Fish laying low

Question
Hi Ron,

Thanks so much for your feedback! I just called my mom to check up on the fishes and she said that all the baby fishes, but one have died.  :(  She said that the three big ones are back to being active and so is the remaining baby one.

You were right, I did notice the white spots both on all of the fishes and the tank.  I definitely learned my lesson.  Is there any medication to treat the ick disease?  Thanks.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi Ron,
I cleaned my 15 gal. tank with a little soap and throughly rinsed it with water, (I have done this in the past). After filling the tank with water, I placed all my goldfishes in the tank (three big ones - about 5in. long and 8 baby goldfishes). About 5min. later they were all laying low on the bottom of the tank, as if they were dead but still breathing! Also, many of them had poo attached to them.
I think the water was too cold, because I had noticed that the water was a bit warm before I cleaned the tank. So I decided to take some cold water out and add a little warm water.  They started to swim again and I gave them some food.  30min. later they were laying low without moving again.  Are they hibernating?
-----Answer-----
Hi Digna,
  Actually you are lucky that they are still alive.  Please NEVER use soap on anything to do with fish.  The reason for using soap on stuff is because it breaks down certain chemical bonds, allowing stuff to come off of surfaces, i.e., to make them "clean".  Well, it does the same thing to fish -- it cleans the slime off them.  The problem is that the slime is essential for a fish and without it, they will die.  It would be like dipping a person in acid.

  When you replace water in a tank it should always be roughly the same temperature as the water that was in there. Otherwise, you give your fish a big shock.  If they survive the initial shock, they often develop a disease called ick several days later.  Keep an eye on them for little white spots that look like a dusting of icing sugar.

P.S. Fish don't hibernate.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


Answer
Hi Digna,
 There are a variety of medicines that treat ich. I use one called Rid-Ich but there are lots of others, e.g. Quik-Cure, etc. Basically, they all use a derivative of copper to treat the ick parasite.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>