Ich on Goldfish

[Aquawoman]

I just noticed two white spots on the tail of one of my goldfish. It appears to be ich. And, to make matters worse I just added to the tank. I have something called ich cure. It had directions for tetras and marine fish, but not for goldfish. Should I get something else?

[Jaster]

Slowly raise the tank temp up to 80 degrees.
Add marine salt to the tank. 1 tsp per gallon every 12 hours over 36 hours for a total of 3 tsp per gallon total.

After a week do a 50% water change then add 1 tsp of salt per gallon again but just once.
Wait another week and do another 50% water change. If the ich is gone, slowly bring the wate temp back to normal. If its not gone, after the water change add another tsp per gallon of salt and leave the temp at 80 degrees. Keep repeating this until the ich is gone

I've done this with my tanks and I've never gone more than 2 weeks and never lost a fish.
Good luck!

[Brhino]

are you positive its ich? Goldfish can get white spots on their tails, especially the fancy ones with long flowing tails. I think they're sort of like bruises or when you bang something on a fingernail and it makes a white spot for a while.

[Aquawoman]

I'm not 100% positive its ich. The spots did seem a little bigger than most ich spots I've seen.

[Brhino]

ich is pretty distinctive. Any chance you can post a photo?

The thing that makes me think that perhaps its not ich is that you mentioned TWO white spots. I've seen ich twice (once on a new goldfish in QT, and once an outbreak on my clown loaches) and in each case there was never just two spots. One day there were no spots and the next day there were scores of them.

Anyhow I can't think of a reason why an ich medication for tetras wouldn't work on goldfish, or you could use the salt and heat treatment Jaster recommends... but I would confirm its ich first.

[Aquawoman]

Now, I'm leaning towards the ich. Last night I just noticed two spots, and this morning there are a few more. I did a small water change last night (even though that's not going to do much). I added some salt this morning. I'm afraid to raise the temp with goldfish. How frequent of water changes should I do? Everyday, or every other day too much?

[Brhino]

Goldfish will be fine at an elevated temperature. They can handle high temperatures a lot better than most people think.

Water changes in themselves won't cure ich. I wouldn't do any more than your normal changes. Keep in mind that whether you're using medication or salt (looks like you've elected to go with salt), any time you do a water change you're removing some of the treatment.

[Jaster]

Exactly as Brhino said.

Goldfish can handle quite a bit of heat. Well into the 90s. As for waterchanges, once a week. If you change the water daily you'll be taking too much of the salt out of the water. You want to add the salt every 12 hours for 36 hours. Water changes will be counter productive at this point. You need to give the salt time to work.

[Aquawoman]

I used the API aquarium salt. However, I read somewhere to use marine salt; or is that just for the salt dips?