Ich on my fish?

Question

We've had 2 goldfish for about 3 years now... and they were getting rather large for their tank. We purchased a new tank along with 2 new goldfish. We treated the water correctly and placed all the fish in the tank. The next morning we found the white spots (ich) on our older golddish. Ive been using "Ich Guard" and changing 25% of the water each treatment, just as the bottle says. But the spots are only getting worse! I read a little bit and it said to raise the temp a bit as well. Am i doing everything right? What else should i do? I dont want my fish to die, im so proud of my 3 year old feeder goldfish! Please Help!

This is day 3 of treatment!

The new thank is 10 gallons

Answer 1

Ich is caused by stress, poor water quality, and sudden changes in temperature. Getting new fish, or switching fish to new tanks are common causes and you did both of those things. Sometimes despite everything you do your fish will get ich because some fish are just easily stressed.

You didn't say how many gallons your tank was, it may not be big enough to house all the fish. Comets need a very large tank, if not a pond to do really well. As far as treatment you are doing the right thing. If you emailed me more details about the tank I can probably help more. Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

It's not unusual for things to look worse before they get better when treating ich. I would suggest you increase the temperature to 85F and change 50% of the water daily. Be sure to add a 1/2 dose back to the tank to keep the medication levels stable.

Use a gravel siphon to vacuum the gravel as you change the water. One part of the ich life cycle is in the gravel, so every time you clean the gravel you remove some more ich.

If your fish don't improve in another 2 days you may need to change medications. My personal recommendation is Quick Cure or Maracide for ich treatment.

You will also need to continue your treatment for 5 days past the day you last see any white spot on any fish in the tank. It really does take that long to be sure you have killed the ich in the tank.

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 3

The tank is way over crowded. To cure Ich, I always start with a 25% water change, then raise the temperature to at least 85° (slowly) and add one rounded tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons.
This can be repeated 24-48 hours later. You DON'T want to do a water change every day, as that will interrupt the biological cycle.
Gold fish can tolerate the salt and the temperature. Ich takes a good week to cure. Temperature and salt with water changes might cure ich. I believe Ich guard is Formalin. I use that as a first choice for treating scaleless fish such as catfish or loaches, as they don't respond well to salt or other chemical treatments.
I prefer to start with a copper based treatment such as Aquarisol. Then I go for the "heavy duty stuff" Malachite Green. I like Kordon Rid Ich+ which is Malachite Green and Formalin. The three brands I stick with are Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Kordon and Aquarium Products. I don't care much for Jungle Labs.
I maintain aquaria for a living and recommend this from extensive professional experience.

Answer 4

I had that problem before if the new fish that you put into the tank were sick the tank became contaminated. Keep doing the treatments & when you do u need to agitate the gravel because the bacteria lives there as well. you should see some improvment within a week or so. Hope this helps good luck.