confused newbie??/

[james1987]

I just got a 20g freshwater tank. I bought several feeder fish to start it off naturally they have all died within the first week. I then got some new gold fish some have died some have not. The big problem I have right now is that they all have Ich. I bought the medicine and have been doing 30% water changes for 5 or so days and havnt seen any improvements. I was wounding how long this disease usually lasts and is there anything else I should be doing?
Also I know that fish like real plants and I have about 5 of them, should I buy more or is 5 a good number for a small tank.
And the last question I have is I have one snail and one algea eater. Should I get more snails and algea eaters to keep the tank clean or is two sufficiant. I plan on gettting a few more fish but I want to wait for the Ich to clear up so I would also like to know how many more fish you think I would be able to saftley add to the tank...? Well my rambling is over now, if you can find the time to answer these questions for me it would be greatly appriciated...Thanks, James

[nickmcmechan]

first of all do nothing until the ich is cleared

do you know what your parameters are - ammonia, nitirite and nitrate and what are you using to test them?

how may goldfish are in there and what is their current size?

what method of foiltration are you using

i assume the tank is coldwater, get a hold of heater and raise the tank temperature to 78F..treat the ich for a full week until after it is cleared but keep up daily water changes

what dechorintor are you using to treat your water?

[ct-death]

Lots of questions:

Tank size? # of goldfish?

Algae eaters will not survive if the tank is new (ie. no algae present)

No more fish at a minimum until you treat for the Ich - As Nick said, continue to treat for Ich even after it 'appears' to be gone for another 7 days!

Here is the best article I know of to help you understand and treat for this: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88601

If you are not using a de-chlorinator (ie. water conditioner such as Prime or Stress-Coat) you will need some

What are your water readings? This sounds like deaths caused from a cycling tank without more info to go on.

Fantasitic Read on Cycling a tank if needed: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

Article on Goldfish care: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97350

[jwddboy]

well it sounds like you have just set this up, also... technically speaking you shouldnt have goldfish in a tank like that. 1 is maybe ok...

Goldfish
Should
Get
12"

but you dont normally see them above 6" in a tank... that said, generally fish arent given room to grow, or time enough to grow... and die early.

They sound stressed, the ammonia build up will be killing them and their immune system is down... perfect conditions for a disease.

[Hooked Newbie]

Pretty much echoing the above posts... Did you cycle? If not, read the sticky at the top of the FW Newbie forum page and do this BEFORE you add fish. If you don't have a test kit, get one. It will be well worth it in the long run. Don't get discouraged, it's a much more fun and rewarding hobby once you get it figured out a bit.

:welcome: to AC!

[rwilliams254]

A lot of us went through something like this when we started.

Think of getting a car. Would you drive it, for the first time, without knowing anything about it? What the accerator is, brake, gear shift, where to put the key, etc...? It gets a lot easier once you know and understand some basic concepts.

[james1987]

well lets see, I use this stuff called "Prime" to treat the water. I have been putting it in every time I do a water change, which is every day since they all have Ich. I have had the tank for about 3 weeks now and I just got the algae eater & snail yesterday, I didnt know if that was enough time to build up enough algae for them to eat...
I will be buying a testing kit and raising the water temp. I read an article on testing the water. It sounded pretty confusing, but as with anything when you first start doing it i'm sure I can get the hang of it.....thanks for the help.....

[nickmcmechan]

how many goldfish?

[severum mama]

I'm thinking that the snail probably won't survive the ich treatment if you are using medication. Invertebrates generally don't fare well with meds. Don't add any more at this point.

I agree with what's been said, but just wanted to point out that the test strips are pretty much a waste of money as they are so inaccurate, so when you go to buy a test kit make sure you buy one with liquid reagents.

[jm1212]

algea eaters shouldnt have to take care of the tank. you should be doing all of maintinence.

a fishless cycle ill be much easier on the fish and you, for there isnt a need for the frequent water changes to keep the ammoina low.

goldfish arent good fish for a 20 gallon anyway. they get pretty big and make alot of waste. your best bet would be to take them back and do a fishless cycle

[hitman12131976]

I would also like to mention that NovAqua+ by Kordon is a great water conditioner that adds many different types of stress coats on the fish (i.e. Anti-Viral coat, Slime coat, etc). It also now has stuff to help with the their immune system and it has virus and bacteria inhibitors in it as well. They really seemed to spruce it up from the old NovAqua. I guess the + is all the rest of the beneficial stuff in the conditioner.

I even read from the website that this can dull down stains from ich medicine (blue silicone, green silicone stains etc.)