Hello I have a 29 gallon tank setup with some goldfish speciies. I have four.. a black moor., a lionhead. and two others of some sort/. I have noticed what look like air bubbles or very fine white specks of salt all over him but mainly on his fins. Is this a case of Ich? or is it really just air bubbles? Thanks in advance
Black moor with white specks
- Thread starter Ericjeeper
- Start date
Look up ich or ick on the internet (google search). Then look for a picture of the ich and see if that is what you are seeing.
A common place to start for treating ich is a salt treatment. It is generally considered safe for most if not all fish. It requires raising your tank temp above 80F, and then adding salt (any source of NaCl will do). Add 1 tsp per gallon of tank water (dissolved in water first then added to tank slwoly over a period of time like 1-2 hours or so). Do a water change each day and add enough salt to make up what would have been taken out. Once the ich dissappears then keep the treatment up for one more week. This will kill off the ich completely (hopefully) and it should come back unless you bring abother fish home with ich.
With the temp that high you will want to have some sort of surface disturbance in the tank, eithe rbubbles or else filter return. This will help to keep the oxygen levels high.
A common place to start for treating ich is a salt treatment. It is generally considered safe for most if not all fish. It requires raising your tank temp above 80F, and then adding salt (any source of NaCl will do). Add 1 tsp per gallon of tank water (dissolved in water first then added to tank slwoly over a period of time like 1-2 hours or so). Do a water change each day and add enough salt to make up what would have been taken out. Once the ich dissappears then keep the treatment up for one more week. This will kill off the ich completely (hopefully) and it should come back unless you bring abother fish home with ich.
With the temp that high you will want to have some sort of surface disturbance in the tank, eithe rbubbles or else filter return. This will help to keep the oxygen levels high.
I have had a few cases of white spot (ich) and I don't like the salt method, I get Ichonex from the pet store, it works great, but people here rave about the salt/heat method. So you should probably listen to them 
they out number me.
they out number me.
That's okay, galaga-girl, everyone's opinion is valid and the ich meds do appear to work. I just prefer salt and heat to the chemicals like formaldehyde and benzaldehyde green that are in things like quick-cure and Ichonex... They work, but are very toxic so you have to be careful...
What ever ich treatment you choose, do the treatment for at least 1 week after the last seen ich leaves the fish. This should help to kill the ich from the tank permanently. Otherwise you will end up with more ich in the future. And if you buy fish from the same source in the future then I would suggest getting a quarentine setup to medicate fish before they go into your tank.
And if you have any thing else in the tank (frogs, tiny tetras, cory catfish, snails, shrimp, crabs) then ich meds are a lot harder on them then the salt and heat method.
And if you have any thing else in the tank (frogs, tiny tetras, cory catfish, snails, shrimp, crabs) then ich meds are a lot harder on them then the salt and heat method.