Hello, I used to be on this site about a year ago and the advice is always helpful. i have a big problem with my goldfishies. here are my Stats...

Amonia is 0
Nitrate is 0
Nitrite is 0
75 gallon tank been running for about 7 months. have a Proquatics Canister 2400 as my filter. PH is about 7.6 Have 6 small goldfish. most are fantails. i have a beautiful pearlscale i rescued fm nooppee a year ago. also have two upside down catfish that are doing wonderfully with them.

A few days ago I had a small break of Ich, started to treat w/Maracide. I got a goldfish where i work at in a new shipment, only we didn't see at the time that the ppl that sent us the fish also sent ich. (My quantine tank is down so i just put him in with my other fish....i know i should have known. especialy since i work at a petstore.)
well, within days red streaks appeared, all over their bodies, gills, and tails. the clumps of ich are getting bigger and bigger and it is not getting better. they are so covered in ich i can barely tell the true color of the fish. i have never seen it this bad before, i had ich twice about two years ago and within two treatments it was gone. the fins are totally frayed that they can barely swim. they are still eating and are swimming. i gave them a salt dip in a gallon bucket, raised the temp. to 80 degrees but i see no improvement. they are in really bad shape. the catfish are getting better, but this strain of Ich seem to be focused on the goldfish for some reason. (even at work the strain attacked the goldfish more intensly...we worked hard to get rid of it as we love our fish but lost a lot there too. only a few tropical fish were affected...mind boggling....) i have a picture at how horrible it is but i don't see how to download it on here. i love my goldies, (my hubby thinks i am crazy but he loves me anyways...any help is appreciated..thanks..

hi there.

hopefully we can help you save your goldies. lets see what we can do here:


are you saying that your still treating with the maracide? if so, thats good. but, try not to run the heater at 80. just keep it at whatever you normally keep it at. the raising of the temp is reserved more for a treament of .3% salt running constantly for a week or more.

are you covering your tank and keeping the light off during treatment? if not, you need to do so because the malachite green in the maracide is deactivated by light. and if im not mistaken, the malachite green is what the ich are readily killed by first.

could you describe your salt dip regemine in detail?

what %?

how long?

now often?

youll need to try to run as strong a dip as theyll handle (up to 3%) for as long as theyll handle it. youll need to do these every day for three days straight and then give them a couple days break and see how they respond. all the while, you can run the maracide treatment. extra aeration is a plus here as the meds can displace quite a bit of dissolved oxygen.

post back soon.

paul

there was a site on here that said to put a in a gallon of water a cup of water....(used epson as that was the only salt i have at the moment....) left the fish in for about ten minutes...and i am keeping the tank lights off. this is a vicious cycle of Ich i tell ya...I have never seen this sooo bad before. (Not even in pictures...) one of my goldies is trying to stay alive..the other fish were eating him so i have him floating in a net as i have no other way to protect him till tomorrow. (I don't think he is going to make it...)
this strain seems to be getting worse by the hour...

i believe that the heat is why its betting so bad. as you may know, heat speeds up the life cycle. so, theyre breeding faster than usual. turn your heater down to what your room temp is. this will slow them down a bit.

as to why the meds dont seem to be working, are you covering the tank as well, if not, youll need to do so. even ambient sunlight (indirect) can deactivate the mg. how many days have you been treating now?

as for the salt dips your doing, DONT USE EPSOMS! that is a totally different type of salt altogether and it should never be used in that concentration. instead, try kosher salt, aquarium salt, seasalt (all three are the same thing). these are really the only ones you should ever use unless your treating constipation and/or dropsy. and try not to walk away from them while theyre in the dip. you need to look for visual cues to know that theyre done with the dip. for more on dips, read this:

salt and salt dips

keep in mind, a 3% dip is 4 ounces aquarium salt to 1 gallon of water. a 1.5% dip is 2 ounces salt per gallon. you can dip in a 3% solution until the fish flip onto their sides or they do not respond to gentle nudges or their gills come close to stopping moving altogether. you can do the 1.5% dip for up to ten minutes or any of the symptoms i listed previously show up. as i said before, three days on 2 days off. do these while treating with the meds in the main tank.

post back soon.

okay, i did just put in the heater today and they were breeding just as fast without it. will get the salts tomorrow at work and try it that way. did not know that epson does not help with Ich, as I used it for dropsy and it helped.

Hi there,

Fantastic advice from Paul. Spot on on all points.

I'll just pick up on the epsom salt question while he takes a breather.

Epsom salt is not a salt at all. It is Magnesium Sulfate or MgSO4.

Yes, Epsom salt is used to treat dropsy because it helps to reduce the swelling/bloating while normal salt (NaCl) will do the opposite and cause more fluid buildup.

so, how long have you been treating with the maracide now?

any improvement yet?

i hope your goldies hold out for the meds to do their trick. keep us posted.