Treatment For Ich or White Spot Disease In Goldfish - Goldfish Care Information Diseases & Treatments

Thank you so much! Its my first time with goldfish and I just saw that two of my fish were covered in what looked like tiny white air bubbles… I have been to a bunch of websites, and your blog entry gave the most information about treatment of Ich. I am off to the pet store for Green Malachite!

My fish, my cats (who like to watch the fish) and I all thank you!

Hi Aradia,

Thank you! I’m glad you’ve found my goldfish blog informative and useful. Glad I could help 🙂

Yeah I’ve been using Melachite Green for years now and it works well at curing your goldfish or other types of fish of ich. Ich looks like and appears on the bdoy of fish like small grains of salt covering their bodies. I have used other forms of ick medication but I tend to use this one.

Now remember there are other types of ich medication on the market that will work just as well. So if you haven’t already bought Malachite Green at the pet store, they will be sure to guide you in the right direction in case they don’t carry that type of fish medication. I am working on other goldfish articles now and I will be doing complete reviews on all the types of medications people can use to cure their goldfish of ich. I’ll show advantages, disadvantages and how effective and low maintenance some medications can be.

I hope your goldfish gets rid of ick fast and get rid of those annoying parasites. This is a very common to happen to fish so you will probably run into this problem some time or another again. At least now you will know how to cure goldfish from ich.

Good luck with the goldfish hobby and if you ever need any help please come back and visit my goldfish blog again.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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Hi Jamie.

Thanks for the info on ich. We have 2 goldfish have been alive for 4 years now. I take really good care of them. We just bought 2 new smaller goldfish to add to our 10 gallon tank. I kept them separate for 1 1/2 days to make sure they weren’t sick. They have been with our 2 other fish now for 4 days now. All fish are covered with a lot of ich. I have the meds already from the past so I just gave them a treatment. When will I see an improvement? How long should I have kept the new fish separate before adding to our healthy fish?
Great website. Thanks for the info.
Rose

Hi Rose,

Your very welcome! I’m glad you found my blog useful on the ick situation that you are dealing with now.

What you should have done was quarrantine your new fish for about 7-10 days before adding new fish to your aquarium. You see the life cycle of ich reproduces at an extremely high rate and can only be killed during thr free swimming stage. To better make sure your any new fish are free from ich you sould really watch them closely for about a week really.

To learn more about the life cycle of ich please visit Goldfish Disease- White Spot Disease- Ich

Here I talk about the reproduction of these parasites and what is ich.

Since you began treating your goldfish for ich, you should start seeing some improvements soon. Always treat for the full recommended days of treatment as there may be still some unhatched ich eggs that cannot be killed by the ich medication you are using. Ich can only be killed in the free swimming stage. Treat your goldfish for a full 10 days or as recommended by the manufacturer to make sure all ick has been eliminated. Even though you may see now ich after a few days treatment still treat your tank for the full ich treatment for days recommended.

Normally I would keep goldfish and other fish quarrantined for a minimum a week but I usually double this to 2 weeks to be on the safe side. As my saying goes better be safe then sorry. Who wants to potentially lose a fish you’ve had for many years. Quarrantine any new arrivals is the best practice at eliminating tranfer of diseases and parasites to other fish.

Let me know how your goldfish are doing. They’ll be better in no time.

By the way, what medication are you using to treat your goldfish for ich?

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Hi Jamie.

Thanks for the info and advice. I am using Rid-Ich for treatment of the ich. I did it 5 days in a row, yesterday being the 5th day. All fish were in the clear from the 4th day. After 2 hours yesterday from 5th treatment, one of my older fish started not looking well. Put in the filter, added salt(1/5tbl sp., 2 capf.of aqua plus, 2 capf. of cycle. That fish is doing well now but has tailrot I think. Poor guy. The koi (2nd oldest one) sometimes picks on him.-meany. ‘Aunt Denise’ is looking better and swimming around instead of on the bottom but should I get tailrot meds? And do I treat all fish or remove this one? Doing really well so maybe can my chemicals heal the wounds? Rid-ich says treat until signs are gone so I did. ‘Aunt Denise’ is weak now and fins are frayed a bit so I need to act quick. Looks happier. What do you suggest?

Hi Jamie.

I have purchased some tablets to get rid of the tailrot. ‘Aunt Denise’ sits at the bottom of the tank. When she sees me she moves around. I believe I am to put her in a tank by herself to treat. The capsule says use 1 for a 5 gal. tank. My spare one is only a 3 gal. I am going to not pour the whole thing in because I don’t want to od the fish. I feel bad removing her as we have a bubble bar and our water filter provides constant flow. I don’t want her to die. Do I leave her in the whole time for a few days medicating or do I bring her back to the tank after a few hours and then rotate so she is exposed to the bubble bar. Will the other fish get tailrot and can’t I just medicate in the 10 gal. tank with all the fish?

Jamie.

I bought some meds for the tailrot and I think it is called ‘triple septa’ or something like that. I didn’t pour the whole capsul in as she is in a 3 gal tank not a 5. 1 caps. per 5 gal. I left her overnight in it. I used 50% new water treated with cycle and aqua something that I always use. This morning she looked pretty sad and sat at the bottom of the tank. The tank is small so I don’t blame her. She is almost 2 in. long so maybe she feels crowded in that tank but I didn’t know if I was to treat the whole 10gal tank with all fish. I put her back in reg tank and she swam around a bit and ate some food I put in. Then she settled at the bottom so I put her back in the little tank that is treated. I don’t want her to die. She is a favourite of mine. I think she is getting weak. Any suggestions? Could the meds she got last night be enough adn I can put her back in the 10 gal tank? Or should I switch back and forth every few hours or so????? Please help. I know you have helped so many others. Great advice I see.
thanks.

Jamie.

I bought some meds for the tailrot and I think it is called ‘triple septa’ or something like that. I didn’t pour the whole capsul in as she is in a 3 gal tank not a 5. 1 caps. per 5 gal. I left her overnight in it. I used 50% new water treated with cycle and aqua something that I always use. This morning she looked pretty sad and sat at the bottom of the tank. The tank is small so I don’t blame her. She is almost 2 in. long so maybe she feels crowded in that tank but I didn’t know if I was to treat the whole 10gal tank with all fish. I put her back in reg tank and she swam around a bit and ate some food I put in. Then she settled at the bottom so I put her back in the little tank that is treated. I don’t want her to die. She is a favourite of mine. I think she is getting weak. Any suggestions? Could the meds she got last night be enough adn I can put her back in the 10 gal tank? Or should I switch back and forth every few hours or so????? Please help. I know you have helped so many others. Great advice I see.
thanks.

Hi

I noticed that my fish had come down with a case of Ich on Thursday night. I looked it up on the internet to confirm and then went to my local pet store and bought an anti-white spot medication.
This particular one says to do one treatment straight away, then another 4 days later…and another on the 7th day if the problem persists.

My black moor is constantly sitting at the bottom of the tank or ontop of the filter. They’re both still eating, but lethargic. I’ve just added the second dose of anti-white spot.

I’ve checked the ph and the temperature, both seems to be fine. Unfortunately, I can’t afford a heater right now, and wasn’t aware that goldfish needed one?
However, I’ve moved them to a warmer side of the room, closer to the radiator, to try and speed up the life cycle.

Anything else that I can do? or was I just too late to catch it?

Thank you in advance
Penny

Hi Penny,

The true fact is that goldfish really don’t need a heater at all. For treating ich people can use a heater to speed up the life cycle of the parasites as they can only be killed in the free-swimming stage.

I would just continue on with treatment as indicated with the anti-white spot medication. The biggest thing you want to do is make sure all the ick parasites have been eliminated. If not your ich situation can come back. That’s why it is always recommended to do the full treatment when treating fish even if they look okay.

Also just a point to remember as well when treating fish for diseases fish can become lazy so to speak as treating fish does increase stress. If they still have an appetite to eat their fine.

Are you still noticing a lot of white spots still on your blackmoor? and were they resting a lot on the bottom of your aquarium before you began treatment?

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Thanks for the advice Jamie.

Unfortunately I woke up yesterday morning to a dead black moor.

The Oranda is still going eating. However, she is sitting on the bottom of the tank a lot (she wasn’t doing this before I started the treatment though).

As stated, I don’t have a heater, so the lifecycle of the Ich isn’t being fast-forwarding. I’ve got her by the radiator, but the heat from that is only 22C.

There are still white dots on the oranda, although it’s hard to tell if there are less or more, because of her colouring. Either way, I don’t think the majority of the parasites have hatched yet.

Do you know of any other way to speed up the life cycle other than to pump up the heat? We’ve got some lamps that perhaps we could put around the tank, or would this be too much?

Regards –
Penny.

Hi Penny,

Sorry to hear about your black moor. Sometimes when treating fish it can be too much stress then they can handle. Some medications also recommend reducing the amount of medication added per dose for fancy goldfish but is usually mentioned on dosing instructions.

As far as speeding up the life cycle of ich without a heater there is not much else you can do. You could try using the lamps but place them above the tank as if you place them on the side they will swim on their side or tilted as they perceive that to be up.

I would just leave it as is and just let them hatch when ready. In the free swimming stage is when ich can be killed.

Without a heater what is the temperature of the water in your goldfish aquarium?

Is that Best Cure Anti-White Spot Medication that you are using to treat ich?

Have you been checking your water quality and testing your water frequently?

Hope your oranda recovers from ich soon.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

P.S. Happy Holidays and Best Wishes In 2009

Hi Jamie,

I am from malaysia. I would like to ask u about my gold fish oranda is having white spot. I do a treatment using Melafix for about 2 weeks but it seems the white spot still appeared on its head. I am looking for Malachite green but its very hard to get in my place, Penang state. Do you know which website that i can purchase? Or other that Malachite green what else i can do.

Thanks
Adamyew
Malaysia.

Hi Adam,

Does Melafix treat ich? No it doesn’t, you see Melafix treats bacterial infections and ich is a parasite. In order to treat ich you need to buy ich medication that will treat white spot disease found on fish.

A good website that sells fish medication to treat ich and other parasites is Drs. Foster and Smith. You can buy fish medication for treatment of ich and other external parasites at Drs. Foster and Smith at the link provided.

Here you will be able to choose from a wide variety of ich medciation that will treat your fish. If you can’t find Malachite Green in your area then I would check out Drs. Foster and Smith however you should be able to buy Malachite Green in your area as it is widely used. If not they can help with the right medication that you need.

Hope you get rid of ick on your Oranda soon.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Hello Jamie,
My name is Mary. I also have the same problem with my fish they have white spots all over their fins and eyes. My mistake was that I bought new small fish and put them in the tank as soon as I got home from the pet store with my other fish that I have had for the past 2 years. Until now I realize that the fish I brought home had ick and it got to my goldfish. to treat it I bought ick clear, it says to add one tablet for every 10gallons of water. I have a 30 gal tank I added 3 tablets. I also bought Melafix to cure my goldfish fins I been following intructions for the past two days, the two small fishes I bought died tonight. And my older goldfish I don’t see any recovery. What else can I do? I dont want them to die!! Help me please?

Hi Mary,

Sorry to hear that your goldfish have ich. The good news is that this is a common diseases found on fish and is easily treated. You need to make sure you treat it for the full recommended treatment.

I actually did some research on Ick Clear and it said repeat in 24 hrs. if needed. That’s kind of funny as the life cycle of ich and how to kill the ich parasites is only in the free swimming stage. I repeat Ich can only be killed during the free swimming stage.

Read my other posts on ich.

This post will show you how ich reproduces and how you can get rid of ich and treat it.

Goldfish Disease- White Spot Disease- Ich (Ichtyopthirius)

This post tells you how to tell the difference between ich and breeding tubercles.

Breeding Tubercles Not White Spot Disease Ich

As for ick clear I you would really have to treat it every day for a week in order to make sure ich is gone. As far as Melafix, that will not treat ich, it will only treat secondary bacterial infections and fungal infections. You mentioned fins, I wasn’t sure if you meant ich was on fins or fins are frayed and damage ( fin rot).

I know for years I’ve used Melachite Green which is a very effective treatment against ich. I have many fish at Country Koi Fish Farm and that’s the one I use due to its effectiveness.

For you, you can always try Malachite Green or you can get other effective medications that will work just as good for treatment of ich.

For more information on types of ich medication please visit:

Goldfish Medication Treatments For Illnesses, Diseases and Parasites

This will give you more options at treating your goldfish for ich and see other options you have.

A good one I would suggest is Kordon Aquarium Rid Ick and Disease Treatment Medication. This one contains melachite green additives that I was talking about. This works at clearing ich from your tank.

You can see it here Kordon Aquarium Rid Ich Preventative

Other then that you just need to get a new ich medication. Read my posts to know why. Also before using another medication always perform a water change as mixing chemicals together in the water can have toxic effects on fish and kill them. Always add fresh carbon in your filter to remove the chemicals from your water. Also as you know always quarrantine new arrivals to eliminate chance of infecting healthy fish.

If you need anymore help please feel free to contact me anytime. In this case that medication was not effective and has poor reviews after researching it further as I told you why it don’t work.

Talk to you soon, and just out of curiousity, how many days did you treat your goldfish for ich?

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

hi, first off i’ve found this post very useful.
i noticed today that my comet and shubunkin have white spot, i got the shubunkin just over a week ago. i put it straight in with the comet as i wasn’t told about quaratining, and also don’t have a spare tank.
basically my question was, how long can the fish go without treatment? i won’t be able to make it to the shops for a few days so have ordered treatment online, but by the time that arrives it will have been almost two weeks since i put the fish in the same tank. will that still be alright?
the shubunkin seems to be worse off than the comet, he’s pretty much constantly sitting on the gravel.
today i got a better air stone, and since then the comet has perked up but not the shubunkin.

I’m glad you found my blog post “Treatment For Ich or White Spot Disease In goldfish” very helpful.

Goldfish would live for a while without treating it. How long can a goldfish live without ich treatment? I’m not sure really. Would I think it would be okay till you get your ich medication you bought online, I think so. Treating ich in the early stages is easier as there is less parasites. If you decide to wait what I would do is perform more frequent water changes so that you are flusing the ich parasites down the drain. You would be removing parasites in the water with every water change. That would cut down on the ich population in the tank and reduce the amount of parasites that could potentially attach themselves to your fish.

Your fish may become lazy as your shubunkin due to stress of parasites on them. This is normal. If you wait just try and do more frequent water changes and you can also add some aquarium salt into your tank which helps fight off parasites. Also doing salt dips can help remove parasites off your fish.

What ich medication did you buy online and from where? Depending where you live you may get this quicker the 2 weeks.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

hopefully my treatment should arrive in the next day or two. i bought aquarium salts today, but i think my shubunkin has deteriorated further.
as all his fins are tightly clamped down, he’s having difficulty swimming too, and he’s rarely eating. at least the comet still has an appetite. just not sure if my shubunkin is gonna make it.
you mentioned salt dips, what are these?
thanks, polly

i’ve also just noticed that my shubunkin’s tail is now missing except for the vertebrae, is this due to the white spot. he looks so miserable. sorry for so many questions!

I am Sibasish
Thanks for giving us such valuable informations..I have noticed Ich on my newly brought Wakin Goldfish.
I am giving treatment with Malachite Green and Tetracycline…

Hi Jaime,

I am relatively new at keeping any kind of fish. I have a 30 gal tank which has 4 oranda, a pleeco, and a pearscale. After my last addition of an oranda to my tank, I noticed several white spots on its fin tail. Then I realized that my other oranda had some as well but not as execssive. I live in Florida , but still purchased a heater in order to eliminate the ich outbreak in the tank. I have the temperature set at 70F and added 1 tspn per gallon for two days. After removing the carbon filter I begin to add Quick Cure according to the dosage on the package. The fish seem to be well. They have a good appetite and I havent observed any laying around the bottom of the tank. How many days should I continue adding the medication for? Should I add any more salt to my tank? Is there any preventative tips for ich?

Thanks,
Nancy

I have four gold fish and just recently changed the water…now three of the fish are covered with water like bubbles as well as the plants, glass, and rocks in the tank! From what I have read it sounds like ICK, can you please provide a better photo that will clearly help your readers looking for help in a time of crisis understand exactly what ICK looks like? I know that it would have been very useful for me.

Hi, im Mary,

I have two fancy goldfish that i bought last week and one of them has shown signs of ich on his fins. The other fish looks fine…no white marks on him and hopefully he wont get any! the one with looks fine, feeds fine and just swims about like hes perfectly healthy, so i hope i am right in thinking that the ich infestation is in the early stages?

my partner will be able to go to Pets at Home tomorrow (which is where we got them) and buy some treatment, we’re just worried cause we havent had fish in years and it was before the NSPCA made every fish bought be put in filtered water and such, so we arnt used to water changes and how to treat the fish.

I live in the UK so does anyone know the best treatement for fish here?

Hi,
I just got another goldfish and put it in my tank without quarantining it, and voila my other two fish got ich. I think I was a little late in diagnosing it though, because on maybe the second day of using Rid-Ich one of my older fancy goldfish died. I’m now on the fourth treatment day, and it seems to have gotten much worse for my other goldfish! He seems to have more white spots, and is lazier with his fins partly clamped to his sides. Is it not working? When should I expect the ich to go away?!? I’ve been adding a teaspon of Rid-ich every 24 hours, doing the water changes, have removed the carbon from my filter and everything!! Please Jamie, what can I do to help my fishie! I don’t want him to die too; then i’ll just have the offending ich-carrier left!

Thanks Jamie,

I am treating a shop bought fantail using Interpret White Spot treatment.

just one question though, it says freshwater only and I add a little rock salt to the tank when changing the water. Do you think this is OK?

My other fish was won in a fair in Spain and apparently they are subject to strict government checks, unlike the pet shops!

Best regards

Robert Jackson

Hi Jamie Goldfish Guy

Best Goldfish site on internet.

I have fish in a 200litre outdoor tank. I added 1 healthy fish straight from the shop and guess what a week later white spot on 4 fish tails generally like air bubbles. I'm going to treat all the fish for 10 days but I think I'll put them in a smaller tank indoors using Goldmed.
What I want to know is what can I do about the pond. Is completely changing the water enough. How resilient are ich.
Thankyou in advance.

Hi Jamie, thanks for info, but was just wondering whether you are meant to do a water change between doses of Malchite green, and also is it normal for them to sit on the bottom right next to the air stone for ages.

Cheers Peter

I need help. My kids won 3 small goldfish at a halloween carnival. So we set up the tank and put them in there. Then my father in law bought two more goldfish. And a week later i put in an under gravel filter in the tank. Then i started to notice something happening to the 3 smaller goldfish. It looked like something was biting their fins off. All 3 ended up loosing their tail fins and some scales. Then the two bigger goldfish started to act funny. Laying on the bottom of the tank on the gravel. Now one small goldfish has died and none of them are eating anything. The goldfish that died we looked at and the tail fin is totally gone and scales are gone half way up the body. I now see some white spots on the big goldfish's fins. Some of their tail fins are missing. Is this the ICH Disease, or is it something else? How do i treat it? How can i get it out of my tank? I am new to this fish stuff. I was trying to be kind to my kids goldfish, setting everything up for them and now i don't know what to do. Please help me. Thank you so much

hey hi jamie…..

i brought a 100+ litre fish tank which has 8 common goldfish and 1 black moor two weeks ago, yesterday i noticed these tiny white spot all over one goldfish.. this one is sitting at the bottom of the tank another one is also doing the same… the rest of the fishes are active and eating properly… i brought this " treatment for white spots"(green in color) as recommeded by the pet shop.. and added the recommded quantity this night… and also increased the temp. of the tank… wut else shud i doo.. i m really worried for this fish and the rest of the fishes in my tank.. please help…

hi jamie,your blog entry about the ich is very informative. just have a question about the malachite green, does this cause a loss of appetite in goldfishes? 'coz when i treated today my goldfish he lost his appetite and is now usually up near the surface. i did partial water change first then placed 1 tsp of malachite green in my 10 gallon tank?was this too much? – Anne

Hi

I use a treatment call ickaway (wardley) for white spot disease happening to my orandas. but it seems to cause its fins to have red veins on it. should salt all that is needed or what can i get in australia?

Lydia

Hi Anne,

I'm glad you like all the useful information I have here in taking care of goldfish.

When you do treat goldfish with melachite they can lose their appetite. Not because of the fish medication but do to the fact their sick. Think of this. If were sick the last thing on our mind is eating right? Same for the goldfish and other pets too.

As far as your goldfish gasping at the surface, I would say you added too much melachite. This causes a lack of available oxygen in the water for your fish causing them to gasp at the surface.

What brand of melachite did you use, manufacturer?? and what did the instructions say to add?

For me I have a Melachite Green bottle here where I add 1 tsp which equals 5ml that will do 50 gallons. The one you have may be a lower concentration.

The best suggestion is to follow the medication directions exactly and never add more then recommended. Adding more is not better and it could kill your fish.

I hope I answered your questions and wish you luck on your fish treatment.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Fish Medications Coming Soon! At Country Koi Fish Farm at http://www.WaterPlantsForPonds.com

got two other questions.

one, if notice goldfish have scales that seems dry. what to do.

second, got a comet as well. if is not as energetic as the other comets. what to do. it was energetic before.no physical symptoms. just slow and seem weak. it was kept at the same tank as the rest of the comets. but they not bullying it.

I have an Oranda that has been sitting at the bottom of the tank for a couple of days. I noticed fin and tail rot and a white coating on the eyes. I started treating yesterday with tetracycline. The white coating is gone from the eye but the fish (Lucy) is still sitting on the bottom. Lucy's top fin is not as flat but she's still not swimming. Today, I noticed tiny tiny white things that appear to be swimming at the top of the tank. Is this ich? Should I stop treating with tetracycline and go to an ich medication or should I continue the tetracycline and add an ich treatment?

Thank you for the great information on ich. I need to treat my fish tank but I have other fish in with the two gold fish (the only two that have the disease). Will they be fine if I treat. Or should I remove the gold fish?

Thanks for you help

Hi

I have just put treatment for Ich in the water, it states that it is a 2 dose medication and that i should repeat the dose on the 4th day. How long should it take before i see results? It appears that my two goldfish have swim bladder too, can this be a cause of ich, as it only started 2 days ago? they both seem really bad, and are just sitting at the bottom of the tank. as you can imagine it is quite distressing to see this 🙁 the pet shop suggested i feed them live blood worms, which i have done. I dont know what is causing these problems as we have been very good with checking the ph of the water, cleaning the tank, and trying to feed them a varied diet, although we do feed them flakes too – is this bad? I really would love to see them swimming properly again.

Many thanks

Hi, i just discovered your blog! it is very detailed and informative!

I recently purchased a black moor goldfish, and i noticed he has 2 or 3 white spots, on his tail, that were not there when i bought him one week ago. They look a bit fuzzy, though are small, but still noticeable from a distance due to the contrasting of white spots on a very dark fish.

The black moor still acts normal and eats well. I only have one other goldfish in the tank, a ryukin, who is not showing any signs of illness nor does he have any white spots. I have been watching this closely for 2 days. Could this be Ich or something different?
Thank you in advance! 🙂
-Winry (winwinchanx@yahoo.com)

hello, i just want to ask what is methylene blue for? can it be used to treat white spots?….

Yes methylene blue can be used for treatment of ich also known as white spot diseases in goldfish, koi and other types of fish.

Begin treatment right away as it's fairly easy to treat.

Thanks,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Find more great information on koi fish care at http://www.KoiFishCareInformation.com

Hi Jamie,

I recently had an attack of ich in my goldfish tank. I had 9 goldfish, unfortunately I seemed to have caught it too late and I now only have one fish left. He seems fine and there are no white spots on him, but I am still treating him for ich because some of the websites I read said he could still have it. I am using Kordon Rid-Ich Plus. Right now I have him in a small tank so that I can treat him and change the water more easily. After I am done treating him I want to move him back into the original tank. I was wondering if you had any advice on how I could sanitize the decorations and original tank. I spent a lot of money on the tank and decorations and would like to use them again, but I don't want the ich to be on the decorations or tank and cause the ich to flare up again. Is there anything I can do to ensure the ich isn't on the tank or decorations?

Thanks,
Steph

Steph,

To disinfect your goldfish tank from ich you can always treat that fish tank as well using your ich medication. What I always do when I encounter ich is I treat the whole fish tank where the parasites were found. Now since you are using another tank for treatment of ich, there are several things you can do.

You see ich will die if there is no host, nothing to feed on. Now you can just leave it for longer then 10-14 days to ensure they're all gone. You could always heat up the water in your aquarium to 32 degrees celsius, 89.5 degrees fahrenheit that kills ich as well.

There are several things you can do. What I usally do to disinfect tanks, before set up, or to get rid of parasites like ick is use Malachite Green. Whenever you treat for ich you should always treat for 7-10 days to get rid of ich. As you may already know it's when ich is in the free swimming stage that it can be killed.

I hope this information helps you as there are several options you can do as mentioned above. The methods above will ensure your fish tank decorations, ornaments, aquarium gravel are safe for introducing your goldfish back to its fish tank.

Anymore goldfish questions please feel free to ask.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Jamie,

Thanks for the help. I would have left my one fish that's left in the original tank, but it is a 20 gallon and it didn't make sense to leave one fish in it. Especially when the ich treatment directions say to do a 25% water change every time you treat.

I do have one more question though. From what I've read ich is normally introduced with new fish. I haven't introduced new fish into my tank in over a year. I also haven't introduced any new decorations or gravel. Do you know what could have caused it so that I can avoid it happening again?

Thanks,
Steph

Steph,

The first thing you need to understand is that all goldfish have parasites but they are dormant. What happens is that in those unfavourable water conditions is when parasites attack.

What I suspect is that your water quality turned for the worse and ich attacked your fish.

Some other times it can be introduced by a net or gravel vacuum that was previously used when ich was around. Moving fish nets and equipment from tank to tank can spread ich.

Goldfish have a slime coating and once this is scraped off, parasites and bacterial infections can occurr. The slime coating is what helps protect fish.

Hope my goldfish blog was able to help you learn more about goldfish diseases and parasites.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Brandon said… My 3 goldfish all have ich and I moved them to a temp. Tank. And I will clean the infected tank with full water change. Is that ok to do then wait ten days to put the fish back in the regular tank. That is till I get some malachite.

Brandon,

You should still treat the infected tank to ensure no ich will survive. That's what I would do to be on the safe side.

How big is your aquarium?

Hi Hoping someone can help.

I have had thee fancy goldfish for a month, last week we put them into a bigger tank, before cycling, so water quality is very bad, we had it tested at an aquatic shop so know water quality is bad. I went there for advice to treat white spot, our black moor is covered and his fin is looking ragged. The store adviced water changes and putting a heater in, which we are doing but I am concerned that we should be using a medication or aquarium salt as the white spot is getting worse.
Please can someone give me advice as the pet store said treatment would make them worse because of the water quality.

Help, I dont want Ray to die.

Hazel

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