Re: Ick on goldfish

Question
I recently bought 4 goldfish. They were doing fine, however today I noticed that 2 of them have whitish spots all over their bodies and fins. I suspect it is ich. I have added terramycin capsule to the bowl. I wanted to know is there any effective way to kill the ick parasite and prevent it from coming back for good? Please help!

Answer
Lianne,

The best way to treat Ich is heat and salt. If they are in a bowl, then the heat won't work. Just keep treating with the medication for however long it says to treat. To prevent it you should quarantine all new fish for 14 days before adding them to the main tank. The 4 goldfish should not be in any kind of bowl. To help prevent disease, they should be in nothing less than a 50 gallon tank. In the bowl, you will stunt their growth. Goldfish, if in the right home, can get very large. Also in the bowl you will have to do water changes every day to help keep the waste down. Goldfish do not have stomachs, so the food comes right back out as ammonia. I suspect the water now is of bad quality. I would do a large water change after you test the water. DO NOT use the test strip because they are not reliable. Always use a liquid test kit when testing the water. Your ammonia and nitrites should be at zero at all times and the nitrate no higher than 20ppm. Here is what I what I would do if they were my fish.

1. Get the fish in the proper tank size.
2. Since they are in a bowl, water changes need to be done daily.
3. always use a good water conditioner.
4. quarantine all new fish for 2 weeks before adding them to the main tank.
5. continue medication for as long as the packaging says too

I think once all the above is done you should have no problems. Just remember to keep the water as clean as you can. Clean water=healthy fish, dirty water=sick or dying fish,