Ryuki (sp?) goldfish and nasty "ick"

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minih

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Has anyone ever treated these darn goldfish for ick and had a good outcome? I have been treating for several days and it has not helped at all, according to directions. Came home this afternoon and they look even worse, poor things I figured it was either cure them or kill them time. I emptied almost all the water out of the tank and gave 1 1/2 times the amount called for??? Any suggestions? I have been using some stuff called QuICK Cure.

forgot to add, I added fresh water back in--sounded like I just added it to an almost empty tank
 
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Throw away the over the counter ick cure. Just use regular plain salt with no additives at all.

Here is a thread I copied from a goldfish forum. I have treated my own goldfish very successfully using this method, and it works way better than anything you can buy over the counter:

Hi,

Recently a lot of people have been asking about salt and which salt is okay to use when they have a sick fish and have been recommended to use the medicinal dose of .3%.

Here is a summary -I have collected this data from various sources including online and books. If this info is somewhere else then sorry, but I couldn't find it in a concise post with an explanatory reference title.

It is possible to use many kinds of salt in the aquarium. In fact even some table salts may be safe, contrary to popular belief. The elements to avoid are listed below. Make sure that you check the list of ingredients in your salt very carefully before adding salt to your tank, tub or pond. If the ingredients are not listed do not use the salt -to be safe.

Do not ever use salt that contains the following:

Salts that are not safe

YPS (Yellow prussiate of soda).

Anti caking agents especially those containing cyanuric acid.

Cow salt blocks or salt containing magnesium and other added minerals.

And iodine.

Iodine will actually not hurt the fish but it will harm your beneficial bacteria and cycle.

Salts that are safe

You can safely use rock salt, kosher salt, sea salt, synthetic reef salt, non-mineralised salt cow blocks,

solar salt, water softener salt and some non-iodised table salts. Check the salt says 99.97% NaCl on the packet as a double precaution. All these salts should say exactly that. The added drying agent in some salts called sodium aluminosilicate is also not dangerous.

Some of these salts will produce carbonates & raise pH slightly. This is not good for tanks showing any ammonia at all. Make sure ammonia is zero before administrering salt.

None of these salts will damage your cycle at a strength of .3% and in fact possibly higher.

How to administer

Using salt at the medicinal dosage of .3%.

You will be adding salt at 3 x 12 hour intervals.

First of all make sure that the tank water is registering 0 for ammonia and nitrites. Nitrates should also be as low as possible. Mix the first dosage of .1 % of salt in a small bucket/cup with a small amount of treated conditioned water or tank water. This means one teaspoon per one gallon. So if you have a 10 gallon tank for example you are going to be adding 10 level teaspoons (one teaspoon is 5ml ) to the bucket or cup.

Mix the salt until it is completely dissolved. The warmer the water the quicker it dissolves. It can take 5 minutes or so. The salt must be completely dissolved before adding it to the tank. There should be no grains of salt visible, only a kind of shiny cloud is visible as you pour the salted water into the tank. Pour the salted water into a heavily aerated area of the tank...under the filter power outlet or fountain spray bar will provide the best circulation of the salt.

Leave the tank and fish for 12 hours. Remember if your fish are sick you are probably not feeding much and if they are stressed a dark cover on the tank can provide welcome shade and comfort. If you are treating for ich you will need to start to slowly raise the tank temp (no more than 2 degrees in an hour)aiming for a final stable temp of 80F.

After 12 hours repeat the dose. That is another 10 teaspoons for a 10 gallon tank pre-mixed as described.

After another 12 hours repeat again. This brings you finally to the recommended .3% medicinal dosage.

With minimal feeding/no feeding and pre tank water parameters at optimal levels you can safely leave the salted tank for several days while the salt gets to work. However if you are treating for parasites including ich it is very important that you do gravel vacs to remove parasite eggs that will be continuously falling on the tank bottom. (Bare bottom tanks are much easier to vacuum when dealing with parasites).

Remember with every gravel vac or water change you are going to need to replace the salt. So if you remove 1 gallon of water after a thorough vac, you will need to replace 3 teaspoons of tank water dissolved salt. It is a very good idea to keep a salt diary by the tank so you can track your salt content- how much is in there.

After the recommended time you can safely begin to remove the salt. This is done simply through water changes. If you add no more, gradually over several water changes all the salt will be removed.

So, I hope this info is useful to anyone who is about to use salt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

Imogen.
 
I have a 65 gal of assorted types of goldfish.I am no pro at gold fish, but I can tell you what I know. :lol: I have never had any get ick, but I do put ick guard into there tank as a precautionaly measure, since ick is always going to be in a tank anyways.I The only gold fish that will get ick would be those that are stressed out or if the tank condition is really bad. Your going to get ick from colder water or if your tank is in a drafty location. Are you sure its ick? :bgrin Male goldfish get those white spots, that look like ick on there gills and fins when they are of breeding age :eek:
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: Could that be what your trying to clear up?
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: Corinne
 
No, it is most definately ick, I started treating on Saturday and it is now all over them. I am going to reread the above salt recipe, and see what I need to do. What about the stuff I have already put in the tank? Just empty it out?

Ugh---why does nothing ever go smooth? I do have a goldfish (that is mean and pecks at the others, so he is in solitary in the bathroom in another smaller tank, he is perfectly fine. I told my family he is way too mean to get sick.
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Yeah you will have to empty out the stuff you already put in the tank. Good luck!
 
I have used the salt( got it from the fish store-it was aquarium salt for fresh water) and it worked pretty good- I think I started seeing a difference in 24 hours - took about 5 days I think.
 
They make fish amoxicillian...but I don't know what they use it for. Maybe something to look into?
 
I'll second or third the salt treatment.....I did mine a little differently but that method should work.

Stupid little "icks" hate those bugs

You will want to remove the other treatment.
 
Well, it was too late for the salt treatment to work. Both goldfish are dead. I have completely cleaned the tank, dried it and want to start over. Give me some good goldfish starting advice. Should I put salt in the tank before adding fish? Dope it with treatment? These were not cheap goldfish, $30 dollars for the two of them......plus I hate to watch anything die.....especially like that. Ugly little parasites.
 
I start my tanks with salt in them. But I don't start adding salt until I have had the fish 24 hours. I do the salt treatment for five days, then I stop using the salt and slowly get rid of it with regular water changes. Goldfish are actually higher maintenace than most people realize and they can't really be kept successfully without having at least ten gallons per fish.
 
I don't know if this is helpful or not, but when I was a kid, my parents let me get two goldfish from a friend who was moving. My mom only agreed because she figured gold fish couldn't be around but so long. I named them Romeo and Juliet and I had them for about 7 years!!! They even moved with us when we moved to a new house
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This was in the late 70's, and "all" I had for them was about a 1 gallon fish bowl that was round / squat. We had city water and I would set a container of water out for 24 hours (to get rid of the cholorine -- or at least we thought it did) and change the water 1x a week. That was it, other than Hartz brand goldfish food from the grocery store. These ones were just regular like "feeder" goldfish. We used to put cheese cloth held with a rubber band over the top to keep my cat, Fluffy, out of them.

They got nothing fancy and surely we didn't know anythng about fish, but they seemed to do good on just "plain" water and a simple fish bowl.
 
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I have NO experience with indoor goldfish. But I do have a "SCHOOL" of them in the little pool in my front yard. I didn't think you could KILL the little things. I have a kiddy size pool sunk in the ground. I only change the water once every 2 years. I used to do it every spring but I was killing the eggs and those tiny babies when I bailed the water out. Mine stay outside year round and that pool freezes solid. Don't ask me how they survive? I have the fantails. I started with 3 and now have over 30. Lost a BUNCH of them to a Blue Heron before I saw that massive bird standing in my front yard just picking them off. I have since put a chicken wire cover over them.

This is something I just learned this year kinda amazing. I culled out a bunch of "black" babies and put them in another smaller 1/2 whiskey barrel and those little beggers turned ORANGE! So back into the main pool this winter.
 
Terri, just a thought.....make sure your water is cold for these little guys....warm water tends to breed infection and diseases and Goldfish thrive on cooler waters. I've been raising all kinds of fish tropical and Goldfish since the 70's and have found that Goldfish are the easiest to raise. Do check your ph in the water too. I've never added salt to my Goldfish tanks or ponds, but the do have plenty of plants and a good diet. I never do a complete water change, just a partial when necessary.
 
This is the thing that really confuses me, I used to raise goldfish when I was a teen (let's not get into how long ago that was
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: ) never had problems....til now.

I wonder.....we have well water, and this is what I used with them, is there any way the well water could be my problem. Should I maybe buy distilled water to use? Lots of good ideas here and I am printing the thread off to have setting up my new tank this weekend.
 
This is the thing that really confuses me, I used to raise goldfish when I was a teen (let's not get into how long ago that was
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: ) never had problems....til now.

I wonder.....we have well water, and this is what I used with them, is there any way the well water could be my problem. Should I maybe buy distilled water to use? Lots of good ideas here and I am printing the thread off to have setting up my new tank this weekend.
Actually well water is usually better than city water in the case of fish less "stuff" to remove
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: The only cases of ick I had to deal with were in the pet shops and that is often caused by overstocking and fish rooms in general being a bit warm for goldfish.

What size tank is this?

the general rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon....however goldfish are little piggies :bgrin :bgrin so I find understocking and keeping smaller goldfish to start with works best.

Also really check your fish sellers tanks closely, and after acclimating the fish in their bag, use a net to put them in your tank and dump the store water down the sink
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:

My routine is as follows

Fill tank add a small handful of rock salt, add plants, turn on filter, locate away from windows, doors, and direct light. I let it sit with just plants for about a week, then will add 2 or 3 fish (depending on tank size). I do 1/3 water changes usually for the first few weeks then once it is pretty stable I only do 1/3 changes as needed.
 
I just read your response, I went out yesterday and got everything together. I replaced all the rocks, cleaned the tank refilled and ADDED SALT like stated for a new tank. I put the fish in just a little bit ago. One Moor golfish, in a 10 gallon tank. I did have the two Ryuki in it before, but going with the one. I guess if I want more I will just have to buy a bigger tank later. I will get too much grief from the spouse if I get a larger tank now when I can't even get them to live longer than a week
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: Keep your fingers crossed. I bought the aquarium salt this time, and added 2 tablespoons as directed for new tanks. He seems to be enjoying it right now.
 
Goldfish need 10 gallons per fish because they are extremely dirty fish. Fish just living in a bowl or smaller space never live as long or grow as big as they should. Most regular comet goldfish will grow to 10" or 12" and fancy goldfish will grow to 6" to 10". Living in a bowl or too small a space will stunt their growth. Most goldfish live to be 20 years old, but I have never heard of one living that long in a bowl.

Also the "normal" goldfish like comets or shubunkins are hardier fish than the fancy varieties of goldfish.
 
:aktion033: Farrah!

I actually recommend to people that 20-30 gallons for the first goldfish and 10-20 gallons for each additional one isn't unreasonable. At that, you're still looking at 25% weekly water changes AND I highly recommend double filtration for them, too.

The main reason I don't have goldfish right now is that I don't have enough room!
 

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