Need help with treating Ich in goldfish tank...?

Question

I have a 55 gallon tank and all my fish have ich. I've tried treating it with the malachite green stuff for 2 days with no prevail. And today I tried raising the temperature and increasing the salt to 1 TB per gallon of water as a friend told me to do. But he said to increase the temp to 86 F degrees or higher, and my tank seems to only get it to 82 with the heater on. It took me 4 hours of boiling water to get it to that temp! So now I have ich growing at rapid increases in my tank. He said higher temps helps medicines work better. is it safe to try another malachite treatment with the salt in there over night to see if it helps? I don't know if I'll ever be able to get myt ank that hot. I can't just babysit it non stop for 2 weeks. But I've already lost 2 fish and don't want to lose anymore.
Heather~

Answer 1

I would use either the salt or the medication, but not both at the same time. The reason for elevating the temperature is to speed up the lifecycle of the parasite that causes ich. Rather than adding hot water and having it cool down, just let your thermometer take the temperature up to whatever temperature it can that's consistant. Having the temperature fluctuate will only stress your fish (and you, running backand forth with hot water) more.

Two days isn't long enough to see results. Even with medication, the spots will be seen for several days. A full treatment will need 10-14 days, sometimes longer (even if the medication tells you to only use for 3 days). DON'T stop treating when you no longer see the spots. When the parasite is on the fish, it is enclosed in a cyst that the medication isn't able to penetrate. The parasite needs to be in the water. If you stop treatment too early, all of the parasites won't be killed and your fish will be reinfected.

If you only have salt in the water right now, stay with that as your treatment. You can try to wrap a blanket around the tank to keep the heat from dissipating as quickly. Turn any filter up so the flow is at the maximum level. If you have an airpump and air stone, it wouldn't hurt to use this to increase water movement - with the higher temperature, there will be less dissolved oxygen in the tank for the fish, but the higher temperature will require them to use more oxygen. Wait at least three days after you no longer see the spots on the fish to stop treating them. If you do decide to use the medication, remember to remove any carbon/charcoal from your filters or it will remove the medication form the tank.

See the links below for more information on ich:

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Ich.html
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

Answer 2

First do a 50% water change then pick up a product by the name of Rid Ich both petsmart and petco carry it. Follow directions on the bottle. This is the most effective way to get rid of ick.
Dont forget to get on a weekly 25-30% water change schedule to prevent future breakouts.

Answer 3

salt wil help purely extremely. if the ick is sever it possibly wont help in any respect. considering your fish have ick, you will desire to be changing the water as oftentimes as a possibility. like well-known. purely upload like a million/2-a million handfull for each 10-15 liters of recent water. you are able to end the salt once you think of the ick is long previous. besides the indisputable fact that it wont no longer basic goldfish is you dont end including the salt. this is going to possibly benifit your goldfish. purely upload somewhat much less. in line with risk 0.5 the dose i continually chuck in a handful of salt each month or so in my 400L tank the main costly way bypass do away with ick is drugs. my fish had ick and that i gave them protozin via waterlife and it replaced into long previous in 2 days. the bottle purely value me like $15

Answer 4

I have the same thing going on and from what I was told by someone at a local pet store one really good thing is to clean out your tank really good and replace the rocks with new ones.