FishProfiles.com Message Forums

My nephew has a 29-gallon tank. It had two goldfish in it until a few days ago when he added a third. Now everybody has a raging case of ich.

My sister-in-law added some Jungle Ich Clear last night, and this morning all three fish, which had been swimming around happily despite the ich, were resting on the gravel with their gills pumping. By the time she got home from work, they were covered with fungus, but all still alive.

She just called frantically asking what to do. (They live in Tennessee and I live in NJ, so I can't exactly go take a look.)

My own sense is that the fish are goners, but my nephew will be heartbroken if that's the case. Any last-ditch remedies anyone can think of?

Also, apparently they added an algae eater (I think a pleco, from the way they described him) yesterday -- the LFS having told them it would be fine in a coldwater tank.

My sister-in-law says he's fine, and asked whether she should take him out and put him temporarily in with the two neons they have in a 5-gallon tank until the situation in the 29-gallon is under control, but I suspect he's going to come down with ich and that would spread it.

All suggestions appreciated. I'm operating blind here, since I can only go by her description on the phone -- I've never actually seen the tank. I know it has a biowheel filter on it, but have no idea how the water tests out.

They're hindered by the fact that they live in a really small town, and Large-Chain-Store-that-Starts-with-a-"W" is the only place they can get fish and supplies.

make sure she is taking the carbon out of the filter.

The meds will probably kill the good bacteria, so the tank might go through a mini cycle, or she will have to cycle the tank again.


See, when someone gets ich, I tell them to raise the temp in the tank to 84, and use salt to cure them, but m not sure about coldwater fish.

She said she did take the carbon out of the filter.

Maybe salt's the way to go -- isn't that supposed to work for fungus, too?

I don't keep indoor goldfish (just outside in my pond) so I'm not sure what to tell her.

You can use salt with the goldies, but not indefinatly, when my goldies where sick last year, I raised the temp as said and used salt, introduced in small amounts, so as not to shock them with a big change.

Heres a link for some info about using salt with goldies, hope this helps
http://www.geocities.com/koifla/try_salt_first.htm

Jungle also makes a good fungus med...(jungle labs fungus clear tank buddies) I really wouldn't know if the two could be treated simultaniously.....

I'd say (and I do hope you've told her this) that the 29 is seriously seriously overstocked. Seeing as you keep pond goldfish I'm sure you've mentioned that they need much much larger tanks, and that adding the pleco (I'm assuming it was a very young one if she thought it possible to add it to a 5 gallon) just pushed the tank over the edge.

Increase surface agitation as much as possible (there wasn't a mention as to fancy or commons) the temp can be raised to help with the ich treatment but my vote is to continue with the meds for ich as directed, run carbon for a day then run the fungus meds. Then when everyone is healthy trade the goldfish and pleco for some ottos and goldbarbs. Just My Opinion but goldfish (even fancies) don't belong in anything under 55 and then only 2 since ever fancies need swimming space.

^_^

Actually, the goldfish are in the 29 gallon. (The only thing in the 5 gallon are two neons.) I suggested they get only one, or at max, two goldfish for the 29 gallon tank (because I didn't think they were going to listen to me and only get one). Instead, they got three -- I think the one looked so teeny swimming around in there, and they couldn't quite grasp how fast it would grow.

I also suspect (but again, I've never seen the tank, so I can't be sure) there's some serious overfeeding going on, because my nephew (who's only 5) loves to feed them. They've also been complaining about an algae problem ... which also makes me think overfeeding. (Hence the pleco ... suggested, apparently, by the clerk at Wally World.)

I may have to make a trip to Tennessee in the near future to see if I can get that tank up and running right ...

[span class="edited"][Edited by lmuha 2004-08-10 11:33][/span]

Just got an e-mail from my brother ... the goldfish seem to have pulled through the crisis. They put carbon in to get rid of the ich meds, plus did a partial water change; then they added fungus meds.

He reports that all the fish are happily swimming around again. I'm not sure they've seen the last of the ich, but at least the crisis of the moment is over.