regarding catfish and general keeping

Question
QUESTION: Hi Karen,
  Last night my catfish started rubbing her belly on the bottom of the aquarium, i knew something was going wrong with it and didnt know what to do. This morning its like playing dead, it sinks like a dead fish, it swims for a min and then the same routein, but i can see the movement of its gills and acts like its gasping for air. I think its gonna be dead by the time i go gome from work. I have a 30 gallon tank ( New tank a week old). I have one goldfish, a male and female sword tail, two sharks, one silver - moon tail molly, one catfish and two platty's.  I had noticed a white spot on the sword tail mouth, the pet store told me it was a fungal disease and had given me a medicine and had started using it from yesterday. The bottle says to use it for 7 days and do a 25% water change and continue if required. i had removed my carbon from my filter. My sharks also seem to get some white spots on their body and fins. I have an airstone and a filter with sponge, carbon and bio material in it. The water temperature is 70F.

How do i keep up my aquarium, I feel bad when i seem helpless to make my fish happy.
Should i raise the water temp?
All the fishes have been good they dont fight among themselves.
is there anything more i could do for them. Please suggest.
Should i add aquarim salt ?

Thanks a lot,
Vamsi.

ANSWER: Hi Vamsi,
I'm pretty sure your problem here is the tank being newly setup. There aren't yet enough beneficial bacteria present to deal with the ammonia load with a tankful of fish like you have. The result is sick and stressed fish due to the ammonia levels.

I don't like being the bearer of bad news but the fact that your tank has been stocked so quickly with the tank being newly setup will lead to lots of problems.
Whats worse is because you have used medication, this has likely destroyed your beneficial bacterial colonies that were trying to establish. So you will probably have to cycle your tank from scratch again.

So anyway, now that we have the problems out there. The thing I'd do is to determine whether your fish have white spot parasites (also known as ICK) or just injury spots. Look here for a decent picture of fish with white spot plus an article with the best treatment...
http://cichlidforum.com/articles/ich.php

Once you determine if your fish have ick, you can move on from there. If they do have ick, start treatment as soon as possible with one of the recommended treatments given in the trusted article above. Once you get them past the ick (treatment typically lasts 14 days) you will then have to get rid of the medication through daily water changes and carbon in your filter. Then you have to move on to cycling your tank, which basically means to test the ammonia level everyday and make those vital 50% water changes whenever ammonia goes above safe bounds. You can also try adding a bacterial additive such as Drsfosterandsmith "Colonize" or "Biospira" these can help jumpstart your aquarium. If you have access to other established and healthy tanks, taking some of that tank's gravel and/or filter media is a great way to seed your aquarium. As a precaution, you may also use an ammonia neutralizer such as Amquel+ Water conditioner or prime. But do keep in mind that ammonia neutralizing chemicals can also produce false readings on your test kit. Just a note: raising the temperature of your water would be best, especially since your fish may have ick. Ick reproduce slower at low temperatures and tend to be harder to treat. Gradually bumping the temperature up to 82F (about 2 degrees per hour would likely be fine) is best.

Aquarium salt is OK, but not for longterm usage. It has no real great benefits unless used whenever ick parasites are present or with bacterial infections. It can be a great side-treatment but otherwise, its best to leave aquarium salt out of your tank unless it is really needed.

I really hope this helps and if you have anymore questions, feel free to write!
Karen~

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

QUESTION: Dear Karen,
Thank you very much for the advice. Today evening while i was coming from work i been to all pets club in CT and bought the ICH medicine, Super Ick cure from API. The instructions on the bottle says to add 5 ml for every 5 gals of water and continue every 48 hrs. Now at this point i havent added any salt in my water, do u want me to add it ? Another thing i dont have a heater in my aquarium, can u suggest some good quality ones. I have a glodfish in my aquarium can it sustain the gradual increase of water temp ? So tomorrow once i get my heater and how do u want me to reduce the water temp after i finished increasing the temp to 82f to the normal temp back. Please advise.

Thanks a lot!!
vamsi

ANSWER: Hi Vamsi,
The ICH medicine you currently have should work just fine. However, keep in mind that Super Ick Cure can be a danger to scaleless fish like catfish.You shouldn't need to use salt, its best to leave it out of your tank when using a medication also. Just increase your temp slowly to about 82F, the best heaters I've had before are the "Visa-therm" brand. This brand seems to have been the most accurate and reliable.

The goldfish will be fine at 82F, I've exposed goldfish to these temps and even higher before with no ill effects at all. Just make sure to keep up with plenty of aeration in the tank (make sure the filter is running at its maximum and creating plenty of surface movement adding an airstone or two wouldn't be a bad addition either.) And as I've mentioned before, water changes are SO important during any illness treatment, even if the medication directions say not to, its vital to do at least a 50% water change everyday, just redose with the medication after the water change. Not only do water changes relieve stress on the fish, but they are also help eliminate excess parasites free-swimming in the water. Always make sure the replacement water is treated with a good dechlorinator and make sure it is equal in temp to your tank (or a little warmer is fine).

To reduce your temp when you're done with treatment, just gradually lower it back down pretty much the same way you've raised it back up. Just about two degrees every hour. Or it doesn't hurt to just turn it down a couple of degrees every day or so.

I really hope this helps!
Karen~

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

QUESTION: Dear Karen,
Sorry to bother you once again, as suggested i did carry on the water changes and installed a heater and i am taking it gradually up to 82F. I havent added any salt as i am already using the medication.So right now i am gonna do a 50% water change everyday, maintain the 82F and keep adding the medication for the next 14 days. Yes i did add plenty of areation. I removed the carbon from my filter and i am running it on full. Let me know if i am all set or do i need anything more? Thanks a lot for everything.

Best Regards,
Vamsi.

Answer
Hi Vamsi, you aren't any bother at all, I am all here to help!

I think you are doing an excellent job with treating your fish, you are doing all you can really do! Best of luck and hopefully you'll get all your fish through the treatment just fine!

Feel free to write if you have anymore concerns!
Karen~