sick fishes

Question
Hi,
i have a rectangular tank  of 20"x10"x10". i have 2 gold fish  4 small mollies, 2 shubunkins.
1" gravel bed with gravel filter and a sponge filter are the things other things in my tank( no decorations)
yesterday i noticed white sponge like things on my shubunkin. now one of my goldfish has dark red spot on its forehead.
my white molly got white things on its tail.
i talked to my pet store and add "rid-all antiICh" which contains methylened blue and dimethylamino, this morning.
But m shubunkin floats on the surface and all other are near the bottom resting. I am really worried .. i bought the fishes from the same store. They looked active and happy but now nearly motionless.
what should i do now..? help please.
Thanks
Vilasini

Answer
Hi Vilasini;

I'm so sorry things are going so bad. Unfortunately, the fish store didn't tell you about "The Break-in Period", commonly called "Cycling", that takes about 6 weeks. They also neglected to mention that mollies and goldfish can't be kept in the same tank together. They have different temperature needs. Goldfish are cold water and mollies are tropical.

The dimensions you give indicate your tank holds about 10 gallons. Each goldfish needs 10 gallons all to itself because they are messy and get so big. They are only babies right now. Your shibunkins are goldfish too and have the same requirements. For all those goldfish to live together they would need a tank or pond of at least 40 gallons. Waste toxins are burning their skin and gills so the swimming at the top and "resting" on the bottom is all from lack of oxygen. Poisoning from waste toxins is causing it. Make a 50% water change every day until you can get them a bigger tank and/or return them to the fish store. The medicine is actually making the situation worse because it will irritate their skin and gills even more. I don't think the medicine is what they need anyway because they aren't sick with a disease. It's simple poisoning. Here are links to information on goldfish care, molly care and my own page about new tanks to help you know more about what's going on in there;

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

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile24.html

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins