the fish.

Clean the filter too, so you get rid of most of the parasites in that.

Ok! Will do. I did a 90% last night and will do another today, and tomorrow, and so on. I did wipe down the glass but didn't clean the filter media. Is it safe to dose salt at the same time? I know salt doesn't affect ich, but would it be beneficial in warding off the fungal infection he just fought off?

 

[Naughts]

Don't do the salt whilst raising the temperature as both reduce oxygen levels. Together is too much. If there is fungus after the heat treatment (should only take 2 weeks), then add salt after the temperature has been returned to normal.
You could add extra aeration during treatment.