chester has improved

Question
Hello Again April,
               Hurray! "Chester" has greatly improved.
I went to the pet store and bought the filter insert ammonia remover and the salt you recommended. I also brought a sample of "Chester" water and a sample of my tap water and they happily tested it for me. You were right, the tank water was extremely high in ammonia, apparently the test strips I was using to test his water were not good, they were telling me his water was 0 in ammonia, I purchased them from a store I will leave unnamed but will say it was a large pet chain store. I got his ammonia level down to 0 by using ammonia clear, which is what the store recommended.
    As for "chesters" symptom... the day I went to the pet store he had the Ick spots, by the time I got back from the store he had even more, fortunately I purchased a product called Mardel Maricid, which came recommended by the pet store fish expert, I treated him with it as well as added the salt you advised and got the ammonia level down to 0. The Ick treatment worked wonderfully, many of his spots disappeared over night and the others are definately fading

  This all occurred since the last time I wrote,(approximately 36-48 hrs ago)
    Last night "chester" started to show more normal behavior, he got up and swam when he saw me walk by, and he seemed generally to feel much better. He was showing signs of being hungry. This, morning he showed even more improvement, he was definitely hungry, it had been approximately 5 days since he ate and almost 3 days since I had offered him food, so I feed him this morning and to my excitement he voraciously ate! I can't express how happy that made me
     My questions to you are...The Maricid said to treat him 0n day 1 then day 3 then day 5...it also so said even if the Ick seems gone it was very important  to complete the treatment cycle. Chester is on day 3, still has a few spots so I did give him his treatment after he ate. Day 5 will be Saturday the 17th. I didn't see any distress signs after I treated him.
What I need to know is if the Ick is not completely gone by Sunday do I start another treatment cycle on him and if so what is the proper procedure to do so. Also, as for the salt, do I continue to add salt to his water when ever I do a water change,  or was the salt treatment just for this situation.
     I have been checking his water for all the proper readings and with test new strips  I purchased and I am getting the proper readings and all levels are good..(Nitrate 0-20, Nitrite0-.1, hardeness 75, alkalinity 120-180, pH 7.2 and ammonia is 0) I will continue to check his ammonia levels daily, as well as the others.
    I can't thank you enough for your help, I'm sure you have been the number one factor "Chester" is still alive and getting better. Any more advise is greatly appreciated.
                              So very Gratefully Yours,
                                    Linda
P.S. I took a picture with my cell phone of Chester to the pet shop and they said it was most definitely Ick, I tried to attach a picture to send to you but had no luck. This pet store was very impressive by the way, it is a privately own store and all their tanks were absolutely spotless and beautiful, they had both fresh and salt water fish. I felt very comfortable with their advise  and they agreed with all that you told me, and were impressed with your knowledge as well.

Answer
Hi Linda,

Yeaaahh!  I'm so glad Chester is doing well.  I think you'll see an overall marked improvement simply from the 20 gallon tank and bigger filter alone.

That being said I think maybe I wasn't as clear as I should have been in a past answer.  There is a difference in an ammonia chips insert and a biomax insert for your filter.  An ammo chip bag is temporary and you do throw these out (for use during a cycling tank) but I would never recommend these because they slow the cycling process down and they actually DO NOT strip the ammonia from the water (nothing will except for partial water changes).  They will fake your test kit into thinking you have no ammonia when you do.  Also, the AmmoLock chemical that you are using to strip the ammonia I would seriously think about discontinuing.  This absolutely DOES NOT remove ammonia from the water, it simply neutralizes it, and it will also give you a false reading on your test kit looking like you have less than you actually have.  What I recommended that you add is a biomax filter media and this is something that you never throw away and never rinse in tap water because that will destroy the good bacteria you need.

Ammo chips look like this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754142

What I recommended looks like this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754140

It's difficult because they both look alike but are very different.  The chemical that I recommended that you use for the water was Seachem's Prime.  That is my favorite product because it is actually a water conditioner that strips out chlorine and chloramines (most products only remove chlorine and that's not good enough for fish) AND it neutralizes any ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, something the AmmoLock chemical won't do, leaving Chester exposed to the other harmful toxins.  And Seachem's Prime is compatible with most testing kits and won't leave you with a false reading.

The absolute ONLY way to actually remove ammonia is partial water changes.  You should do 25% daily partial water changes until you have 0 ppm ammonia (without using ammo chips or using AmmoLock chemicals).  I would continue to test your water daily or every other day so that Chester doesn't get better and then sick continually.  The up and down of the ammo is definitely causing the illness.  All of your other water levels look spectacular and perfect for a goldfish.  I would consider getting a liquid drop test kit.  I never use strips because they are so very wildly inaccurate. API, one of my favorite aquaria companies, came out with a set and they are so convenient and I trust API products so I bought some.  What a waste.  I told me I had 80 ppm nitrate in one of my tanks (should always be 5-20 ppm) and when I tested it with my liquid drop kit it was only 20 ppm.  Even the instructions on the strips say for a more accurate result use liquid drop test.  I just think it's important during this time when he's been recurrently sick to be extremely accurate.

Yes, totally finish treatment.  If you can still visually see ich on Chester after treatment has been completed, start the Maracid again.  Mardel anti-biotics are my favorite (I think I told you that before) because they are highly effective.  You can use this in conjunction with the salt.  Or, for an alternative, if he looks better but you don't want to use harsh chemicals on him again you can use the salt and get a heater for the tank and set it to 82F.  The ich will definitely die out on it's own.  Fish can only tolerate temp changes of 4 degress in a 24 hours period so it would need to increase slowly.  Goldfish don't normally like temps this high but they can withstand it for a few days and this is the only way to treat ich without anti-biotics.  CAUTION:  You cannot use the high temps with the salt and meds, it will kill the fish all together.

Make absolutely sure that this is ich.  I know the pet store said that's what it was and if it's a mom and pop type of shop then I would trust it.  I hate chain stores (they have no clue what they are talking about) and the mom & pop type stores are usually the only educated aquaria folks and genuinely do care about fish so that's important.  I was at a large chain today (great deal on supplies!) and I overheard the girl working there talking about the kinds of fish she had together in a certain sized tank and I almost had a coronary.  I just shook my head and paid for my items and ran.

Another disease that can mock ich is velvet.  Ich looks like fine salt sprinkles and velvet looks like a dusting of baby powder.  The Maracid should definitely treat the ich and the velvet in the event that's what it is and why the other meds didn't work completely.

You can see pictures of the difference at:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.h...

Keep me informed if things change!  Good luck : ) April M.