Ick?

[hazee]

Hi,

A friend of mine got a fish tank given to her. I didn't find out until after she bought a couple of fish ( a goldfish and some kinda catfish i think ) and started having problems. The tank wasn't cycled, the filter didn't work for 2 or 3 days so no oxygen and no heater etc.

I think one of the two fish she has is a goldfish. I dunno if you call the black ones goldfish too? Anyway, it's got white stuff on it. It's really hard to tell what it is cause it seems just about everything fish can get sick with is white and stuck on their body judging from the disease book i have.

We're going with ick for now. She has the ick medicine. How long do you think we should try it before we try something else? She just bought a heater today. What temp do you think would be good if the fish has ick or just in case it's some fungus?

I've pulled the carbon filter out of the filter box and it's now running with nothing in it. I just stuck the filter media in the fish tank in the hopes that whatever bacteria have started growing will continue to grow. Is that ok? I didn't know what else to do with it but i knew the carbon had to come out for the medication to work.

Thank you for any help you can give me with this. She is so attached to her two little fish.

 

[Lotus]

If it looks like grains of salt on the fish, it's most likely ich. If the white spots are different sizes and are growing, it's a bacterial or fungal infection.

Don't raise the temperature in the tank while medicating unless it says so on the instructions. Follow the instructions carefully. If you don't see improvement after about 4 days, then you may need to swap meds.

 

[hazee]

Ok that helps alot Lotus. Thank you. They don't look like grains of salt. More like fluffy white tufts. I kinda thought it looked more like the fungal picture in my book but she bought ick medicine and doesn't have a lot of money so i was hoping it would be the ick.

I guess it is ok to raise the temperature to normal levels right? She hasn't had a heater so i think it's been around 68... maybe a little lower.

 

[Lotus]

Just remember that goldfish aren't tropical fish, and do better at lower temperatures. Of course, it's hard to tell what the other fish is, and what kind of temperature it would prefer.

 

[nobody]

They don't look like grains of salt. More like fluffy white tufts.

How big are the spots? Are they growing? My brother'-in-law had a goldfish that had a moldy looking, "fluffy white tuft" came to find out it was a parasite. That might be what your friend's fish has. If it is attatched at one end and the rest of the white thing is just hanging there, it could most likely be a parasite. Treat it anyway you can. Don't just let the fish die if it is a parasite because when then fish dies the parasite will detach and find a new fish to kill. Good luck.