Ick in aquariums

Question
Help! We have a 20 gallon tank with several gold fish, a couple algae eaters & a sucker fish. One of our golds developed a black spot on his back tail (which spread onto his body) & we were told it was "ick". Got Ick treatment tabs from Walmart & have used them. Now another gold has black spots on it & I had to flush the first one. Will all our fish catch this? Do we need to completely empty the tank & start all over? How do we treat this? We are complete beginners to aquariums & have no clues on this stuff. Thanks!  

Answer
Hello,

Unfortunately, you were given inaccurate information. If your fish had ick, the spots would have been white instead of black. This is likely some other sort of parasite. Ick medicine will not work on this, so I recommend a general parasite medicine such as Coppersafe. Coppersafe should help get rid of it as well as protect your tank from parasites for a month.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Stephanie