Hello to all!!!
I am a 'freshman' in fishkeeping and just found & registered on your site, but I'm going to skip for now the 'present yourself' part because I have a very urgent problem [B] with my poor goldfishes: I saw the White Spots parasite infection on one of my fishes and this morning discovered a horrid bug crawling on my White Spot-infected fish which should be lice – falt and round smallest-lentil size transparent with black spots. I put the fish in a 'hospital' bowl with higher % of salt in it as recommended somewhere to treat parasites/White Spot and caught the nasty bug: it was an awful moment!
Well, I think the diagnosis is pretty clear (to add to it, my fishes 'flash' and the one with visible White Spots is often hanging close to the surface, a little lethargic, though after the 'salt bath' for 20 mins as recommended is livelier and eats better), but what medications/treatment shall I get and where? I've been 'cruising' all goldfish websites since last Friday (when my little telescope fish died after hanging lethargic on the bottom and not eating, and then I noticed some of my babies being a little strange from before, some 'flashing' or getting isolated close to the surface) and am determined to save my poor goldies' life at their new home! Please give me some info!
I know it's a new tank, I wonder if the fishes didn't have the parasites from before I got them; I have been chaning about 40% of the water every other day, also vacuum the gravel (natural), changed the filter although it hasn't been a month since I have them, add C-100 on top of the filter, bio-wheel working, do pH tests every day and my pH is usually 7.0, treat the water before changing with Bio-Coat, Stress-Coat, add salt as per what I read is OK (I have and use non-iodized sea salt, but wonder if the Magnesium Oxide/Anti-Caking Agent in it is safe) and Fungus Cure, but I know this is probably not enough. I dread that there are many more parasites and nasty fish-killing bugs which I havne't seen in my tank yet, so please please help me: I need to act quickly!
Thanks to all of you who could help me!
Ava
Full Version: Parasites
Hi Ava, and welcome to the board! 
The white spots is a parasite called ich. This is best treated by increasing the temperature of the tank to 80F using an aquarium heater and salting it to a strength of 3 teaspoons per gallon.
NB: salt containing anti-caking agents is NOT SAFE for your fish! If any of this is still in the tank then get it out quickly by water changes!
Any salt which does not contain anti-caking agents is OK to use however; natural sea-salt, cooking salt or kosher salts don't usually have these but check the ingredients list first. Or you can buy aquarium salts from your local fish shop.
Add the salt to the main tank in increments of 1 teaspoon per gallon every 12 hours and dissolve it first in a little tank water before adding it. (NB: A salt bath does not work on ich unfortunately because the ich organism has a long-life-cycle. That's why it's better to salt the main tank instead as described above and hold it at that level for 3 weeks). Remember to compensate for any salt lost during water changes (and remove any live plants from the tank during treatment as salt will kill them). Also make sure the tank has good aeration as oxygen levels drop in warmer temperatures.
The other parasite you mentioned - which sounds a bit like argulus, the fish louse -should also be killed off by the salt and increased temperature, but you can also manually remove these creatures with tweezers. As for the fungus cure, do any of your fish actually have fungus? If not, then remove this med (by adding activated carbon to the filter for 24 hours) as it will not help.
As for your water changes, 40% every other day *might* be a bit too much, even during cycling. The best way to cycle is to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate every da and change only enough water to bring ammonia and nitrite down to between 0.5 and 1.0. This amount might be 10%, 70% or none at all. 0.5-1.0 is safe for your fish but still allows the bacteria enough 'food' to grow.
Have you checked the hardness of your water? If you have hard water, your pH level should remain constant and not need checking every day. Your local fish store should be able to test the hardness - the GH and KH - for you.
I also would not use Stress-Coat as this contains aloe-vera which can coat the fish's gills and make breathing more difficult for them, especially if they are suffering from parasites. A different water-conditioner, such as Tetra Aquasafe, Prime or Novoquel - might be better for them.
Hope this helps.
The white spots is a parasite called ich. This is best treated by increasing the temperature of the tank to 80F using an aquarium heater and salting it to a strength of 3 teaspoons per gallon.
NB: salt containing anti-caking agents is NOT SAFE for your fish! If any of this is still in the tank then get it out quickly by water changes!
Any salt which does not contain anti-caking agents is OK to use however; natural sea-salt, cooking salt or kosher salts don't usually have these but check the ingredients list first. Or you can buy aquarium salts from your local fish shop.
Add the salt to the main tank in increments of 1 teaspoon per gallon every 12 hours and dissolve it first in a little tank water before adding it. (NB: A salt bath does not work on ich unfortunately because the ich organism has a long-life-cycle. That's why it's better to salt the main tank instead as described above and hold it at that level for 3 weeks). Remember to compensate for any salt lost during water changes (and remove any live plants from the tank during treatment as salt will kill them). Also make sure the tank has good aeration as oxygen levels drop in warmer temperatures.
The other parasite you mentioned - which sounds a bit like argulus, the fish louse -should also be killed off by the salt and increased temperature, but you can also manually remove these creatures with tweezers. As for the fungus cure, do any of your fish actually have fungus? If not, then remove this med (by adding activated carbon to the filter for 24 hours) as it will not help.
As for your water changes, 40% every other day *might* be a bit too much, even during cycling. The best way to cycle is to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate every da and change only enough water to bring ammonia and nitrite down to between 0.5 and 1.0. This amount might be 10%, 70% or none at all. 0.5-1.0 is safe for your fish but still allows the bacteria enough 'food' to grow.
Have you checked the hardness of your water? If you have hard water, your pH level should remain constant and not need checking every day. Your local fish store should be able to test the hardness - the GH and KH - for you.
I also would not use Stress-Coat as this contains aloe-vera which can coat the fish's gills and make breathing more difficult for them, especially if they are suffering from parasites. A different water-conditioner, such as Tetra Aquasafe, Prime or Novoquel - might be better for them.
Hope this helps.
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