Parrot fish sickness / upside down

Question
Hello,
I have had a 60 gallon tank setup for three years with teo Severums, 4 parrot fish, 3 Silver dollars and a chinese algae eater. Just recently, the chinese algae eater and two parrot fish have died. I treated the water for ick, raising the water temperature slowly (over a week) from 80 to about 84 degrees. I treated the water for ick and removed the carbon filters. Today, I did a 25% water change and replace the filters. I remedicated as per bottle directions (daily until white spots are gone). The white spots are clearing up, but one of the parrot fish looks pretty rough. Swims sideways and lays upside down on the bottom of the tank. It looks like the head and gills are turning black. Is there anything else that I can do for these fish? I am not sure what happened as I have had no problems for the past three years and now suddenly they are sick and dying.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kindest,
Melisa

Answer
Hi Melissa,
I'm sorry to hear about your fishes illness. Ick is very hard on fish and even the medication you have to use is stressful on their systems, and also kills the good bacteria that keep ammonia at bay. So our fish can be dealing with not only sickness, but the stress of the chemicals on their body and the addition of poor water quality.

Black patches and marks on parrot fish is definitely a sign of stress. His behavior points to the obvious, he is suffering from poor water conditions as well as the illness.

Black areas can also be ammonia burns. You -must- do a large water change to have an impact on the ammonia. 50% is best. Smaller water changes rarely have much of an impact on high ammonia levels.

Water changes are the best recommendation I have for you. Continue the medication dosage after each water change. I would do big water changes everyday on this tank.

I hope its not too late, good luck!
Susan~