my goldfishes seem to have a white coating on them and start to loose and then sink to the bottom and die do you know what this might be???
2007-03-30 13:47:49 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Sounds like ich. I'm away from home or I'd copy and paste my own method of dealing with ich.
Basically, do a 20-25% water change with a gravel vac. Then you need a heater, which is not normal in a goldfish tank. You need to raise the temperature to 85° slowly, about 1° per hour or less. Then you need to add aquarium salt (not table salt) at the rate of 1 rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons for the total tank volume. Wait 24 hours. Do another 20-25% water change. Add salt at the rate of 1 rounded teaspoon per 1.5 gallons for what has been changed. Now wait 48 hours to do a 3rd water change again adding salt. You may see improvement. Ich takes a good 5-7 days to cure. If you don't see improvement after the 3rd water change, you may need to use a medication such as Aquarasol http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/aquarisol.htm or another copper sulfate based medication. If it is really serious, a Malachite Green based treatment such as Quick Cure http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/quickcure.htm or Formaldehyde based medication such as Formalin http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/formalin.htm
Keep in mind, the best cure is prevention. Better water quality will reduce the likelihood of ich and other problems. Goldfish need weekly 20-25% water changes with a gravel vac. I keep the salt level in my tanks that don't have catfish or other salt intolerant fish at 1 rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons all the time. It is rare I see ich. I presently operate about 30 tanks in a semi-professional breeding and "grow out" business and I have not seen ich in over a year.
2007-03-30 15:44:45 · answer #1 · answered by something_fishy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Does the white coating look fuzzy or slimy? In any case, it's probably not ich - the symptom for this is white dots about the size of salt grains. This is more likely to be a fungal or bacterial infection, or excess slime produce by your fish to get rid of a parasite.
I'm attaching a link for you to diagnose the problem - there's treatment info as well.
2007-03-30 14:02:05 · answer #2 · answered by copperhead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't sound like ick to me. Ick are little white spots like grains of salt.
I've used this site before to look up goldfish illnesses
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/disease.html
2007-03-31 19:47:57 · answer #3 · answered by antsiekat 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your fish has tiny white spots all over, he probably has ich. All you have to do is go to the pet store and buy some medication--ich is very treatable if you catch it early. Good luck
2007-03-30 13:51:29 · answer #4 · answered by Paso Fino horse lover 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
white coating? like grains of salt or like a fungus? not enough info try this site it may help diagnose the problem http://www.futurepets.com/trivia/aquariums-diseases.htm good luck
2007-03-30 14:02:28 · answer #5 · answered by sboyer1961 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your fish have ick. You better go to Walmart tonight, and get some ick meds.
2007-03-30 13:56:05 · answer #6 · answered by vgleason_102301 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This might have been that your fish was sick, and the white stuff was probaly foam.
2007-03-30 14:24:46 · answer #7 · answered by Taquiya K 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
how often do u clean the tank???
2007-03-30 13:52:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋