Goldfish with Ich

[jossswonk]

My goldfish unfortunately got ich after I introduced a new goldfish which I thought had been quarantined. It's been about 2-3 days since I've dosed salt and increased the water temp to 80. So far I haven't seen any improvements so I wanted to check and see if anyone else has any advice. Should I turn the temp up more?

 

[jossswonk]

Here is a picture of one of the infected fish. Two of them are still acting fairly normal while the other two are pretty lethargic.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I don't know how gold fish do with that temp. I always use the Ich treatment stuff- API Super Ich cure or something similar, although I think a lot of folks swear by the high temps. I think gold fish normally like low temp water- high 60s to mid 70s I think- I guess temporarily raising it wouldn't hurt them, but in case you're worried you might try the medicine.

 

[Naughts]

I agree that medication is the correct choice here. For tropical fish, heat (86/30 for 2 weeks), is very effective but this is just not tolerated by cold water fish.
Act fast before the ich overwhelms the gills.

 

[GaryE]

I would medicate. There is heat resistant ich, and while you're finding out if it is or isn't, the parasite is feeding on the fish. A lot of people wait too long to treat, then blame the medication when the untreated parasite has had time to kill the fish.

I keep other cool water fish, and if I were to try the heat method, they would suffer greatly from it. It would probably kill them if the parasite didn't. A malachite green, dye based medication will do the job.

 

[Innesfan]

Salt is effective if you're using enough of it. If you decide to switch to the meds, do a large water change first. You could raise the temp to 84F to hasten the process--it accelerates the life cycle of the parasite which is good since the salt or meds kill the parasite in the free-swimming stage. Your goldfish can tolerate the heat. What dose of salt have you been using and how large is your tank? The recommended salt treatment is one teaspoon per gallon every 12 hours for 3 doses total. You wind up with 3 teaspoons per gallon (which is one tablespoon per gallon) or a 0.3% salt solution. FYI, your goldfish can tolerate 3x that amount so fear not about the dose. If you stick with salt, there's more on the subject here:

https://drjohnson.com/salt-dosing-journal-for-ich-or-white-spot-a-case/

 

[jossswonk]

The tank is roughly 50 gallon and I've used 30 TBS of salt to treat it. There isn't any more ich of their bodies so I think that might be working. I'll continue to leave it in there though until I can go get medication which should be tomorrow. Two of them have become pretty lethargic. Is this normal with goldfish with Ich? They've been pretty good until today.

 

[Naughts]

Two of them have become pretty lethargic. Is this normal with goldfish with Ich? They've been pretty good until today.

Time will tell. You’re doing the best you can. When the meds arrive return the temperature to normal and begin diluting the salt out with water changes.
Then start treatment following the instructions on the bottle.

Remember that ich on fish is only one stage of the ich lifecycle. The other stages are cysts in/ on the substrate and free swimming looking for a host. So you can’t assume that it is gone until the fish are clear for a week or two.

 

[jossswonk]

Thanks, I did a waterchange today and replaced the salt so it can keep working. They are still very interested in food so I'll take that as a good sign.

 

[Naughts]

How are the fish?

 

[jossswonk]

The ich hasn't come back but they're still very lethargic. I've also noticed some stringy poop, so I'm thinking they might have an internal parasite. I'm going to go get some general cure today and see if that helps at all. They're still eating well so I still have hope.

 

[Innesfan]

What are you feeding?

 

[jossswonk]

I've been feeding them a mix of frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and flakes. It's been a few hours since I've given them their dose of general cure and they're acting much better now.

 

[Innesfan]

Good. What's your usual water-changing routine--how much and how often?

 

[jossswonk]

I change 25-50% every week. But since they've gotten sick I've been doing 25-50% every other day. The tank is over filtered.