goldfish very sick and clean the tank

Question
QUESTION: My 10 gallon tank was set up last year in August. 2 common goldfish (about 2.5 inch long each) lived there since. The filter comes with the tank and hangs outside of the tank. the carbon filter in there gets changed every 2-4 wk, and the bio filter stays there all the time. About 3 weeks ago one fish died. There was a few tiny red spots on the body. I think it died because I never cleaned the filter's intake tube. When I finally get to clean it it was very dirty and some of the dirty stuff gets in to the water. After the fish got sick I changed half of the water every 2 days. Ammonia was 0.5. (This may not be accurate, because 4 days ago, I tested water treated with Tetra Water Safe conditioner before adding to the tank. The ammonia was already 0.5. I am very confused. So I bought another water conditioner: Aqua plus by Nutrafin and this tested better).

My 9 year old daughter was very sad. So immediately after the fish died we got a new fantail goldfish from Walmart about the same size. 4 days ago we notice both fish got white spots on the fins/body. The common goldfish also has red spots on the fins and body. The pH is 7.0. Ammonia .5.
Nitrite 0.3-0.8. I got Ich Clear. The first day 1 pill. The second day the fish was not as active as before. So I start to give only half of the pill and change 25% of the water before each dose as directed. I also got Anti-bacteria medicated fish food. Then the fantail's tail fin starts to rot and it is dead this morning.

The common goldfish is just staying in the one spot about all the time near surface and still has lots of white spots, lots of red spots and its tail fin starts to rot too. What should I do?

In case it dies too. Can I reuse tank? I read on the Internet if there is fungus in the tank, the tank should be throw away. There is no way to prove there is no fungus. What if I keep the tank dry for a while? Will that kill all the fungus? I this works how long to keep the tank dry?

Thank you!

ANSWER: Hi Ying;

You don't have to get rid of your tank and you don't have to do anything drastic if the last fish doesn't survive. Here's what to do;

Keep treating with the ich medication and keep making the water changes as directed by the medication label. Your fish store gave you very good advice on medication but you should add one more thing to the mix; add 5 teaspoons of aquarium salt. Not table salt, it has additives, add non-iodized pure plain salt. Mix it in a cup of aquarium water and slowly pour the salted water into the tank. Ich hates salt so it will be weakened so the medicine can kill it easier. Salt also helps replace electrolytes the sick fish needs more of right now, as well as helping to treat the bacterial infection (redness and fin deterioration...more about that later). While the fish is sick, add more salt only if you need to make a water change, and only add enough salt to treat the new water. The dosage I recommended is 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. This means if you replace 2 gallons of water you will need to add back one teaspoon of salt. The salt never evaporates and doesn't get old like medication does. Once the crisis is over and hopefully your fish makes it, just don't add any more salt with your maintenance water changes and it will eventually go away slowly.

If your filter has any kind of carbon or little rocks that look like white or off-white carbon, remove them from the filter during the treatment. They absorb the medicine and will keep it from working.

The parasites will take a few days to go away and it is normal to see more white spots appear for a couple more days after you begin treating. It's due to the crazy life cycle of ich. When the microscopic parasites start to burrow in the skin of the fish you can't see them. It takes a couple of days to show as a white spot. They are protected inside the white spot and the medicine has no effect on them. The little nasties will eventually burst in a few days from the spot to the next stage in the life cycle where they will be killed by the meds in the water.

If he is still eating, feed the medicated food. If not, get an antibiotic to put in the water. The red spots indicate bacterial infection and so do the deteriorating fins.

Hopefully he will make it, but if he doesn't, just make a major water change, even 100% is okay, and replace all the filter media before getting a new fish. Ich parasites need a host so just leave the tank full and the filter running for two weeks before you try to get another fish. Clean the filter tubes and box so it all starts fresh. If you really want to just clean it all up, empty the tank and rinse the gravel on the bottom too. It may have a lot of crud in it if it has been awhile since you vacuumed it.

It's important to know that your ten gallon tank is not large enough for more than one goldfish. The main clue to the evidence of this is a constant trace of ammonia in the tank water. All tanks that are fully established (not in a break-in period) should have an ammonia and nitrite reading of "zero". If the toxin levels are always there, it's probably overcrowded and/or your fish are overfed.

All tanks also need a 25% water change once a week every week. Goldfish need the gravel vacuumed once a week as well. They are just very messy fish that get very large so they need lots of room and lots of cleaning. Especially when overcrowded as your tank was for awhile.

Goldfish also tend to overeat and since we love our fish with food... ;-) we tend to overfeed them. Your fish needs to eat once a day. Only feed him enough to totally eat all the food from all areas of the tank within about 3 minutes. If there is any leftover food anywhere after that 3 minutes, you are overfeeding. Even if the fish eventually eats it all, it's getting too much food and isn't healthy for digestion. Feed less next time and keep doing that until you can find an amount that works. Once you know that amount, it will be easier to keep from overfeeding. Here is a web page about goldfish to help you know more about their care and keeping;

http://www.firsttankguide.net/goldfish.php

I hope he makes it okay...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your help. I will add salt to the water when I change water tonight. I have some pure sea salt without any iodide added.

I have some more questions for you. I told you in the last e-mail that after I added the conditioner called Nitrafin Aqua Plus to the tap water, the water tested ok with ammonia. But after letting the water sit in the plastic tub for a day, now it tested .5 with ammonia and that is in the stress range. How does that happen? The water is not in the fish tank yet. The test kit I am using is Jungle Quick Dip Ammonia Test Kit with test strips. Then I tested the tank water and it was little bit darker,so it is little more than .5. I really want to be able to monitor the ammonia level. The conditioner I was using before is TetraAqua AquaSafe and I have the same problem. Can you help me on this.

One more question. I purchased a rock recently. I was planning to put in the tank. But since the fish is sick I am not putting it in right now. The rock is dark grey with with lots tiny holes. It also has a big hole about 1.5 inch diameter in the middle. It feels little bit sharp and kind of easy to break. Is it safe to put it in the tank later? Thank you so much!

Ying

Answer
Hi Ying;

Get a different test kit. The strips are not very accurate really. Also, some water conditioners can cause a false-positive for ammonia with kits using what's called a "nessler reagent". Look at the labels (the fine print) to be sure the test kit you choose doesn't have nessler in it. I'm not sure, but I think Nutrafin Aqua Plus has an ammonia binder. The ammonia binders are what cause the false-positive on nessler kits.

The rock is safe to use in tanks generally but it may pose a problem for your goldfish if it's rough or sharp. I would choose a different one that's more smooth or even one of the nice artificial rocks they make now. There are ceramic and plastic ones that look really cool. They are much easier to clean too.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins