Hello. I just got my first goldfish. He (at least I think it's a he) is mainly white with some orange. He has a long V-shaped tail which reminds me of a mermaids tail. He is about 2.5 inches long including tail. He is in a 3 gallon eclipse tank. I have a thermometer that sticks to the outside of the tank right below the gravel line (which were the instructions). It says 74-78 degrees during the night and 78-82 during the day.

Well I used to have a betta for about 2 years. Unfortunatly he got dropsy and even with medications he lost his battle to survive after aboout a week . When I got this fish I was nervous to put him in the same tank. I went on-line for some suggestions on how to clean it properly. I soaked the tank and everything in it in a strong aquarium salt bath overnight. Then I rinsed it about 4 times. I filled it up fill water and added the suggested chemicals to nurtilize the nitrate/amonia levels. I then added my new goldfish, Noah. He seemed happy, swimming all over the place with all his fins spread open. He also was very hungry. He stayed this way for 2 days. The in the morning I say him at the bottom of the tank with his fins closed. To be honest I was a fraid he died, since in 2 days I hadn't seen him stop moving. Well as I went to the tank he got up and swam around. I was releaved. I'm not sure if they sleep and if they do, I'm not sure if staying still with their fins closed it how they do it. Later that day (yesturday) I got home and Noah was completely covered in white spots like salt. I hoped on-line and found this site. It looks just like the picture I saw here, little white spots all over his body and fins. I ran out to the pet store and they gave be this solution that treats ick, body fungus, and velvet something or other (i can't remember). I put the recommended drops in the water I took out the carbon filter. It says to do this every day till it goes away. I also noticed on his tail something that looks like a red blotch.

I would appricate any suggestions on what I can do, and any behaviors I should look out for. I want to give Noah the best care possible.

Welcome to KoKo's! Sorry to hear that your fish is sick.
First of all, you need a bigger tank for your fish than 3g! A minimum of 10g is needed for a GF, just ONE gf! That is the minimum they can live in.
Second of all, your fish may have gotten ich from the drastic change in temps that you have been providing. GF are cold water fish. If you are going to use a heater, make sure the temp stays at one temp and do not fluctuate. GF don't necessarily need a heater at all unless it gets VERY cold where you are.
Your fish is under stress from being in too small a tank, probably poor water conditions from an uncycled tank, changes in temps, etc.
You need to get him in a bigger space, no less than 10g. Then, you need to get a filter that turns over at least 100gph. You need to salt the container (tank or rubbermaid) to eventually get it to .03%. You need to raise the heat GRADUALLY until it get to be about 80-82 degress. This will help the ich to fall off your fish. You also have to VACUME the container everyday to suck up all the ich and their eggs.
Do you know how to salt a tank?
Do you test your water?
Use water conditioners?
Also, please answer ALL the questions from the box at the top of the page...then we can go from there and try to help you save your fish.

Don't worry, if you follow the instructions from people here, your fish can easily be saved from ich. If you don't, your fish could eventually die from ich. Post back soon!

Ok well first of all not to jump you or anything but a 3 gallon tank is entirely too small. Fancy GF need at the very MINIMUM 10gallons per fish. In order to help you we need you to answer all the questions from the box above. It's all vital. all of these problems have most likely started because of poor water conditions. Try to answer those questions and we'll go from there. Also I'd recomend reading the following 10 steps 2 a healthy GF & GF filtration Those links will fill in alot of gaps for you.

I will go to an aquarium store on the way home from work to by a test kit so I can post the all the levels of the water as soon as I get home. I am sorry that Noah is in a 3 gallon tank, I honestly didn't know. The person I got him from said he would be fine in there. As far as for a filter. The eclipse 3 has a carbon filter and a bio-wheel. Is the eclipse not a good tank for a goldfish? Also I don't have a heater in the tank. I posted the tempature readings from the thermometer sticker because I read it in the morning, and then when I get home from work and I noticed the pattern. The tank is not in direct sunlight, and it's not in the direct path of the a/c vent. I beleive that the house is just colder at night.

I will post the results from the test stips as soon as I get home.

Thank you for your quick responses.

Yeah petstore people lie to us all the time. No worries you came to the right place. Most of us use salt to treat ick because it's less stressful on the fish and you don't have to remove any thing from the filters. We'll help you get straightened out! Welcome to Koko's!

I just figured out Noah is a comet goldfish. I was looking for picture to determine what he is in case that effects what his living enviornment should be. This picture actually looks alot like him, except I think Noah is prettier (without the ick of course) and his gills are a nice orange instead of white.






Is there a way to keep the tank at the 74-78 degrees that it is a night? During the day it goes up to 78-82 degrees. I know it's better to keep the tempeture regulated. If so i'd like to pick that up along with the water test kit.

Ok if your fish is a common type ( has only one tail) It's gonna need a tank at least 20gs. I know he's little now but these fish can get as big as 18in. If you keep them in too small of an enviroment you can stunt their growths and there-by damage their organs.

What you need all together is this in order to perminately resolve your fish problems:
A bigger tank (20gs or bigger) with 10x filtration per gallon
To treat your ick you need to raise the temp to 80F (keep it there for now) and salt the tank to .3% You're gonna have to keep it this way for about a week.
Change 100% of the water when you get home. You can break this up into intervals for saftey's sake. (50% wait a few hrs and then do another 50%)
You'll need to do 100% water changes every day until you can get him in a bigger home that is cycled. You'll have to re-salt to .3% after the water changes so you might want to write it all down to keep track of it all.

I think your tank would be perfect for a Betta, as they don't need as much room as GF do. I have heard that the Eclipse tanks are great ones, you just need at least a 20g or bigger for your comet. By the way, I think Comets are gorgeous fish and I would love to see a pic of yours!
As RYUU stated, you will need to keep your tank at a constant 80 degrees until your ich problem is gone. You can use a heater for this.
My house gets colder at night, too, so I am going to have to invest in a good heater for this and try to find some way to regulate the temps as my house heats up during the day just like yours. I guess I can just turn the heater on at night and then turn it off during the day.
As far as not knowing what size tank a GF needs, I believe half the forum was in that same boat at one time or another! LOL! I sure was! I have only just recently gotten my 29g tank. Take care and let us know how things go!

Hi Inocel and welcome!

I have a 10 gallon Eclipse that I keep my tropical fish in and they are great tanks! I love the Biowheel especially. Unfortunately, like you, when I first came here I had my fantail and comet both in that tank, and the fantail was very ill. Thanks to the help and advice I got from everyone here, they are now in a 30 gallon and doing fine.

Your comet is very pretty. Florence (my comet) looked like that when she was small, but now that she has grown and aged she is solid silver...just a beautiful fish. Thats her and Moby, my fantail, in my avatar, dancing. They LOVE to dance, lol!
When you get your new tank, be sure to come on here and ask for help as everyone will quickly answer your questions and help you keep your tank on the right track. It takes time and patience.
I am thrilled today because for the first time since I've cycled, and its been over 2 months, I finally have readings of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites!!!!!! It doesn't take much to thrill me, as you can tell, lol!
Good luck! Ich is very treatable if you catch it quickly and follow the advice they'll give you here.

And also, fish always act like they're hungry! Mine are little pigs...flying up to the tank walls every time they see me walk by, hoping for food! You truly can't go by how they act or you'd be feeding them once an hour!

After going to 3 pet shops I couldn't find any stips to test the water. However, at the third shop they did have a pH monitor and an ammonia monitor by Mardel that suctions to the inside wall of the tank (it says it lasts 4-6 weeks). They didn't have a nitrate test kit either. I will try another store tomorrow. I put them in the water about 20 mins ago and the directions say I will get an accurate reading in about 1-2 hours. The pH readings go from 5.2 to 8.6, and the ammonia readings range from 0.00 to 0.40

I bought a pH regulator by Wardley that claims to adust the level to 7.0 automatically. I wanted to get a reeding on what the level is in the tank before I add it. I hope thats a good idea. I already had Amquel+, Stress Coat (a water conditioner which reduces electolye loss and propotes tissue regeneration), Aquari-Sol (to treat the ick), and Aquarium salt. At this point I had treated the water with the Amquel+ when I did a water change this past Sunday. I have not added any of the Stress Coat as I was afraid of putting too many things in the water. When Noah started to get the white spots I followed the instructions on the Aquari-Sol, I removed the filter and put 6 drops in the water. That was two days ago. This morning I put in another 6 drops since it said to continue treatment daily until cured.

Noah is eating, but aside from that is mainly staying close to the bottom with his fins close to his body. He seems to be covered in the same amount of white spots. Whats weird is the red blotch/streak on his tail. The red is just on his tail, not his body. Any ideas on that? I will post the results on the pH and ammonia as soon as enough time has passed to get an accurate reading. Hopefully then I'll know what I have to do to the water to help him get better.

You may have to order a reliable test kit online. I got my API Master test kit from biglasonline.com for about 12.00 and it has all the tests in it.

As for the PH stuff you got, yes, it is a good idea to see what you ph is before you add it in, but it is also a good idea to take some water out of your tank and treat it with the PH stuff BEFORE you add it all in your tank. That way, you can see if it will do anything to the PH at all without adding more chemicals to your tank.
As for the red spot, it may be blood streaks in the fin. This is usually caused by stress.
I believe the best way to treat ich is with salt and heat. Aquarium salt is fine, also epsom salt. That way, you aren't adding any (possible) harmful chemicals to your tank.

Why are you treating your PH anyway? Do you think it is too low/high? I wouldn't add anything until you get an accurate reading for your PH. Let us know what your readings are.

adding chemicals to adjust ph is a bad idea, I used to do it but that only because I had a mooncrab who's life depended on having the right ph (Im stil mad at myself for putting ph buffering sand in there had to add that stuff twice a day ) goldfish can tolarate a wider range. Get him a bigger tank ASAP, that might make him feel a bit better. You can try adding salt, it usually works better than meds and be sure to do lots of waterchanges! Goodluck!

Alright, the results from the only 2 tests I was able to do today (Nickie73 I will order the API Master Kit, thanks for the info) are:

pH= 7.1 so I don't think I need to add the pH regulator
Ammonia = .02 which the label says it's a little high but still okay

Okay, so here is my question, now that I think it's not the water chemical levels thats the main problem... what do I do?
Change 50% of the water... as in actually just take out half the water leaving noah in the tank with 50% water? Then in a container add the AmQuel+ to the new water and let it sit for how long before pouring the new water into the tank with Noah? Also what do I do about the aquarium salt, add it to the new water? If so follow the directions for recovery from fish diseases of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water? Also, if I do water changes this way with salt, do I then stop using the Aquari-Sol and put the carbon filter back in?

Sorry for so many questions. Just a little nervous on how to preceed. I don't want to make it worse?

Those tests aren't very accurate. A goldfish produces ALOT of ammonia. Ammonia comes from wasted food rotting in the water, waste from the fish, and the fish even excretes ammonia as it breaths. (kinda like how we breath out carbon dioxide) All of this ammo builds up VERY rapidly in a small tank and poisons the fish(in a matter of just a few hours; that's how rapidly we're talkin here). I promise that in a three gallon tank holdin a GF chemical water quality is an issue. And it's as issue you will have to resolve before you can expect any treatment for the ick to work.

Think of it like this: You're in the hospital with some skin eating bacterial infection! The docs are giving you the very best meds available BUT all the air is laden with toxic fumes. What good are the meds for the germs if you're being poisoned to death by the air you breath?

This is the situation your fish is in. Try to get him in some kind of container of at the very least 10gs and get a filter on it. Then start treating for the ick. To treat ick you will need to add 1 teaspoon of salt for every 1 gallon of water. You repeat this 3 times over 12hr intervals. That will put your salt level at .3% with out stressing out your fish too much.

Inocel,

I most definitely do not recommend the PH regulator. It claims to regulate the PH to 7 automatically, but when I used it when I was cycling, it immediately crashed my ph to 6, which is potentially deadly to your fish! I had to remove the fish and do an immediate water change.

What I have learned on this forum is that many times, less is more. I have learned that many of fish illnesses can be traced back to poor water quality. Poor water quality and too cramped living space stress your fish out, which makes them susceptable to diseases and parasites. If you can't get another aquarium right away, many of the posters here have suggested using a Rubbermaid container with a filter until you can, just for temporary housing. Often, adding this and that and this to the water when the quality is poor is a toxic mix...a situation where the "cure" will do more harm than good, when pristine water and plenty of space will do the trick. I know this is true because I did the same thing.

And if your lfs doesn't have the API testers, you can get the strips at wallyworld. Not as accurate, but they will test the nitrites, nitrates, ph, and kh all in one strip until you can get better ones.

I didn't post earlier because I was trying to help Noah. I purchased a 10 gallon tank last night, they were the only place open at that time. I set it up and checked the water levels, it all seemed okay. I transfered Noah to the tank and was trying to follow the advice of trying to gradually bring the tank up .3% salt over twelve hour intervals. Saddly, Noah left us about an hour ago. I'm going to throw out the 3 gallon eclipse. If the people that worked at the fish store knew anything at all I would never have put him in there and tried treating him with a preventative solution rather then a real treatment. I thank everyone for all their advice. I'm not ready to try bringing home another goldie right now, this just tought me how much I didn't know. When I do decide to expand our family again I'll do it properly.

I'm sorry you lost your fish. In the meantime, read everything you can get your hands on here - we really are a friendly bunch! Helpful too.

I'm so sorry you lost noah. I was really hoping he'd pull through. Don't beat yourself up too badly. You learned from this experience and will be better for it. The next fish you adopt into your family will reap rewards from this loss. I hope you stick around here because we really would love to have you!

Oh Inocel,
I am sorry about Noah, bless your heart! You did what you could to save him. We have all learned the hard way and I lost one of my fish when I was starting out too, because I didn't have adequate space. Please stick around and learn from this forum. It, and the people here, have been life savers for me and I have made many great friends! We would love to have you here!