The 10 gal tank set up a week, 11 goldfish, hang over filter

Question
Hi, thank you for answering my question.
I recently put plants in the tank. Then i saw white spots on the tails of
golfish. What can I do?
How can you tell if the goldfish is a male or a female?
Thanks
Penny

Answer
Hi Penny;

The plants are a good thing. They will help add beneficial bacteria to the tank as well as consume some of the toxins.

If the spots are like tiny little salt specks it is ich. This is a parasite that is present in almost every tank all the time and hits fish when they are stressed. Your fish are very stressed so they were an easy target for it. You need to get the water temperature up to 82 degrees for two weeks and add aquarium salt at the rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon. Ich hates salt and heat. You will still have to make those daily water changes for as long as you have all the fish so add more salt for the water you replace. In other words, if you change 2 gallons of water, add 2 teaspoons of salt back to the tank. This keeps the salt concentration the same all the time.

Goldfish often can't be sexed until they are old enough to breed. They are usually about 3 inches long at that time. Here are web pages about it with photos and diagrams;

http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/kmam1/MyPond/Sex.html
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Cauratus.html#7

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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