My fish's ick is getting worse!!!?

Question

i was treating my fish for fungus, which this site www.fishdoc.co.uk said looked like greyish or white cotton wisps, and that's what my fish looked like he had on his dorsal fin and tail. however, i noticed last night that he now has the little salt like specs that describe ick!! what happened? i've been treating him with ick away, or malchite green. does ick have different stages once it's atached to a fish? we got the fish from walmart and we noticed the fungus when he got home.

he's the only fish in the tank, but i have 2 snails, so i can't use salt water in the tank (whihc i guess kills the ick). and i don't have a separate little tank to put the fish in........and i thought that the fungus would go away, which it did, but now it looks like it's turned into ick. and i've already had the fish for about a week, so i can't take him back to wlamrt, and there aren't any aquatic shops near me that could take him either.
oh, and i've been treating the water, not just the fish.

and it's a goldfish so i can't raise the temperature either...... :'( i am just not having any luck this year.................

Answer 1

First off you need todetermine what kind of ich you had in order to know how to treat it correctly. Since there are a number of parasites which are classified as ich.

Treating your fish with medicines for anything stresses them out. When a fish is stressed, this opens the doors for the parasite "ich" to attack the fish.

DO NOT add salt or raise the temperatures in your tank. This adds to the stress of the fish making things worse. It also does no good for curing ich.

Here, the differences in ich:

Is it white spot disease or is it Ich? You need to know the difference between the two since they are treated differently.

Cryptocaryoniasis, White Spot Disease or Marine Ich is caused by an infestation of the ciliated protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans. Although Cryptocaryon becomes a parasitic organism at one stage in its life cycle like Oodinium and Brooklynella do, and it progesses less rapidly than these other ich diseases, in a closed aquarium system it can reach overwhelming and disasterous numbers just the same if it is not diagnosed and treated upon recognition.

Unlike Oodinium and Brooklynella that typically attack the gills first, which allows these ich diseases to advance into life-threatening levels quickly as they go unnoticed, Cryptocaryon usually appears at the onset as salt-sized white spots visible on the body and fins of a host fish, and when the organisms become parasitic, it is then that they move inwards to the gills. Because crypto is more easily recognized in its beginning stage, this makes it much easier to treat and cure before it gets out of control.

Aside from the appearance of the white spots, fish will scratch against objects in an attempt to dislodge the parasites, and rapid respiration develops as tomonts, mucus, and tissue debris clogs the gills. Fish become listless, refuse to eat, loss of color occurs in patches or blotches as the trophonts destroy the pigment cells, and secondary bacterial infections invade the lesions caused by the trophonts.

Although copper is very effective on Oodinium, and it works well to eliminate crypto organisms in their free-swimming tomite stage, it is not as effective on the Cryptocaryon trophonts that burrow deeply into the tissues of fish. A combination of freshwater and formalin treatments adminstered by means of dips, baths, and prolonged treatment over a period of time in a QT is recommended

Reinfection will occur no matter how effectively the fish have been treated if Cryptocaryon is not eradicated from the main aquarium, which can be accomplished by keeping the tank devoid of any fish for at least 4 weeks. For fish-only aquariums hyposalinity can be applied, and to speed up the life cycle of the organisms, elevate the tank temperature to 85 degrees for 10 days to 12 days. For treating reef tanks, FishVet No-Ich Marine, Ruby Reef Kick-Ich, and Chem-Marin Stop Parasites are Cryptocaryon specific remedies that are said to be "reef safe". Several days prior to returning fish to the main aquarium, clean all filtering equipment, change any filtering materials, and do a water change.

Remember to remove all filters media and turn off protein skimmers when treating for any types of Ich.

Although many over-the-counter remedies contain the general name Ich or Ick, carefully read the product information to be sure it is designed to specifically target and treat "Cryptocaryon"

Brooklynella hostilis - these protozoa reproduce asexually by means of simple binary fission through conjugation, which is why they are able to multiply so much more rapidly than Cryptocaryon (White Spot), and Oodinium (Velvet Ich), and why it can kill fish within a few days and even hours upon recognition

Most similar symptomatically to Oodinium, this too is a parasite that primarily attacks the gills first. At the onset fish may scrap up against objects, rapid respiration develops, and fish often gasp for air at the surface as the gills become clogged with mucus. Fish become lethargic, refuse to eat, and colors fade, but the most noticeable difference that sets Brooklynella apart from Oodinium is the heavy amount of slime that is produced. As the disease progresses a thick whitish mucus covers the body, usually starting at the head and spreading outward, skin lesions appear, and it is not uncommon for signs of secondary bacterial infections to arise.

Suggestions range from copper, malachite green and other remedies, with some recommended being used in conjunction with formaldehyde. However the general consensus is these types of medications are either largely ineffective or do not work at all, and that the best and most effective treatment for Brooklynella is formaldehyde alone. Typically a standard 37% formalin solution (shop & compare prices) is mixed with either fresh or saltwater in a separate treatment container, initially all fish are given a quick dip or a prolonged bath, followed by continued treatment and care in a QT. Of course the longer fish are exposed to the formalin treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this "disease". Whether to administer a dip or a bath to start with is something you will have to determine yourself, but there's a very simple way to do this.

Since these are Free swimming parasites which are in watersources, come attached to our fish etc. The only way to ensure NO ICH is to get a UV Sterilizer and addit to the tank. The UV Sterilizer kills the free swimming forms of various ich and other parasites.


Also adding garlic to your fish's food will help ward off stress and ich.
Hope this helps

Answer 2

Hi I have been into fresh and saltwater fish for 8 years what you should do for your fish is us a medication called copper safe it treats for one full month so you never have to do water changes. I use it on all of my tank's when I add fish ich is like a cold to fish you need to raise your temp to 80 ich can not live in warm water also put a power head in your tank to keep the water moveing if the ich cannot find a host it will die and remember ich only gets worse before it get's better so keep trying and don't buy any fish from walmart there not good go to pet co or a smaller pet shop that knows what they are doing

Answer 3

Ick is a parasite in your aquarium. To dispel some common myths it is not caused by poor water quality or low temperatures, or ammonia, or dirty filters or anything else like that. It does not lurk around in a tank waiting to attack fish, it does not only attack weakened fish, it is not airborne. None of that is true. It is caused by a specific parasite and must be introduced into the tank. This usually happens when you bring in new fish from an infected tank. The best treatment for ick in a tropical aquariums is:

Change a large portion of the water, about 50-60% while cleaning the gravel very well.

Clean the filter and change all the media but leave out the carbon.

Add 2 tablespoons of salt per 5 gallons of the tank.

Raise the temperature to 88-90 F. Raise it slowly, about 1 degree per hour. You may need to add an air stone or two depending on the type of fish and how heavily the tank is stocked.

Add a good ick medication as directed on the bottle. Continue using your Ick Away, it's a good medication. (CAUTION: Malachite Green is a known carcinogen. Be careful not to get it on your skin!)

Change 25% or more of the water daily being sure to clean the gravel as you do so.

Continue the treatment for at least 7 days after you see the last white spots on any of the fish. It takes a while to be sure you have killed all of the ick.

After the treatment, return the carbon to your filter and lower the temperature to normal.

This will work and will remove the ick from your tank.


EDIT: As mush as some people will tell you otherwise, heat and salt DO kill ick. Proven fact, just a few minutes on google will show you that.
MM

Answer 4

I just answered this question for someone else.

I asked my dad who is a vet here in Ohio.

He looked up ich in his books.

Ich is a parasite that is in our water all the time. It will not attack a fish unless the fish is injured or sick. There are a few kinds of ich so you need to know what kind your fish has. The book says to use medicines to cure ich. If your ich doesn't go away, you didn't treat it with the right medicines.

There was no mention of using salt for treatment only medicines.

If you are treating for ich ich is not a fungus. Your fish may have something else.

Answer 5

Are there other fish in the tank that also have the fungus? If you are only treating the fish, maybe you should treat the water in the tank. Also, if you treat the water, make sure you take the charcoal out of the filter...it will only filter the medicine out before you get a good treatment. If you have been treating the entire tank, and no help...you can also give just the fish a "dip" in certain kinds of medicine. We usually use Pimafix or Melafix, or both together.

Answer 6

Raising the temperature to the amount needed will more than not kill the fish before it kills ich. Salt as well does not kill ich.
This is a myth that some fishkeepers keep floating around and has yet to go away.

Know what type of ich you are treating. There are ich treatments such as Kick ich that will not harm your snails and treats a variety of ich parasites.

Remember to remove the carbon from the filter.

Raising the temps above 90 needed to kill ich will surely kill your goldish.

Answer 7

Is it ich or fungus? You could use a medication containing methylene blue to treat fungus and ich at the same time. You see bettas in the blue water? That's methylene blue and those fish are generally in pretty sad shop in those little cups, but the stuff works well.
http://www.novalek.com/kordon/methylene_blue/index.htm
or other brands of medication that contain methylene blue.
You have to remove the carbon in the filter or you will just end up filtering out the medication. I'd do a 20% water change before adding any more meds however.

Answer 8

I don't know about the ick but i do know that walmart doesn't take care of their fish. my sister got a Betta there and it was dead in an hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get a fish from the Internet. it will take a while BUT the fish are always healthy.

Answer 9

Fish Vet No Ich

Answer 10

You need to clean the tank ! and also continue medicating the water but the fish sounds like it may be too far gone (sorry) find out f Wal-mart will give you a new fish!

Answer 11

You will have the best sucess with what Magic Man told you. The Ick came from Wal-Mart. They shouldn't be allowed to sell fish, the employees have no idea how to keep them.