More than a couple questions.

pobynoy

pobynoy

AC Members
Mar 19, 2007
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Edmonton, AB Canada
I should warn, this will be a long post, but for those willing to offer some advice please bare with me.

I have been keeping fish now for about 6 months, I've done as much research as my interest permits me but it seems I'm at a point right now where I can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for, not in the books I've read, not on random aquarium websites and not at fish stores. Thus, here I am.

Specs: 20Gal aquarium (2 months running)
Filtration: Fluval 204.
Fish: 1 4-inch Oranda, 1 3-inch Pearlscale, 2 1-inch fantails, 2 Dojo Loaches 2-4inches.
Decoration: Lots of plastic fake plants, some rock, and basic gravel.
Heater: none
Air pump: Rena Air 100
Lighting: Dual 15Watt Ultra Sunlight florecent bulbs.

My main problem throughout my whole aquarium experience has been Ich. I've lost a few fish already, and 3 times now it has seemed like I got rid of the Ich, but as soon as I intoduce a new fish.. I see it again. I don't QT the fish, I just climatize them to the water and pop them in there. I do take the carbon out of the filter, and Ive tried many treatments. The first treatment was LIFEGUARD 5 day tablet system meant as a nuke for these parasites, I was told if anythign will fix my problem it would be this, but it didn't work. As of now I'm treating the aquarium with Freshwater Aquarium Salt(4 rounded Tablespoons). Seachem Stability New Tank Stabilization System. And QuICK Cure (containing Formalin, Malachite Green.) which claims to Cure Ich in 2 days, but at the same time mispells the disease right on the bottle. The fish as of today are in the stage of shedding the white spots, also causing the fishes fins to rot away. Needless to say they aren't looking good. I need to rid this tank of Ich for good, and I need to keep the whole system balanced, I would hate to add a new fish later on only to see this annoying disease once again. From my understanding Ich has 3 stages, of which only one stage is suceptable to treatment. Here is my confusion. How long to I treat the tank, I'm told not to do water changes and obviously there is no carbon in the filter, the water quality is horrible, the water is dirty and it seems like this Ich is here to stay. I've used another product by Seachem called Clarity(Water clarifier) which does nothing. Anothere thing is that I've been adding different decorations here and there I'm wondering if that would have any real affect on the aquairum itself regarding my Ich problem.

I tested the water and everything seems normal. So I am desperate.

Thanks in advance.
 
pobynoy said:
I've lost a few fish already, and 3 times now it has seemed like I got rid of the Ich, but as soon as I intoduce a new fish.. I see it again. I don't QT the fish, I just climatize them to the water and pop them in there.
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I am definatly NOT an expert, but right there, I suspect you might have summed it up. from what i've been reading (and I will be corrected if I am wrong), once cured, ICH can't survive for very long outside the host. It sounds to me like your fish are infected when you bring them home already and shortly thereafter you have an outbreak.

are you buying from the same store each time its happened? are the tanks there on common filtration?


I would definatly set up a QT tank though.
 
This is what puzzles me, All fish are from 5 different stores, none of which with common filtration. And its not always the new fish that gets Ich. I also have a 10gal, I used it to move 4 2-inch orandas from the 20Gal for fear i was over crowding the tank. (or maybe not im not sure) Im told goldfish are hard to keep, they produce a ton of waste and slowly but surely your system crashes. If i could have the 2 loaches and the 8 goldfish in the 20Gal i could use the 10gal for QTing. But that sounds like alot of fish in 1 tank, I'm sure you expects here can correct me if I'm wrong. Just a note too, I dont use an under gravel filter, and i dont vacuum the gravel. If any of you has any suggestions of additions to the tank to make the water quality better and the water clearer, let me know.

Thanks again
 
you CANT have 8 goldfish in a 20. Thats totally overstocking. You're going to have frequent crashes and surely kill your fish.
 
legendaryfrog said:
you CANT have 8 goldfish in a 20. Thats totally overstocking. You're going to have frequent crashes and surely kill your fish.
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In addition to this, (and more to your immediate needs) you most certainly can do PWC! Simply replace any concentrations that you removed of said treatment.

As for the Ich, please read this it is fantastic and I think it will really help you!
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88601

Good luck!!!! :confused:
 
i mite be missing something but why don't you have a heater?
 
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mhm and down the road, most tropical fish (not goldfish) like warmer temps of around 75-82 ish in my experience (maybe give or take a few degrees). If the water is up at about 80 degrees it is too hot for the ich to live in the water, so therefore no ich 8) So get a heater, even with goldfish, it regulates temperature causing less stress.... which is why your goldfish have ich..... but not only the water temp, you've got to many in there.

Jay
 
First of all thanks alot for everyone's quick and helpful replies.

It turns out I do have a heater, I was told at the pet store that with the Goldfish it was basicly useless, and from what you are telling me it sounds like it will keep my whole system alot more stable, so I have plugged that in and im about to do a 50% PWC. A couple other things though. The 20gal is currently stocked with 4 goldfish ( about 8 inches worth) and 2 dojo loaches (about 6 inches worth) . Is that too much or in the future can i add more? And about the water clarity, PWCs and seachem products dont seem to clear up my water, what are some other options as far as that goes, maybe vacuuming the gravel or is there a gaget or device i can use to get the job done?

Thanks again.
 
When you set your tank up initially, did you rinse the gravel? Not rinsing will definitely cause clouding... Goldfish are, in my experience, dirty fish and they need to be cleaned up after more frequently. Keep up on your water changes, here is a link for ich http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Ich Someone here sent me to this site, and the info helped me A LOT! I used the heat and salt treatment when I had an ich outbreak, and only lost a couple fish. I'm certain I would have lost them all if not for that. I used canning pickling salt btw. I know it's frustrating to deal with ich, but hang in there!
 
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Oddly enough, in my excitement I forgot to rinse the gravel. Will this go away after time? I did the 50% PWC and the water cleared up quite a bit but not completely. My poor oranda is in pretty bad shape, I assume its normal for the fishes tails to get damaged as they shed all this Ich stuff?

Also if anyone has any good links to some information on maintenance that would be great too.

You guys are great
Cheers
 
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