SICK FISH - need help ASAP

Question
QUESTION: I have a 55 gallon freshwater tank with goldfish. We recently brought home a new addition and a couple days later our fish (4 with the new addition) obviously had Ick. We began the treatment for Ick (and completed treatment) but then one of our goldfish's fins begin to fray and he got a white film over his entire body (even over eyes) that started coming off in patches. The skin underneath looked fine! He died yesterday morning and now our other two fish are showing similar symptoms (the new fish was nipping at the fraying fins so we put him in a separate tank - he is showing no symtpoms). We started them on maracyn since it looked like a secondary infection of bacteria or fungus and are on the second day of treatment. All water quality indicators are within the normal range. We also routinely add melafix, aquarium salt, and do 20% water changes. We know the new fish obviously introduced something nasty and learned our lesson about quarantine but if you have an additional advice of what to do (and quickly!!!) I would greatly appreciate it!

ANSWER: Hi Jenna!

Well the cause for your fish to die is probably because of the water in the little baggy that came with the fish. If you dumped the water in your tank, that's your cause for the Ick. If you didn't dump the water in your tank, then the fish you recently purchased must have begun to have Ick. Since Ick didn't just pop up on fish, you probably didn't notice when you bought it. Maracyn I/II works for Ick but if THAT doesn't work you can try the Tetra IckGuard. As the name says, it curses and prevents Ick. If you believe there are other diseases in your water and fish, try the Tetra LifeGuard. It is an All-In-1 medicine that also protects your fish from secondary disease effect(s).

What you are doing is great and will definitely help, but please remember to turn off all filtration systems to prevent the loss of medication in the water during the healing process. If you are an impatient person (like me :D) you can buy the API Stress Coat which helps speed up the recovery of your fish and also heals your fish from injuries. In addition it also removes stress up to 40%.

Hope this helps and please give me a good rating! Thnx!
~Sam
PS. Don't hesitate to ask a follow-up! xD

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for the quick reply - no, we always use a net to transfer new fish and dump the bag water - but that new little bugger still shows no signs of ick. And I meant to say earlier that we removed the carbon from the filters. I read in a couple places that many people use maracyn I/II together... we only have maracyn I and Jungle Buddies Fungus Clear which I also read have been used successfully together. Would you recommend using these two since that is what we have at the moment or waiting until tomorrow and finding the tetra lifeguard (where can i buy that anyway?). They are declining quickly. We add stresscoat whenever we do a water change. Do you have any idea whether their condition sounds like a bad after-ick side effect or a secondary infection?

Answer
Well you could use the two together but remember not to over dose them in the water or it will have a negative effect. LifeGuard could be your secondary choice since you already have Maracyn. You can purchase LifeGuard at almost any local pet store but you'll definitely find it at Petsmart.

Sounds to me like a secondary effect but it should recover.