Fish with Ich biting each other???

[globus999]

OK, I think I am in deep doo-doo.
I just bought a bunch of regular gold fish and three cat fish. I am keeping them in a 60 lt tank w/water at room temperature. I had this mix before without any problems (yes, I know the cat fish are hot-water but they were doing just fine for years at room temp). Suddenly I had a bad outbreak of Ich (at least I think it is Ick - all the symptoms coinicide). So far, I had had 3 deaths in the family and a fourth one is going down the drain. I am using a malachite-green based product (Ick Guard) that also have some other stuff. In addition, I am mixing it with another product that also has malachite green and povidone (to help w/skin protection). I am being careful not to exceed the dosage in total. I have made frequent water changes but they are dropping like flies. So far, I have seen no improvement at all. It's been a week, so far. Bizarre thing is, I had to isolate all the fishes in little individual jars because they were biting at each other, mostly the fins but also the bodies. Is this normal with Ick??? Is there anything else I can do?
I am hesitant in using a Copper based product since I have plants and one snail (both doing OK, so far).
Any ideas???

 

[EverGreenLeaf]

I have never seen fish with ich biting each other... at least not with my fish. Usually they're weaker and lazy to swim around... um.. for your fish, did you try to increase temperature? Gold fish might feel uncomfortable, but it might help in curing ich.

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site

It's really not a good idea to mix medications. The mixture is likely what's causing your fish to die. You should do some large water changes, then choose one medication. Don't increase temperatues while using medication, unless the instructions say so -- medications and temperature both reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, which will stress or kill your fish.

You really have too many fish in too small a tank. Goldfish need about 40 liters per fish to really thrive. Goldfish can live 10 to 15 years, and get big. If their lives are a lot shorter, then they're not being kept in the best conditions.

 

[Panther28]

I totally agree with Lotus. You should never mix 2 medications. Water changes would help a lot.

 

[globus999]

Replies

Thank you kindly for your replies. Answers:
1 - Rise in temp, nope. Not recommended by medications.
2 - Tank size, If I remember correctly it is about 1 gallon per inch of fish. I have a 12 gallon tank and 9 fishes soooo.... I should be OK. Did it before with no problems.
3 - Mix medications. Nope. I don't think so. Bot medications have the same major active ingredient: Malachite Green plus the other one has Povidone wich is simply a skin protector. No way this is the cause of their deaths.
4 - Water changes: all the time. Min 25% per day up to 50% per day. No difference.


Salt anybody?

Take care,
Tim

 

[Fishckabibble]

i dont think you understood the 1 inch per gallon rule correctly. it is 1 inch of the adult size per gallon meaning if your fish is going to be 6 inches when full grown you need at least 6 gallons for that fish, in the case of goldfish most if not all grow to about 1 foot each and it is recommended to keep a single one in no less than a 30 gallon tank and 20 additional gallons per goldfish. I beleive the reason behind this is because they produce huge amounts of waste in a short time and can also be stunted if kept in a smaller environment than they need. IMO goldfish should be kept in ponds or very large aquariums (and yes i know my sig says i have a goldie in a 10 gallon it is only a temp thing, i am looking for a new home for him) hope this helped

one more thing, if you are giving 2 meds both with the same active ingredient then that means you are overdoseing your fish which could kill them, that is why people were telling you one med at a time. and yes the salt/temp raise method does work on goldfish but it seems to take longer than tropical fish to clear up.

 

[SarahCanada]

Wow, you really should try getting a bigger tank or giving some of your fish back to the store. Like Fishckabibble said, it's 1 inch of fish per gallon. I have a 30 gallon and only have 15 small-sized fish in it. It's best not to overstock your tank since that leads to A LOT of problems. Good luck with the sickness in your tank. I'm not sure if what you have is ich or not... fish tank diseases can be such a pain (I'm currently battling one). Good luck!!