Ich? Help

[Kevinlegit]

Hello fish friends, I'm new to the whole aquarium thing so I need some advice/help please. I started off with just a comet goldfish in one of those little Betta tanks with a filter. Five weeks later that tank begins to leak so I took it in and they gave me store credit and they didn't have anymore small tanks so I upgraded to an eighteen gallon tank. They recommend I buy I heater so I did and they set it up for me. Everything was fine and a couple weeks later I added more fish, three Cherry barbs. Those did great no problems at all. This past Friday I decided to add another fish to the family, an angelfish. My wife picked it out and the guy at the local fish shop said it would be fine with our other fish. The next morning I found it dead at the bottom of the tank /: the other fish hadn't even got to it yet. I went back in to the shop when they opened and had my water checked everything was good. The guy said maybe stress did it in but I noticed that the other angelfish were gone from the tank they were originally in, odd right. I ended up getting three cardinal tetras since then one is missing /: the other two are doing well but now I noticed all my fish have white spots. Looks and sounds like Ich? What should I do? What's the best treatment? Is there anything I can do or tell the fish shop? Please help

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

You have several problem issues, I'll start with cycling. Do you know how to cycle a new tank? We have articles at the head of the "Cycle Your Tank" area:
http://www.fishforums.net/forums/cycle-your-tank.291/

Second, angelfish are much too large for a small tank, and 18 gallons is small to fish. Fish do grow. Always check the requirements, mature size, etc. for a fish before acquiring it. Cardinals and cherry barbs would be OK, and together, but these are shoaling fish that must be in groups of at least six or seven, preferably a few more.

Goldfish...this is not going to do well in continually warm temperatures, so it cannot be in with the tropical species. They also get large. One goldfish on its own might manage in your 18g without the heater, depending upon the type of goldfish.

Ich...not surprising, given the stress. Newly acquired fish are frequently under severe stress, and the tank conditions and other fish can make this even worse. The easy remedy is to raise the temperature of the water to 85F and use aquarium salt. I don't know if the goldfish will live through this, a member with more experience with goldfish can comment.

Yu will have to manage the cycling and the ich now or none of the fish will last.

Byron.

 

[Kevinlegit]

The owner of the fish shop recommend Rid-ich plus. I just finished doing a water change with the gravel vac, took out the carbon, and treated the water so we'll see how this goes. Thanks Byron

 

[NickAu]

The owner of the fish shop recommend Rid-ich plus.

Of course he did, But you didnt need to buy it, all you need to treat Ich is raise the water temp and maybe a bit of salt.

 

[Kevinlegit]

Any idea how long it should take to clear up?

 

[NickAu]

As I have never used commercial Ich treatment I cant give any more advice.

 

[Kevinlegit]

Thanks anyway. I did start raising the temp slightly since last night. Appreciate the help

 

[Kevinlegit]

Welcome to TFF.

You have several problem issues, I'll start with cycling. Do you know how to cycle a new tank? We have articles at the head of the "Cycle Your Tank" area:
http://www.fishforums.net/forums/cycle-your-tank.291/

Second, angelfish are much too large for a small tank, and 18 gallons is small to fish. Fish do grow. Always check the requirements, mature size, etc. for a fish before acquiring it. Cardinals and cherry barbs would be OK, and together, but these are shoaling fish that must be in groups of at least six or seven, preferably a few more.

Goldfish...this is not going to do well in continually warm temperatures, so it cannot be in with the tropical species. They also get large. One goldfish on its own might manage in your 18g without the heater, depending upon the type of goldfish.

Ich...not surprising, given the stress. Newly acquired fish are frequently under severe stress, and the tank conditions and other fish can make this even worse. The easy remedy is to raise the temperature of the water to 85F and use aquarium salt. I don't know if the goldfish will live through this, a member with more experience with goldfish can comment.

Yu will have to manage the cycling and the ich now or none of the fish will last.

Byron.

Hi Byron, you seem very knowledgeable just wondering if there's any diseases that you can catch from fish just to be careful in the future and how likely those scenarios are? Thanks

 

[Byron]

Hi Byron, you seem very knowledgeable just wondering if there's any diseases that you can catch from fish just to be careful in the future and how likely those scenarios are? Thanks

Yes, humans can catch disease from fish. TB is one we sometimes hear about. Many will advise not putting bare hands in the tank if you have any open skin areas, but wear rubber gloves (the kind you can buy for kitchen cleaning). There is documented cases of aquarists contracting skin problems from something in the water, including TB. Having said that, I have never worried; I wash my hands before and after with soap. I can't remember having lesions that were open (unhealed), though to be honest I probably wouldn't think of it at the time.

We should also be careful not to swallow tank water, like can happen when siphoning out water. I know of several aquarists who became quite violently ill from something in the tank water, bacterial most likely.

On a related issue, I have an allergy to frozen bloodworms, or dried ones too. I have to be carefully not to touch them when I feed them, as I can get quite a rash. My eyes also itch, and I have had nasal stuffiness, from accidentally inhaling the odour. This allergy is more common than we might think.

 

[Kevinlegit]

So I really shouldn't worry about it unless I were to have an open skin area or an area that is still healing?

 

[NickAu]

Many will advise not putting bare hands in the tank if you have any open skin areas, but wear rubber gloves

A pointless exercise if you have a tank thats deeper than about 10cm.

We should also be careful not to swallow tank water, like can happen when siphoning out water

IMO if your tank water isn't safe enough to drink its not safe for fish.

 

[Byron]

IMO if your tank water isn't safe enough to drink its not safe for fish.

This is most certainly not true. There are various bacteria that are natural to fish that will affect humans.