Ich!
It sounds like what it is.
A tiny little parasite that gradually covers the body and fins of your precious goldfish…
… Until they look like they’ve just come out of a snow-globe.
But it gets worse:
Untreated, ich will eventually KILL your goldfish.
So:
Does your goldfish have ich?
Find out how to diagnose and treat it – before it gets out of hand.
What is Ich?
Ich is short for Ichthyophythirius Multifilis.
Also known as “white spot disease.”
And it’s a common unwelcome visitor in aquariums that contain recently purchased goldfish.
In ponds, parasites aren’t a serious threat to goldfish because most of them never find a host (thanks to all the water).
A fish can live fine with one or two.
But in a CLOSED aquarium…
… It’s a whole ‘nother story.
Now the fish has nowhere to escape as massive amounts of parasites multiply to crazy-high numbers.
This eventually leads to the fish inevitably getting “taken down.”
Unless you eradicate EVERY LAST parasite.
Symptoms
Common symptoms include:
- Flashing (scratching and rubbing on objects in the tank)
- Clamped fins
- Lethargy
- … And white spots
Sometimes goldfish ich can cause difficulty breathing and red skin, but this is less common.
Once you’ve seen ich, there’s no mistaking it.
The manifestation of white spot disease is far different from the breeding stars that appear on the gill covers and pectoral fin rays of male goldfish during the warm months of the year.
Ich will affix itself to any part of the goldfish’s body, save the eyes, and continues to multiply with time.
If left untreated, the goldfish can die.
This is because this creepy creature does considerable damage to the gill tissues of the fish, suffocating them through lack of oxygen.
So what can you do to help your fish?
Understanding the life cycle of this pesky protozoan is the key to eradicating it from your aquarium.
In a nutshell:
Ich is one of the most common parasites of domestic fish.
Interestingly enough:
The tiny white spots which can appear fuzzy up close are actually not the ich parasites – they are the goldfish’s immune reaction to the parasite underneath its skin.
Get this:
You may not always see the visible white spots when your goldfish has white spot disease.
Depending on the conditions in the tank, this disease may only be detected with a microscope.
If your fish flashes, clamps its fins and acts lethargic, it may host a vast number of ich organisms – though it shows no speckles.
WARNING:
If you do not treat the fish quickly, the fish may not survive.
You may follow a good treatment plan, but sometimes by the time you start it is too late for the fish.
Catching it early is key.
The Life Cycle of Ich
Ich enters the goldfish tank through the water.
(Let me say one thing about this: when you buy a new goldfish, please do not dump ANY of the pet store water into your tank EVER. You do not know what invisible pathogens it may contain.)
At this stage, the creature is “free-swimming” like a goldfish fry, and seeks to latch onto a host.
When it finds one, it buries itself underneath the skin to feed on the fish (yuck)…
… Where it grows…
… and grows…
… until it the skin bursts, releasing a packet that falls to the bottom of the tank.
From there, it continues to grow until it bursts open to release thousands of more free-swimmers that begin searching for a new host immediately.
The process continues until the tank is completely infested.
7 Steps to Treat Ich in Goldfish (Salt Method)
Look:
Controlling the temperature of the tank can help you clear up ich much faster.
While it is lodged in the skin of the goldfish, the protozoan cannot be touched by any cure and can remain there for over a week in low temperatures.
Because the pathogen can only be killed during the “free-swimming” stage, raising the temperature of the tank speeds up the life cycle of ich and allows you to kill the parasite while it is vulnerable.
Then you can DESTROY it with the treatment!
At Pure Goldfish, we prefer to go the natural way when it comes to goldfish treatment.
Store-bought medications are not only pricey, but they are very dangerous to the stability of the tank because they can destroy the beneficial bacteria needed to ensure stable water parameters and stress the fish themselves.
Recent evidence shows that strains of “Super Ich” are showing up due to the overuse of these chemicals.
Why pay for something that could potentially destroy your goldfish community?
Not only that…
… Many products that claim to cure ich simply don’t work.
Non-iodized sea salt (which cannot have any anti-caking agents) is by far the MOST effective and safe treatment for your goldfish tank.
You can get aquarium salt here.
Here’s the best treatment I’ve ever used to stop this disease for good.
Follow these five steps to cure your goldfish from ich:
- Gradually raise the temperature to around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Ensure plenty of aeration as warmer water contains less oxygen. The higher temperatures speed up the life cycle of ich, helping you get rid of it faster.
- Remove all live plants from the aquarium, if there are any. Salt will damage or kill them.
- Do a 90% water change before starting treatment to ensure optimal water quality while treating.
- For most cases, begin by salting to a 0.5% concentration (19 grams per gallon). Add the salt gradually in 3 separate doses at 12 hours apart (2 if the fish are severely infected), then replenish the same concentration with water changes. Dissolve the salt by stirring it in a bucket of water prior to adding it to the tank.
- Vacuum the bottom of the tank daily to remove fallen ich packets. Be sure the replacement water is salted to .5% as well.
- In addition to salt, be sure to use Melafix (a natural bacterial infection preventative) or Microbe-Lift Artemiss during treatment. This is because secondary bacterial infections after ich are common and can be extremely dangerous to an already weakened fish. The ich parasite does considerable damage to the tissues and skin of the fish which are at a high risk of infection. Many times the ich is not as lethal as the subsequent bacterial infections.
- If you must do a water change at some point of the treatment, be sure to replace the exact amount of salt you take out. Continue the treatment for 10-14 days.
Do not worry if the ich seems to worsen during treatment – this is normal and means that the life cycle of the protozoan is indeed speeding up, as you want it to.
In about 10 days, (if all goes well) things should start looking much better.
Note: ALL fish exposed to the sick one must go through treatment. Do not bother with a hospital tank if an infected fish was in your main tank as they have likely already contaminated it.
Keep a close eye on the goldfish and test the water frequently to maintain perfect water conditions.
Why Goldfish get Ich (and How to Prevent it)
Myth:
“Ich is a sort of “red-flag” disease that often tells you something is wrong in the tank or an owner’s husbandry – possibly poor water quality. “
Nope, sorry…
If your fish have ich, it’s not because of your care habits.
The REAL reason is because whoever sold you that fish did not quarantine them properly.
This means that if we as fishkeepers don’t want ich to invade our tanks…
… We have to treat for it in quarantine.
(Ideally before the fish start showing signs of it.)
Tips for Preventing Goldfish Ich:
- Do not dump in pet store fish water into your tank along with new goldfish
- Follow the correct water change and care outline to prevent toxins from accumulating and harming your fish’s immune system
- Try to choose healthy goldfish from the start to avoid incurring preexisting problems.
- Quarantine all new fish and only buy from a reputable goldfish seller.
Conclusion
Thanks for making it to the end of the post.
I hope this information helps you turn your fish around.
Ich is annoying, but as long as you catch and treat it early – your fish have a good chance of beating it.
What about you?
Do your fish have ich?
What’s your favorite ich treatment?
Let me know in the comments section below!
In regard to the four steps to cure goldfish from ich, are the entire three days of adding saltwater every 12 hours considered a treatment, or is every addition of saltwater a treatment? Also, am I supposed to leave the carbon filter out for the duration of the treatment?
Hi Leslie, thank you for your question =)
The duration of treatment usually lasts for 7 to 14 days long, which is to say the length of time that the salt remains in the water. I should have made that more clear in the article; thanks for bringing that to my attention. Adding salt to the water in increments is treating the water; but actual treatment lasts over the 3 days. Hope that makes sense 😉
Regarding the carbon, removing it is only necessary when you are doing some kind of a commercial treatment that the carbon would work against. Salinity is not something that will conflict with the carbon so you can leave it in just fine.
Wishing you the best in the fight for your fish!
– Pure Goldfish
Thanks for the clarification, and well wishes! I really appreciate your help! This is the first time my fish have been unwell, and I’m really concerned about getting the treatment right.
Great job! I applaud you for taking the time to make sure you do things right the first go around. You may want to keep in mind that ich is sort of a “red flag” to let you know something is off in the tank. It’s important to keep tabs on the water quality and tank stocking at this time to ensure your fish recover quickly.
Regards,
– Pure Goldfish
Hi! Do you do a 90% water change every time you treat the water with the salt? Or is it just a one time change?
It is every time.
Hi,I added a new fish two wks ago,2 days ago I noticed white spots all over its fins.i started salt treatment yestrday..I had two goldfish already in d tank first but one of them I think may have fin rot to now aswel..his tail fin keeps splitting and falling apart and long bloodstreaks tru all his fins.not moving much or eating..should I have taken him out to treat d fin rot first..he’s getting worse?
It might be time for an antibiotic for that guy
Hey, I wasn’t sure how to make my own comment so I’m just going to reply with my question…
My mom recently filled her fish tank with fish, the tank is 40Gal with 10 double tailed goldfish
– 4 Black Moor Fish
– 1 Medium fish about 3 1/2in
– 3 Small fish about 2 in
– 1 Multicolored goldfish (black, orange and white)
-3 Goldfish (with big fleshy brain type heads)
– 1 Large one about 4inch
– 1 Medium 1in
– 1 Small about 1/2 inch
-1 Albino Goldfish Large abt 3in
1- Janitor Fish, Small about 1in
Now, i know we have too many fish in our tank but they all have ich i think
I noticed the white spots on one of my black moor fish at first, i brought it to my mom’s attention but we didn’t look into it too much. It’s been about a week and our biggest moor fish (Bubby) is covered in a white milky film and was sitting at the bottom of the tank all day. Slowly we noticed that all the fish had the white patchy milky film. The other medium black moor (Mr. Wiggles). Mr. Wiggles is very active but lately hes been hiding at the back of the tank. We change and treat the water often and have a filter. The water is always cloudy though. I dont know if the salt method would work for all our fish… What do i do?
Film is from the parasitic infection. It will be difficult to cure the issue in such an undersized tank… did you cycle it before adding fish?
Hi, from my 9 gold fishes 4-5 are infected with ich. What should I do? I don’t have even hospital tank. Please reply promptly. Thanks.
The whole tank needs to be treated anyway, no need for a hospital tank. Use the salt method as described.
hi there . i have a 7 gallons tank wich house 4 fish 2 goldfish comet type and 1 common goldfish and one koi krap . they are small and verry active the tank is verry well filtred i have a xl-380 spoundge filter wich i have rework to work with a 800 l/ph and a air stone type disc 60mm and few plant 2 type elodore densa and some caboomba but..
let’s start one of the comet type goldfish has a white spot on the fins tale only one like a small white bumps and today in the morning i have see one on the side i did a water change about 10 litter from 30 litter and is disepear only that on the tale is wase overthere for like a two week . i will like to know it is the ink because today when i see the white spot on the side i get verry concern about my fish . the temperature is at normal is varry just a bit in the morning is 22-23 degrese and in the evening is about 22-21 degrese . usualy they are active and always the swimming and search for food on the gravel . and i know the tank is small for them but i will buy New one verry soon because this 7 gallon was the singles tank i was having at the time . and yes i know before maybe you will say in a moment . you shound buy the fish but i din’t buy it . i got them from carnaval only the common gold fish
That does sound like it could be ich, I’d be treating with salt about now
I think my fish has ich and i was reading the article i wanted to know when you do the treatment do i keep them in the tank or take them out
Keep them in.
What do you mean by replace all the salt when you do a water change how do I tell how much salt to put back in
Do you also have replace the salt in the 25% water change?
Hi there Alex,
Yes – when you do those water changes, be sure to replace the salt so your concentration stays at the 0.3% ratio. Just make sure to dissolve it first before adding it into the water so you do not burn your fish’s skin!
Happy Fishkeeping,
– Pure Goldfish
OK, thanks for the quick reply!
Hi I have a 5 gallon tank and my goldfish recently just caught ich. I have been using aquarium salt and ich medication to help the problem I have also been raising the temperature the only thing in his tank is his little house he goes in. I keep noticing that the ich will go away then come back in the same spot I keep looking up ways to help him faster so I could clean the tank and put my other fish in but they seem dangerous I basically did everything that was asked of me to help him I get really worried are there any tips that you could give ?
My first tip is to get him into a larger container. A 5 gallon tank isn’t stable enough to provide a safe home for a goldfish, let alone to conduct treatment in. He will do much better given more space as his immune system won’t be so stressed.
Hi I’m really confused my gold fish tank is well-filtered, maintains a 78 degree temp and I clean it regularly why does he have the spots? Also it’s a 10 gallon tank for one fish.
Is he new?
For good of goldfish i’ve search in web and i’ve found out that goldfish can only live healthily at 68 f to 72 f which is harm for them also cause of the parasite. What should i do ??
With enough oxygen and perfect water quality, goldfish can actually tolerate temperatures up into the 90s (F). It will be fine to crank up the heater to 78 or so while treating ich =)
Hi I tried your treatment for my two goldfish however within a matter of 5 minutes they both passed away 🙁 I’m confused as to why this happened…could you please explain what might’ve gone wrong?
Hi mk, sorry for your loss. Ich is kind of a “red flag” disease that means something already isn’t right in the tank. What size tank do you have and how often did you change the water? It could be that your water quality wasn’t where it should have been when you started treatment…
After the 3 days of treatment, do you just let the tank sit for the 7-14 days or until the tank is cured replacing salt with water changes, or do you repeat the 3-day cycle?
No, you do not repeat the 3 day cycle; just keep the salt at the .3% concentration by replacing it during water changes until the fish have been cured.
My goldfish has recently developed the white spot disease. What can I do to treat this? I am really scared. He has all the symptoms. Please someone tell me what to do!! Thanks in advance.
Hi Katie! There are 2 pages to this article on ich. The next page tells you what to do… it’s at the bottom of the article =)
How do I cure white spot disease? Please help me thanks in advance
How long can goldfish live with the white spot disease?
Hi, My gold fish has got white dots all over the body but it doesn’t seem they are causing ich. I increased the temperature by 2°c. Please tell what it is and how to cure it.
I have quite a small tank so does that change how much salt to put in
Yes, it does. But I don’t recommend trying to treat for ich in a tank under 10 gallons because parameters may be too erratic…
Hi, I have just this morning discovered white spot on most of my fish. I have a large tank, 6foot X 2foot x 1 1/2 foot, with about 18 freshwater fish in it. (mostly goldfish). My 16 year old goldfish died yesterday, and I woke up this morning to find alot more laying on the bottom of the tank. Then I spotted the white spot…. I have set up my much smaller tank and have put all of my fish in that… And will treat in that tank.. As for my big tank, if I completely empty it of everything and dry it out, how long would I have to leave it before I can refill and put my fish back in the big tank?
I would recommend treating the big tank with all of the fish in it. Ich can survive out of water unless it is sterilized/treated. It will also be easier to keep the water parameters stable.
Hi, I have one gold fish in a 30 gallon tank. My gold fish’s mouth is moving constant and he/she seems to just stay at the bottom of the tank. His head has also been turning black. I have taken half the water out of the tank, I treated it with a fungus treatment. Nothing seems to be helping him. We have had him for 7 years. I am not sure where to go from here. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Those are signs of ammonia poisoning. Please test the water for ammonia right away and do a large water change – take out 50% of the water and replace it with fresh treated tap water. Don’t worry about the fungus treatment, your fish is most likely having issues with water quality not disease.
I did take out 1/2 the water out on Monday. Should I do it again?
Yes, and test it first.
Hi, I took out over half the water. The water test was normal. My little buddy is swimming more but his mouth is still constantly moving. Is this normal and if so, how long will it take to get him healthy again? Also will his head ever return to orange or will it stay black?
Usually that indicates stress. If the water stays pristine he should return to normal and the black should go away with time.
Goldies laying on the bottom can also just mean low oxygen js
Can u do the salt mixture with different types of gold fish, swordtails, plattys, albino shark, and Molly’s? And I have a 55 gallon tank I’ve noticed they all have white spot disease
Not sure about other types of fish, they might be more sensitive to salinity than goldfish. I don’t recommend keeping them all together anyway, so it may be best to separate them into two tanks during treatment.
I discovered my fish have ich and got the stuff in the bottle to treat it this evening. I have a 10 gallon tank with 4 goldfish… Also realized I haven’t cleaned the tank since I set it up 4-5 weeks ago. I’ve changed some water but not a cleaning of rocks. I do have the vacuum thing. I changed 50% of the water this afternoon. My heater is the kind that goes on and off on its own based on temp. I’m scared they won’t make it??
Well, if you want my opinion here’s what I’d do:
1) Upgrade the tank asap. It is too small for 4 fish; I recommend at least 10 gallons per double-tail goldfish.
2) Remove any rocks or gravel at the bottom. They trap debris.
3) Keep changing 50% of the water with the vacuum every day until you get a larger tank. Re-dose with your medicine each time.
Also my 1 goldfish keeps going upside down and floating there next to the filter this last while. Flip over disease I just seen on the picture with black Moore fish?? How do u treat that?
May be, but you would have to test the water first to see if there is ammonia. It can cause that symptom in later stages of ammonia poisoning.
Hello! Thank you for upkeeping such an awesome website! I have a black moor (bubbles) who has ich. I was just wanting to clarify the best way to treat it with aquarium salt as I don’t like to use chemicals and don’t currently have non-iodized salt on hand. On this page it says to
“Dissolve 1 tsp of non-iodized sea salt (available from most convenience
stores) in a cup full of tank water. Pour slowly around the tank, and
repeat every 12 hours for three days. This will ensure that a 0.3%
solution is maintained. Between each treatment, perform a 25% water
change to remove fallen packets of the ich parasite from the bottom of
the tank.”
Whereas on the goldfish illness page it says “3 tablespoons of salt per gallon should be added to the water to kill
the ich. The salt should be non-iodized, natural sea salt or aquarium
salt. Pre-dissolve the salt in a cup of tank water, stirring it until
most of the grains can no longer be seen. Pour the treatment around the
tank slowly until the cup is empty.”
Which method is the best and if I have a 38gal. tank is the first method only 1 tsp for the entire tank per 12 hours?
Sorry for the long post, I have had him for over two years now and have never had any health issues with him and I just want to make sure I get it right. I am purchasing some more test strips after work today so I can make sure my levels aren’t out of whack either.
Thank you,
Vanessa
Thank you for your kind words, Vanessa. =) It should be the first one, 1 tsp per gallon. That contradiction will be fixed soon!
Awesome, thank you very much for your fast reply!
I’m fairly certain my goldfish, Marlo, has ich…last night she started violently flashing & jumping, then she was rubbing against the filter. Now she’s just lethargically floating upside between the filter and the cords. Last night we changed all the water & this morning I did the sea salt water treatment. I know I need to slowly bring the water temp up, but don’t have a thermometer & am not sure how to safely do it. I’m so worried that I didn’t catch the ich in time…I don’t want her to die.
Did you actually see white spots? More often than not violent flashing/scratching and lethargy are signs of ammonia in the tank water.
I don’t have sea salt what can I do
!! My fish is going to die!!! Reply ASAP!
You can try RidIch or a similar product if you have that on hand, but non iodized table salt should work as long as there are no anti-caking agents in it.
Thanks luckily I got the sea salt just in time !!
can i use API aquarium salt instead? i asked my coworkers (we work in a pet store) and they said to use this instead.
You could. But it’s more expensive per ounce. =)
I am not sure if my fish have ich or a fungus or something else. I have a black moor and a calico oranda in a 20 gallon tank (both are about 1 inch long). This is their quarantine tank. I got them exactly two weeks ago today and all of their water parameters are fine including ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. They have great water quality. The temperature is about 72 degrees and I haven’t seen any flashing or darting. The black moor started acting lethargic and bottom sitting a couple of days ago and is now becoming covered in a milky white film (could this be excess slime coat?) and his fins are starting to become shredded. The oranda was fine until yesterday when he started bottom sitting. He looks like he might have white spots but it is hard to tell because of his calico color. Does anyone have a recommendations? Thanks!
Probably not ich. Excess slime isn’t fungus, it indicates stress or burning. What is your pH? How often do you change the water?
I just bought a new goldfish , I named him pumpkin and he only has one eye to begin with, and he was fine the first few days but now he’s on the bottom of the tank and he kinda just lays down all day and he’s covered with white spots..what do I don’t? The other fish seem to be fine..
Cute name. =) Yeah, sounds like he has ich. The cure is provided on page 2 (look for the green numbers before “related posts” of this article. Sorry, I need to improve this layout!
I just noticed white spots on my fish, I believe it ich, I bought some Natural sea salt I was going to try first, but I wanted to make sure I am doing it right. I take out 1 cup of tank water and dissolve 1 tsp of sea salt in that and then pour it back into the tank? is that the right amount for a 40 gallon tank? what exactly should I do first? I don’t have a heater, do you think it is possible to treat without raising the temp?
For a 40 gallon tank you would use 40 tsp, because it is supposed to be 1 tsp per gallon. I’m sorry I didn’t define the tank size/ salt ratio… I need to update this article!
The heater only speeds up the life cycle of ich, it doesn’t kill it, so yes, it is possible to treat without the heater it will just take longer to do so. But probably it is a good idea to keep your water quality as pure as possible.
I have a 30 gallon tank with 2 small goldfish and 3 larger goldfish I have had them for over 5 years with no health problems and two apartment moves under their belt. I recently went to get a Pleco and came home with a another goldfish named gunner. I just noticed this am that one of the larger goldfish has white spots on his tail as well as one of the smaller fish. I have checked the levels and everything is fine. I recently did a water change when I had gotten the new fish. Could it have come from him even though he looks fine? They all seem to be normal as of now. I just want to be sure I’m understanding the directions correctly or can you specify the directions for my tank. I do not have a heater. Do I take the pleco out? What about the airator dragon I have? HELP PLEASE I don’t want my oldest fish or any of them to pass away.
Hi,
We are treating our goldfish for ich & are having some horrible results. We did just as you said but now their fins are fraying and they’re getting what appears to be blood spots all over them. Please help!
Hey Nate, if your water quality isn’t maintained during treatment or was bad to start with than you can encounter these issues. Did you test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH before beginning treatment and regularly change the water during treatment?
Arizona is not particularly known for its water quality but it’s what they’ve lived in for the last year! We had just changed the water the day before we noticed the ich & their behavior was normal. They look like death now! Should I discontinue the salt treatment or is this the “worse before they get better?”
The areas of water quality that matter most to goldfish are ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. It’s not advised to begin any kind of treatment program unless you are sure your water where it should be for those levels, which is determined through testing beforehand and all throughout the course of treatment. That is because medications (even the natural ones) all stress goldfish to some extent, which makes it harder for them to cope with the presence of toxins in the system itself. When you add salinity to a system that is off-balance it can tip things over the edge. Hope this helps! =)
Do i have to shift other fishes in another aquarium before starting the treatment for the white spots on gold fish?
I would treat the whole tank with all fish that have been exposed to it, Kavita.
Thanks a lot…this helped me a lot to save my lovely pets….
That’s great, Vaishnavi! 😀 Happy fish keeping.
I am still confused especially after reading other peoples posts. I am pretty sure one of my gold fish has ick. I have a 5 gallon tank and from what I understand I do a 50 % water change and than take 1 cup of water from the tank and mix in 5 tsp. Of sea salt. Than every 12 hours I do a 25% water change but than after I refill the 25 % of the water do I take out a cup of tank water and put in another 5 tsp. Salt with it and keep doing that every 12 hours or how much salt would I add with the 25% water changes. I will be doing this without raising the temperature so how many days will I need to do this for? Also am I still able to use the water conditioner for chlorine with each water change? Also when I am doing the water changes and I am using the vaccuum do I did to wash the vaccuum or other equipment after each time?
Whatever percentage of water you take out that is how much you need to replenish, so if you take out 25% of water out of a 5 gallon tank then you would need to put 25% of a tsp back in when you refill the tank. 25% of 5 tsp = 1/4 tsp X 5 = 1 1/4 tsp. You would need to double the time without raising the temp. Yes, you can and must use water conditioner. And I would definitely sterilize equipment in between each water change. As a side note I would mention that the small size of a 5 gallon tank makes it subject to large fluctuations in water quality and doing any kind of a treatment in such a space is a bit risky. Also, there is a chance that your goldfish does not have ich but rather an immune response to bad water conditions. You will want to be sure of this before making a decision. Hope that helps explain things better! 🙂
I just got a brand new fish yesterday and everything seems normal, except that I just noticed one white speck on his tail. He displays no abnormal behavior and is very active. Is it ich? What should I do? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Could be ich, Josh. White spots are the goldfish’s immune system reacting to something, which is might very well be a parasite if you just got the fish from the pet store. Frankly I would wait and see if more appear before doing anything, and in the meantime try to keep the water as good as possible.
Hi Pure Goldfish, I hve 9 goldfish 5 medium 4 lrge & @ little C@T fish in my 50 g@llon t@nk They R @ll infected except the small cat. is ok to leave my small cat in the tank when I follow your steps to cure? I used the blue organic medication my loc@l pro shop told me to use for over one month now they still h@ve white spots swim eratic itch onto the rocks & into the glass. I cleaned out the tank twice changed the water weekly, 25% every treatment still eratic behavior and spots. They never told me about sea salt and temp to 78°. can you help me save my babies please, they are not lethargic will your treatment still work? is it to late for my fish? thanks
Hey Ray! Not sure about the catfish, but its really important not to pursue any kind of treatment before making sure the water quality is good, and with 10 fish in a 50 gallon you are definitely looking at a bad water quality situation unless you do 90% water changes daily. Many if not all symptoms of water poisoning can mimic diseases, and medications will only whack things out more if that’s the case…
thank you so much I need to get a nother tank or get rid of some… how many fishes are ideal and how big for a 50 gallon tank? btw ty for the super advice and very quick response. you are very much appreciated. Ray
For a 50 gallon, 5 fancies is the max you would want. If it was me I would definitely be sure to get the catfish out of there, 99.9% of the time they will cause problems sooner or later. And you are very welcome 🙂
Hi,
I have 2 goldfish in a 5 gallon tank. 1 starting showing signs of cloudy/pop eye. Went to Petco and they recommended Melafix. Been treating with that since Friday (2/19). Did not know I had to remove the filter, it said remove carbon. What do I know. Since yesterday the filter is gone, light is off. Cloudy eye is gone but my poor goldfish’s head has white spots. There is 1 spot by his gill that was white and now has turned red. Melafix helped his eyes, no longer cloudy but the white stuff is still hanging around. The other fish is fine. Don’t know what to do. I am halfway through the Melafix and it seems somewhat helpful but not for the white ich. Please help and thank you in advance for any assistance, much appreciated. 3 days left for Melafix. Petco said I could keep treating with Melafix as long as I needed to. Just don’t know if that’s the best move.
It’s a bit late now, but I always say don’t treat unless you know the water quality is good. With 2 fish in a 5 gallon tank that’s highly unlikely. Melafix is not going to get to the root of the problem; focus instead on clean water. Please get your fish a bigger tank as this will help you and them 🙂
Hi Pure Goldfish,
Thank you for the prompt reply. I did test the water before beginning any treatment at Petco and they said it was fine. We got the first fish at my daughter’s school, she won it at a game last October. I was very leery but hopeful that we could give the fish a good home. Have no experience but definitely did a lot of research, care greatly and have the heart to give it our all. This fish was in a 2-1/2 gallon alone since January. We added the second goldfish then, we did not add any water from the tank at Petco. Just thought our pet Flash wanted a buddy. A week later we got them a bigger tank=5 gallon. That’s when our first fish starting showing signs of cloudy eye/ich. The water was clean. Not sure what the exact culprit was/is. I have been doing small water changes everyday. Melafix is not helping the white cloudy stuff on Flash’s head. I will focus on clean water since the treatment is almost over. I hope that alone with help his condition. So I should not pursue any other ich treatments? Thank you so much for your tips. Have a great day:).
You’re welcome! No, I would not go for any treatments, right now you have an overcrowded tank in which the main danger is water poisoning. Daily water changes are good – the larger the better – until you can get them more space. And you have a good one 🙂
Hi Pure Goldfish,
Happy Thursday to you. I am not so sure Flash has ich. I was doing more research today and I read that ich usually affects a fish’s entire body. Our fish’s head is mainly affected and its mostly this cloudy looking puffy white stuff on top of his head. Not white dots. He has 1 white dot above his left gill. I did a 40% water change this AM. I will see about getting a bigger tank, if space permits. So now I am thinking my fish may have a fungus of some sort. Do you think this may be the case? The white stuff has definitely increased in the last few weeks even though my fish is acting better (moving around more, eating better). Just clueless and our family is stressed out. Any feedback is appreciated.
Thank you.
Probably not fungus, it sounds like an immune response. Keep changing the water and it’s good you are looking into a bigger tank, small tanks are stressful on fish and owners. Be sure not to overfeed.
Hi, I’ve had my fish for a month now. I do 100% water changes every week. I keep a temperature at 78 degrees. I have one fantail about an inch, I have one that I am not quite sure what it is. It’s long about 2 inches, its orange. They are in a 10 gallon tank, they have 3 fake plants, gravel. I have a heater and a tetra PP 10 filter. The fishes don’t fight. When I got the 2 inch fish he had colors of orange and black. Now my fantail has black spots around his body, he sometimes swimming backwards when he is close to the filter, he swins fine away from it. Is this normal? Now for the Ich, my big fish he has at least 8 very small white spots. I do have a LED light. I am very concerned about it. Thanks.
Hi Kejdi! The black spots are a sign of ammonia poisoning. You have a problem with your water quality because of the space given per fish, the tank is undersized.
I’ve read through the 4 step anti-Ich treatment and all the comments and still I’m confused. I have a 10 gal tank with 2 garden variety goldfish. I’ve been doing the 4 step treatment using 1 tsp of salt every 12 hours with a 25% water change. Is it just 1 tsp or should that be 1 tsp per gal? Thank you for the clarification and the helpful website.
It is 1 tsp per gallon. However, if you have more than one fish in a 10 gallon tank I would not recommend executing any kind of treatment, as the water parameters are too unstable.
I have noticed that one of my goldfish has few white spots but my goldfish doesn’t scratch again surfaces or show symptoms of lethargy, I am not sure if my goldfish has the ich disease, how can I be sure of that? I have 2 goldfish in my aquarium and I have done many tests and the water quality is good
What parameters did you test for, Kristiana? More details on your setup and water change schedule would be useful too. 🙂
I change a quater of the water weekly and I am using strip tests for pH, carbonate, general hardness, nitrite, nitrate and chlorine. I also changed most of the water yesterday
And, what size is the tank? Do you have gravel and/or filtration? Ammonia is the most important parameter to know; you may want to have it tested by your LFS. Either way I would change the water again today and keep changing it; 1/4 per week isn’t enough in most cases.
I have both gravel and filtration, my aquarium is 40 liters and all the tests I did show negative for ammonia
For the size of tank you have, you would need to do at least 2 water changes weekly to accommodate your stocking levels. I would also take out the gravel, as it is a trap for debris and likely leaching toxins into the tank. Ich is a signal that something isn’t right with their environment.
Ok, thank you very much for your help
My two fantail goldfish, Ares and Pisces live in a 30 gallon tank and have contracted ich. I started treating it about four days ago and have seen no improvement. They are now bottom-sitting. I followed all of the directions. Please help
Oh sorry I didn’t mean to post the same thing (basically)
No worries 🙂
Did you test the water prior to treatment, Sam? Making sure everything is fine beforehand is critical to successful treatment.
yes
Ammonia:0
nitrite:0
Nitrate: 15′
PH: 7.2
the tank is cycled too
ares is now sitting sideways on the ground but is still alive
How much and often are you normally changing the water, and what filtration and feeding system do you have?
HI JUST DISCOVERED YOUR WEBSITE AND I THINK ITS BRILLIANT. SO INFORMATIVET. MY SON HAS A 32 LITRE TANK THAT HAS NO HEATI NG ONLY A LIGHT. WE HAVE 4 FISH AND HAVE HAD THEM FOR 2 YEARS WITH NO PROBLEMS. I DID A ROUTINE 50% WATER CHANGE YESTERDAY BUT FAILED TO NOTICE THAT THEY HAVE WHITE SPOTS UNTIL JUST NOW. MY SON IS INCREDIBLY UPSET AS AM I. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF NON IODIZED SEA SALT. IS IT A SPECIAL KIND ? I REALLY WANT TO START TREATMEANT NOW BUT ONLY HAVE NORMAL SEASALT. HOW DO I RAISE THE TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER ? PLEASE HELP AS WE DONT WANT PUDDLES, BUBBLES, BIG DADDY OR HOOVER TO DIE
Glad you like it, Alison! I wouldn’t advise doing any treatment with the current setup. Ich is a signal that something is wrong in the fish’s environment, which needs to be addressed first and foremost. 32 liters is a bit too cramped for 4 goldfish…
Chris here…. I am new to the aquarium world… We are 3 1/2 weeks into a new tank…. We did not have the ability to start the tank without fish… It has been challenging…. We have a black oranda ( head to end of tail is 6 1/2 inches) and a small Ryukin (head to end of tail) in a 20 gallon top fin tank… We have been fighting high ammonia in the tank…. Now due to all the stress of trying control the ammonia we have ich… I’m in the third day of treating the ich and the tank is cloudy… I mean very cloudy… Like a London fog… My gut say it’s a major bacteria Blume…. We had to pull the carbon filters for the ICH Guard medication…. I have also treated the tank with aquarium salt…. The fish are improving, meaning they no longer lay at the bottom of the tank…. I read that the ich would get worse before it gets better…. And it has… The oranda jus had a few spots yesterday now he has tons…. Should I be concerned about how cloudy the water is becoming??? I never knew that gold fish could be soooooo challenging…. Please advise… Thank you….
P.S. The Ryukin is 2 1/2 inches head to end of tail….
Hey Chris! Cloudy water is a sign of a dirty tank. Large water changes will be more help to you than meds.
Chris here… I was told to stop doing large water changes… I did them to drop the ammonia… Causing the fishes too much stress… So now I’m challenging 25% water each day as required by the medication… The cloudiness is white not brown or green…. I also replace the salt treatment that is removed by the water change… Also I am raising the water temp to the low 80s… The carbon filters are still out due to the meds… The fish are more active and less fin clamping… But the still look pitiful with the ich all over them… Is there no other way to assist clearing up the water??? Thank you….
It’s a myth that large water changes cause stress, unless the nitrates are high. Cloudiness in any form signals a dirty tank, and yes, only water changes will clear it up.
Hi,
I bought 3 goldfishes a month ago and one of them died unexpectedly last night. I had just gone to pets at home to buy the white spot treatment. (we believe that is what they have) but I was too late.
We treated the tank with the medicine last night and are waiting to see if our other 2 survive. They are laying at the bottom of the tank and not moving much. We also put the recommended amount of salt to see if his would help and left the filter working.
Our fishes are very small (baby goldfishes) and were told that a 24 litre tank would be ok to start with until they were 6 months old, when we could upgrade it. Was this tank too small even for 3 of them?
We consulted with someone at the pet store who said that perhaps we overfed them or did too many water changes. We changed 50% of the water every 4 or 5 days as the water was a bit dirty. Is this good or bad? We read so many things but we don’t understand why they are ill when we have tested the water and everything seemed fine.
I would appreciate if you could let me know.
Kind regards,
Al
Yes, 3 fish in that size of tank is way too many. It’s not even enough space for one, the size of the fish is irrelevant because even small goldfish produce a lot of waste. There is no such thing as too many water changes with goldfish 😉 You would need to be doing daily 90% water changes with that many fish to keep them healthy.
Is distilled water good to use for water replacements?
It will bring your pH down, so I wouldn’t use it unless there was no other option.
Hi
I have a 13″ bowl with a carbon filter. I have had a healthy and active gold fish in it for over 3 years. Last week i introduced a new gold fish into the bowl along with the pet store fish water. Now both the fish have a black spot on their tail fin and one of them has developed tiny white spots on its body. I want to help them. Please advise what i can do to treat them. I am not not sure how may gallons the bowl can accommodate (I think in litres it should be around 10 litres.)
1) how much sea salt would i need?
2) SInce there is a problem with the water, should i change the whole water once?
3) There is no temperature control in my fish bowl.
Please advise.
1) Don’t use salt or any kind of treatment while water trouble is going on. It will only stress them more.
2) Yes, daily.
3) That’s okay. Like I said, you don’t want to do the ich treatment while all this is going on because you could kill both of your fish.
Really appreciate your prompt response.
So at the moment, i should only keep changing the whole bowl water everyday, right?. For how many days should i do this?
When do i start the salt treatment?
Thanks Pure Goldfish.
Change the water until you can get a proper tank. I wouldn’t worry about the salt right now, just focus on water. 🙂
I have a very small tank, one and a half gallon, bought brand new. It has no heater. I bought 2 small goldfish. One developed ich in a couple of days then died, the other is dying now. Is it possible to have an ich free tank with no heater? And after this poor little guy dies do I clean the tank treat water with the salt and let it run a couple if weeks or days before I try again? And should I get another filter now?
To be perfectly honest, Selena, 1.5 gallons isn’t enough for even one goldfish 🙁 Fancies need to have at least 10 gallons apiece because with such a tiny water volume, they quickly poison themselves with their waste and will be permanently stunted in their growth (they get to be 6-8 inches large). Ich is only a sign that they are weakened. You don’t need a heater to have an ich-free tank though – goldfish get ich when their immune systems are low with or without it. If you want to keep goldfish I highly recommend getting a 10 gallon min tank with a proper filter and cycling it first too (you will have to read up on that). Hope this helps 🙂
Hello. I started up a new 46 gal tank and have slowly added in some
Goldfish. I started with one and after a week everything seemed fine, I added in two more. Everything was good for a few days, then I noticed the first one had what looked to be anchor worm. It was hard to catch beacuse she is shy and hides a lot. By time I figured out what it was and got the medicine it looked as though the anchor worm left (just a protruding red hole or bump left no tail of the worm as I was going to remove it). I removed the carbon from my canister filter, did a 20% water change and added medicine for anchor worm and some salt. Unfortunately, as I did this I noticed my other has white spots. What do I do now as I am not sure how to treat both? They seem healthy otherwise and are not flashing or lethargic.
Salt will treat both, I wouldn’t use any storebought medications.
Hi there…
Wonderful information!! Just a quick question… After the 3 days of 25% water changes adding the sea salt how long do you leave this for M before doing another 50% water change?? This is day 2 for me I don’t see much change, not as much flashing going on just more sitting on the bottom of the tank 🙁
My tank is roughly 228L
So is that still 1 tbs of salt??
1 tsp salt. After the 3 days of treatment wait 12 more hours and then do a 50% water change again. If your water quality wasn’t spot on or there was another underlying issue the treatment won’t yield results.
Awesome.. Thank you so much for your reply. I will continue to do this….
Is this supposed to get rid of the Ich completely ?? Or is there a chance I may be doing this again?
Thanks again 🙂
Ich is never completely gotten rid of, it is always in the water. It’s a matter of your fish’s immune system.
I’m confused on how many tbs of salt we are supposed to use. I have a 10 gallon tank, so would i use 10 tbs? Please help!
10 tsp, not tbsp. Hope that helps 🙂
Hi I have had a fish for a year now and A week ago I noticed she had white spots and a scabby and clamped tail.She still eats and we have three plants,another gold fish who doesn’t have it , and a bottom feeder/allege fish who we got a week and a half ago . We emptied the shop water in the tank and haven’t changed it for three weeks because we have a filter and the bottom feeder.I love this fish so much my friend gave it to me and I would be sad to tell her it died please give me a soulution and help me with the salt.(three gallon tank) I have a dog too but that has nothing to do with it I got it after I noticed . Had her for a week I got the dog the day after I noticed.I moved the fish to a smaller tank with clean water we used to keep it in.No filter rocks or plants about a gallon give or take.We had rocks in the big tank too with a nice decoration at least 2inches tall and 3 in with 3 1/2 in length.She also has small strips of brown or black on her tail.I looked up pics of this ich and it looks just like it . please help me !!! Thank you
Brown/black smudges can be due to high ammonia levels, which can also trigger disease.
Hi Pure Goldfish thank you so much for the treat ment my fish are back to normal !!!!!!Thanks
Also bottom feeders die from salt I saw some people asked that question!So separate them when doing the treatment!hope that helps
I wish I would have read this before I did my treatment. I did not read this site but had the knowledge to do exactly what is written in this blog. I got my salt and put it in my tank because my Black Moor Goldfish had it pretty bad. It showed up almost overnight about 10 hours. And when I put the salt in, I noticed the next morning that my two Japanese shrimp we’re dead.:-(
Aww sorry :/
Happy to hear this helped your fish, Joseph!
Your article said if you replace 10 gallon of water, replace with half teaspoon of salt in new water. But Helena was going to put 10 teaspoon of salt in 10 gallon tank, isn’t that too much? Please let me know what is the correct dosage for rich treatment. Thanks.
Max, thanks for bringing this to my attention! That should have been 10 tsp not 1/2 tsp. I’ve corrected it now. Thanks again!
Hi, so I had added an algae eater with my goldfish so I know it was the culprit of my fish getting Ick. I didn’t know it was Ick till today when I saw the white spots on its fins and some raised scales plus the sudden darting and lethargic behavior. Is it too late to save them? Is it really better to do the salt treatment versus the medicine? Shall I separate that algae fish or should he be part of the treatment process.
Thanks for your help!
Medicine will kill your good bacteria, so I definitely wouldn’t go that route. I would separate the algae fish, not sure how well they tolerate salt.
Hi, I recently purchased a black moor a couple weeks ago and i just discovered that he had a white slime coat on him.. He just recently got this after i purchased a food block, it was pink and the box stated that it wouldn’t cause the water to fog but i believe it did, it also caused the filter on my tank to turn pink, but I believe that this food block may have caused this slime, my question is though, could you classify this as ich?
No that doesn’t sounds like ich, ich is spots not slime. White slime is the fish producing too much mucus in response to irritants in the water. Cleaner water should do the trick.
Good afternoon, Pure Goldfish I have recently purchased a 10 gallon tank with decorations and along I also bought 15 goldfish and 2 alge eaters. The pet store told me I won’t need a heater due to the fact of the fish only needing cold water to live in because it is their environment water but 2 days ago I notice 1 alge Eater and 3 gold fish dead I quickly removed them and set them aside. Today I found 2 more goldfish dead and noticed some white spots on the remaining fish in my tank. I immediately knew there must be something wrong and have been trying to find a solution to help the fish recover and gain strength. I would like to know what can I do to help my fish and not lose them please help me find a solution to cure them
15 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank is WAY too many for that size.
Hello!
Sadly my entire tank of goldfish passed away recently from Ich, and I would now like to purchase more.
Could you please tell me how to sterilise my tank? I was going to simply drain it and let it air dry; would this work?
Thanks!
Sorry to hear about that :/ You will need to either leave it dry for a month or use chlorine (aka tap water) to sterilize it.
Thank you very much for your reply!!! 🙂
I had them for years, so was sad to have lost them all; it happened so quickly 🙁
My condolences :'( It is so tragic when that happens…
Hi, we gave started the salt treatment, 1 tsp to 1 cup tank water every 12 hrs for 3 days, now tonight is the 25% water change. We have a 20 gal tank and we are actually removing 3-4 gal. because a lot has evaporated. It’s about a gal short. So I’m confused on how much salt to put back in with this water change to keep it consistant. Please advise. Thank you.
Basically you just have to maintain the concentration per gallon. However, if water is evaporating that technically isn’t removing any salt so you don’t have to put salt in the new water. Hope that makes sense 🙂
When you say use tap water to clean the tank after ich does it have to stay in the tank for a while or just rinsing everything out?
Just rinsing it is fine 🙂
IN the article it said that you can’t use carbon filters. What type of filters can we use, or should we not use filters at all
I also have baby Chinese aggressive algae eater that keeps eating things of my 2 goldfish or trying to attack them, so should I separate the algae eater and the 2 goldfish
all the fish have clamped fins, one goldfish has more white spots then the other and the algae eater doesn’t have white spots so far.
Yes separate them permanently.
Biological filtration is fine, active carbon will interfere with treatment.
Hello, I just discovered this website and I love the info in it. I have 2 comets in a 20 gallon (they’re being moved to a pond soon) and they are in terrible shape. I had a 2″ pleco and a shubunkin I bought maybe a week ago, but they both died. My fish have never been sick before, but now my remaining fish are in terrible shape. They look like zombies. They both are laying at the bottom of the tank gasping for air. They wont eat. They have hemorrhagic septicemia from the look of their fins (Their red and all tore up, with the edges being white), and they have ulcers around their mouth and gills. Their mucus layer is extremely thick, even on their eyes, which made me think it was velvet at first because it looks that thick and fuzzy. However, if I look really close, it looks like they have little white dots all over their body, which made me think ich. My water parameters checked out to be perfect (it is also cycled, and they have lived in the tank for about a year). I dont think it was from the new fish because one of the older ones was showing signs of lethargy before I got it. The temp of the tank is about 71 degrees. Im currently treating with erythromycin (for the septicemia) and ich guard. I also put about 4 tablespoons of salt in their tank. Ive been treating for about 2 days, but they only seem to be doing worse. Should I do a more aggressive form of treatment, including a salt bath? Or will that be too stressful? Should I add more salt to the main aquarium? I will be turning up the temp and reducing light as much as possible (It shouldnt be too hard, the tan is in the basement). Thanks in advance. These fish really mean a lot to me, and I want them to live to see their new home in the pond.
They also have clamped fins to the extent that they can hardly swim. The disease progressed in a span of about 4-5 days. Before I went on vacation, they were fine. When I came back, they looked horrendous. Hope this info helps
Hi Maleah! You say the water parameters are perfect… what exactly are they for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? GH and KH might be good to know too, and what the tank setup is like as far as any gravel, filtration, what your normal water change schedule is like, etc.
I had taken a sample to my LPS to get it tested. She didn’t tell me what the exact parameters were, she just said they were exactly where they needed to be. I had done a water change as soon as I got home from vacation and that was the water that was tested, so it’s possible the water was not so good while I was away. Both my fish died yesterday. I don’t think the disease was ich because of how bad their condition was in the last day or so. I regret not having any clove oil on hand to end their suffering a little sooner. I’m currently trying to kill any bacteria or parasite that is living in that aquarium, so I put 60 tsp of Epsom salt, turned the temp up to 89 degrees, and covered it up so its not getting any light. Is that going to be sufficient to kill everything? And how long do I have to do it for?
Sorry to hear about your losses 🙁 I have not tried that method for sterilizing, so I can’t say for sure. I think a chlorine solution is more effective or letting the tank dry for a few weeks.
I have a irradecent shark will it be fine in during the salt water treatment and I’m using fresh water to start the treatment so the larger tank can be cleaned out completely
You may want to research further on the exact dosage, but I have heard that it is safe to use salt for ID sharks.
I have two new goldfish living in a 20 gallon tank. We’ve recently noticed that one of them has become lethargic, spending much of it’s time on/near the bottom of the tank, coming up to feed and play around briefly. It appears that it has ICH (white spots). Can you advise how to go about changing the water and adding the salt solution. We’ve never changed the tank as the fish are very new.
Changing the water is probably more important than the salt, if you haven’t ever changed the tank yet. I would start with that.
Hello, sorry to ask again still confused. I just got 3 goldfish from Petsmart yesterday evening. So have had them for about 24 hours. They are the only fish in the 75 gal tank (new set up no prior fish). They looked healthy and clear when i got them now one has 4 white spots on it’s head that wasn’t there yesterday and I notice it hanging at the bottom back of the tank (still eats though). I would take them back but I guess they have already contaminated the whole tank so it wouldn’t do any good… What would be the salt ratio I’m confused would it be 75 tsp since it is a 75 gal tank? That seems like a lot don’t want to kill my new goldfish.
Did you cycle the tank first?
I had the tank set up and running for a week before getting the fish. I read somewhere else that the only way to “truly” get the tank set up with the bacteria was to get the fish so the cycle could start. But yeah, it was up and running a week with no fish first. I soaked in warm water and rinced off all gravel, fake plants, and decor before putting them in. This morning the one fish that had the 4 white spots doesn’t seem to have them anymore and it is more active. Should I still do the treatment any ways, or wait and watch for more spots? With no heater the tank is running at 79*F. It sure looked like ick but it couldn’t have cleared up that fast on it’s own?
Your problem doesn’t sound like ich to me, Melissa. It sounds like an immune response which happens during New Tank Syndrome. I would recommend following the fish-in cycle guide found in our book rather than treating for parasites 🙂
So i bought a gold fish about like a week ago. And just saw today that one of his fins has white spots, but his still moving around and still coming up for food. And i did a 25% water change for my 10 gallons. Is that ich or not? I’m just worried…
White spots on the fins could be breeding tubercles. Are they all over or just on the leading rays?
Hi i have a 10gal tank with 1 goldfish. Ive had the tank for 2wks and i noticed my goldfish has white spots on his tail and is lathargic and hides. I havent changed the tank yet. Should i start with the salt solution or change the tank?
If this is a new tank, chances are salt will only make things worse…
I’ve recently lost 6 fish in the last 3 days, leaving 1 left. It’s very upsetting being I am a newbie to the fish hobby. I have a 28 gallon tank. Yes, I know it’s little for the amount of fish I had, but that’s what my local fish store sold me. Not knowing anything I went along with it until I started doing research. But now I have one left and I have worked my butt off with this tank to keep all alive. I’ve been looking up exactly what it is that’s going on, and I THINK it’s white spot disease. It started on my artificial plant, white gooey stuff, and now it’s on my fish. Covering his eyes and body and his fins look horrible. Yesterday I did a 75% water change, taking out the plant, and doing a thorough clean. I added aquarium salt and put a heater in my tank raising my temp. Today I did I’m starting your treatment, raised the temp, and added sea salt. I’m curious to know if I’m approaching this correctly by not being certain it is white spot disease? Also when I do my water change, how am I supposed to maintain the temp in the new water to 76 degrees? I appreciate any help you can provide, I don’t want my big guy to die 🙁
That doesn’t sound like ich. I wouldn’t be salting… instead I would follow the emergency treatment plan for tank correction found in our book. It also contains a lot of important information for your fish going forward 🙂
I’ve been salting for 24 hours now and he looks soooo much better!! I also see the white spots on him now, maybe the goo was just covering them up. He has his fin back up and swimming around again. When I do my water change, will the room temp water affect the warmth of his tank? Is there any fish I can add to his tank later in the process? He looks lonely ?
I wouldn’t worry about the temp. Or add more fish for a while at least.
Does Iodized Salt work as well?
It isn’t safe for goldfish.
I have 4 week old goldfish fry in a small tank. I have had white spot a couple of times and treated with a weak salt solution. It is back again this morning. I have aeration but no filtration. I believe this came from some daphnia bought from the local pet shop. I will be putting in filtration this morning as I think they are now strong enough. They do not seem to be affected by the white spot at all.
Wjhen replacing water, do I let tap water stand for 24 hours ? (please don’t think I’m stupid, just learning)
The thought never crossed my mind. Congrats on the fry. If you have chloromines then that won’t work, you will need conditioner.
i have a gold fish that bit my other fishes tail. I took him out of the tank but one of my black Moore fish has white spots and also his eyes are covered with white stops too. What can I do to help it?
Hey Kimberly, if the eyes have white spots too that could be a sign of excess mucus after burning. I’d recommend following the emergency care plan found in our book to get things under control, after which you can follow up with ich treatment if need be.
Hi I have a comet goldfish that I saved from the fair and I had him for about april to September and he got to big for his old tank so I upgraded him to a bigger tank and decided to buy him a friend,but of course I checked for the ick on the fish I but I did not see any sign s at all so I bout it.a week later I noticed my comet goldfish has the ick all of a sudden so then I moved him to a corentine tank so I could make him better. Again… Its been 4 days and he’s not getting better but yes the first day I added ick medican.I’m relley sad because I don’t want him to pass away because I still rember the day I saved him from the fair and he looked so beat up with torn fins but I reameber that I healed him to better shape so please if any one has any good ideas please commet back fast please
Hey Alexander! I’d recommend following the emergency care plan detailed in our book for one week minimum, then following up with the easy ich cure. Hope that helps! 🙂
So about 5 weeks ago my 5 goldfish of 2 years, got a new, bigger tank. They settled in just fine, and are loving the extra room, hooray! However about a week and a half ago I noticed a small white dot on one of my fish’s tail. Granted it was rather hard to get a good look at, he never stopped swimming long enough for me to get a real good look. I thought of Ich right away since I have had tanks with it once before, but he didn’t show the other signs. So I passed it off as nothing and decided to just keep an eye on it. Today I noticed that the small white dot has grown and is now a larger raised white dot. So diagnosis, Ich. I am currently slightly over due for a water change by a few days, as a result of an overfull schedule, so that will be the first thing I do tomorrow, I realize that it probably hasn’t helped the situation at all. So my question is that since he is still extremely active, and always has been, eats fine, doesn’t clamp up or anything else (the other fish are fine as well I have thoroughly checked them over) should I just try more frequent water changes for a while, and continue keeping a close eye on the tank, before I try more stressful treatments, such as water temperature and salt?
With one dot, it may not even be ich. It could just be a reaction to some irritation or stress.
If you went to a pet store, would they accidentally have a few goldfish with Ich or do they make sure they have nothing wrong with them?
Pet stores (especially chain pet stores) are a hotbed for ich. :/
I need some help I don’t know what my goldfish has. So far only 2 have died. I saw this morning one of them has white spots I’m not sure if it’s ich or tail rot ??
White spots sounds like ich to me.
Do you know how i can treat a goldfish with white lumps
I’d follow the tank prep and treat plan found in our book 🙂
Hi,
I recently got a new fish and put it into my tank without treating it beforehand. A week later I’ve spotted ich on him but it quickly spread to my other three fish. Last night the new fish had died and the other fish have spots all over them. So I did my research and got a heater and an air pump it’s been three days and it only seems to be getting worse. Oh and I’ve been using Kordons ich treatment. Please help my favorite fish now has a torn fish. I’m afraid he can’t fight the current from the filter much longer. 8 want to turn it off but I read online that it will kill the bacteria.
The filter can be turned off for 24 hours without killing the bacteria. You just have to keep the water clean manually.
Hi, is it a uk gallons or us gallons? My gf tank got attacked by this ich disease. FYI my tank has 81 Fahrenheit from the start coz i live in South East Asia, so i raised the tank temp to 83 Fahrenheit. Any advice for my tank?
US gallons. 83 is good. Just what is written in the article 🙂
Please help! My daughter’s goldfish is 6m old and acting totally fine, but we just upgraded him to a bigger tank. We had no idea about how you have to cycle a tank, so I guess it only was set up 24 hours before we put him in. 2 days later we got him a buddy, Cow, another goldfish from PetSmart. It’s 4 days later and we now notice 3 fuzzy bumps on his tail fin, and his back fin is collapsed. He won’t eat. I’m going to the pet store tomorrow for help, but I’ll be devasted if the older fish gets sick. We don’t have a heater so I don’t even know the temp of the tank. It’s a 10g. Haaalp
I have noticed my little black moor is very lethargic today, sitting on the bottom. Now and again he goes on a mad dash then returns. There are white spots that look like tiny bubbles on his back fins and he looks a bit like he has a very thin sheen over his body. He has been fine until now. There is one other fish in there, a telescope, who seems absolutely fine. It is a 64 litre (14 gallon) tank. Is this ich and should I start the salt treatment or could it be something else. They both have long strings of poop coming out, the telescope is greenish but the moor is a bit whiter. Wondering if maybe all this has been caused by overfeeding or is the Moor suffering from something more serious? cheers
Bubbles could be supersaturated gas pockets, not necessarily illness.
Please help, i bought my daughter a tank here in the philippines after keeping tropical fish for several years in the uk. I cycled the tank and added some ramios and a few rams also live plants. All was good for one week alagae and plants growing crystal clear water no issues then boom (white spot on one of the rams) i only have one ramios out of seven fish left, it was looking like the last ram and himseld were going to survive but i lost the last ram today and now the ramios looks clear of sny white spot. What should i do next. Chlorine treatment or ride it out. Not wanting to kill the plants or the last fish.
They may have gotten it in the pet store. Chlorine is toxic so I wouldn’t do that. You could try the salt?
I have about a 400-500 gallon preformed plastic pond. The gold fish just started getting ick. The pond has 3 types of duck weed, taro, papyrus, and water lettuce. I can remove and put the fish in a tank for treatment, but if I put the fish back in the pond they will get recontaminated. How do I decontaminate the plants, pond, pump, tubes, and plastic preformed liner? Can I separate the fish from the plants for a week or two and break the cycle and have have the plants be free of the parasite?
You will need to wash the plants in a chlorine solution and treat the water with salt.
My tank is at 68.5 degrees fahrenheit. It is a 70 Gallon tank.
I have been cleaning the water everyday and the filter once a week for two weeks but the symtoms are still showing on my two common goldfish.
One has white fuzzy bits around it’s head and also on it’s eye, the severity comes and goes.
The other fish is clamping it’s fins and hanging out towards the top of the tank, only moving to eat. And swim fast from time to time and then back to it’s spot.
I have decided to try a salt treatment for 7 days with daily water changes.
I have a heater for my tank and would like to get the temperature up to around 74 degrees fahrenheit since that si what is recommended. But I also know that fast temp changes can cause stress and more issues. How fast should I bring the temperature up?
Thank you for your help. And any other insights you think I should know.
That could be fungus. I’d check our diseases page for a symptoms list.
Hello , I’m in Australia an I set up my boys tank 10 days b4 we got him fantail fish 6 , 3 died in th first 4 days one a day ! The 3 left have have little white Dotti bumps all over their tails and some on the top fins they are very active and are still eating is this ick or something else ?????
That does sound like ich.
That does sound like ich.
1. right, I see how the white cotton growth and eye cloud might be a fungus. But I also have a fish in the tank that is shaking her head and swimming fast in short blasts. Can fungus also cause that behavior?
2. And I see the water shouldn’t be too cold to treat the fungus. I have heater. I have never used it before. If I am at 68.5 degrees. Over how long of period of time should I take to get the temp up to 75 degrees. I know it can’t be cold for the salt to work. I just don’t want to bring up the temp too quickly. Like should I raise it over the next couple of hours or over 24 hours. what is safe for the fish. I know temp changes cause big stress for them.
thanks Pure Goldfish.
Ammonia levels could. I’d test the water. I would raise temp over a few days.
How should I go about replace the water. .. I have pebbles at the bottom of my tank and they get really dirty because of the food and waste. Should I take the fish out everytime I replace half the water to clean the pebbles or should I just take all the stuff out of the tank. I just don’t know how to keep the tank as clean as possible.
Another question. Is there a chance a gold fish can be a bully? One Of my three gold fish keeps pecking and picking on the other two. They all have the ich thing but idk if that would cause this one fish be so aggressive.
Take all the stuff out 🙂 Yes, goldfish can bully, especially if they are in too small of a tank.
Hi I have recently found a love and passion for goldfish.I currently have one goldfish in a ten gallon tank (I’m planning on getting a bigger tank and another goldfish) But yesterday while cleaning his tank I found three white spots on his tail, I really love him and should hate for him to die please tell me how to treat it.
Thank you
-Ottothegoldfish
I wouldn’t do anything just yet, three isn’t enough to be an outbreak.
Could his tail be broken!
They often heal.
Hi. I have 3 goldfish under traitement with (jungle.lifeguard.all-in-one) and 1 goldfish with (nox-ich). Traitment is going well. Spots are gon in both cases. In both aquarium water has still medication. I want to add some aquarium salt. is it safe if salt and medication get mixed.or i have to change the water completely before adding salt. Thank you.
No :/
My goldfish is in a bowl and I change the water by hand. Before you judge I had a fish live about 9 years by living in a bowl. I just noticed that there are white patches on my fish’s body. Is there anything I can do to make it go away. The fish seems fine. Still swims around and everything. Would changing the bowl more help?
It might…
Is there any other suggestions?
Hey a couple of weeks ago I bought 3 gold fish.One was very small and the others were average sized. I have plants and other fish tunnels and things.but soon after I bought them something was wrong. The really small fish started to get white spots on the end of its tail and the tail was starting to disappear.i left it till the next day and its tail was just being eaten away. I had no idea what to do so I put it in a separate tank hoping it wouldn’t affect the others. So I kept it in there for a day and half of its tail was gone.It was now really struggling to swim.i knew it was going to die very quickly but then… my other goldfish started to get the spots on the end of his tail! Please I really need some advice what to do quick! How do I stop the white spots from killing my fish! I would also like to ask if I treated the deseise would there fins grow back?
Fins will regenerate.
And how do I stop it from spreading?
do i have to change 90 percent of the water every 12 hours for three days when I’m doing the salt treatment?
Yep
i have a 55 gallon aquarium with a koi and other fish the koi has recently been stressed by the addition of a new fish. ive noticed white fuzzy balls attached to her tail fin. ive medicated all i can and even cleaned the tank good and cannot get rid of these white balls. pease help
Hi! I have a 70 gallon tank with 3 orandas and a ranchu. Recently my ranchu has become very lethargic and barely eats. This morning I noticed he had some white spots on him, but the other 3 fish are all fine. The other fish have also started bullying him practically non-stop (chasing him and nipping) Is this because he is sick? Can ich only affect one fish but not the others? Also, I have had the tank setup for about 9 weeks, not sure if that info helps anything or not. Would you recommend the salt treatment or perhaps just a water change? Should I separate the ranchu from the others? Really don’t want him to die, I love the little guy.
I’m not an expert, but I would definitely put the ranchu in a separate tank, at least until the white spots are taken care of.
As for the chasing and nipping, they might be trying to play (after all, what else are fish supposed to do xD), or they might be purposefully bullying him, which is, unfortunately, common among fish of different breeds.
Maybe a tank divider would help?
Best of luck
How do you know when the treatment is working?
Fewer and fewer white spots.
Why does my dead oranda have white spots on its hole head eyes. Its been like 8 hr
I should mention that the new fish is the one with the spots and the old fish is wanting normal for now
Do I have the change the water before I put in the salt or could I do it in the next 12 hours? Also, I have salt that is non-iodine that doesn’t say sea salt so is that ok?
Hi there!
I recently got two comet goldfish (one was a carnival fish that I rescued, the other a pet store fish), both seemed to be in good health. I purchased a 20 gallon TopFin tank, complete with a heater, filter and LED lights. Since I’ve only had the fish for about 3 weeks, I have not had the chance to change the (purified) water yet.
This morning I noticed that my store-bought goldfish had developed small white spots on his (not sure about gender, but I’m taking an educated guess here xD) dorsal fin and tail. The other fish seems to be fine, although she is mostly white so it is harder to tell. Both fish are behaving normally and eating as usual. I have a small quarantine tank already prepared, what should I do?
I should also mention that yesterday I moved the tank to a 3-foot stand and had to temporarily remove about 50% of the tank water to lift it. After moving the tank I put the same water back in. Should I run my gravel vacuum, or would that only make it worse?
I think that would probably help.
For the salt step, is it 1 teaspoon per gallon every 12 hours for 3 days (equals 6 treatments) or just 1x per day for 3 days (equals 3 treatments)?
Help I’ve had a black pop eyed goldfish for about 3 yrs. He was getting really really big in a 10gal tank. Never had any problems and didn’t know a lot about fish. We got a 55 gallon tank about 2months ago. I did not cycle the tank not knowing I should have. Well we got a pleco aka Algae eater a few days later from petsmart. The next day afrter getting him I noticed his fins were ragged looking & blood spot on the bottom of his belly. The very next morning he was dead. So we took him back got another from walmart. Everything seemed fine. Until about 3 weeks ago I noticed my black goldfish had while coming on his tail & like he had been trying to scratch his self. Plus there was cotton white stuff on the trees and in the gravel. So we invested in a API freshwater kit. First thing the ammonia was extremley high 4.0-8.0ppm PH 6.0 Nitrite 1.0-2.0ppm Nitrate10-20ppm. So I got a vacum started doing that done a 50% water change and put api Ammo lock in it. Few days later same thing. Constantly trying to scratch himself and been at the top of the tank for 3days straight. At this point I’ve been doing a 25% water change everyday for a week Long story short I noticed my goldfish had white spots on his front fins and around hiseyes. So I started rapid cure ICH treatment. Worried sick about him and not knowing much about fish at all.. Tonight I noticed a long string hanging from my pleco and then what looked like blood dripping from him??? We got him out asap put him in a 5gl tank. He looks so pale now! Have a killed him??? And what do I do to help both fish? I’m so lost and scared for both fish
Keep changing the water, your pH is too low too. Please don’t add meds…
My kids won 4 goldfish 2 weeks ago, one died a couple days later. We now have 5 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank. I’ve had the other 2 for about 3 years now. Two days ago I noticed white spots on my older 2. They are all over their tail fins but they don’t seem to be acting differently. The gold one has a lot more spots then my black moor. The 3 new ones don’t seem to have any spots on them. Do you think it is ich? Or could it be something else?
It does sound like ich.
Hi Clemmentine I have a 5 gallon tank containing 2 black-moors & other small fishes two of my black-moors & one other fish has been recently introduced unfortunately both the blackmoors have suddenly appeared with white spots one of them died. I have pulled out the other two from the tank & separated them. I have a question is my tank infected should I change its waters ? secondly is the white spot disease transmitted to humans?
The tank is probably contaminated, yes, but ich can’t pass to humans.
What if i gave my fish pellet food and after that, all the food has been eaten by them, but i didnt clean or change the water in the tank, so theres a few food left. Then i added methalyne blue as the dosis said (because they got white spots in their body, which is the signs of ich) for the medication of ich? Is it alright for the fish?
Am I able to do this without heating the tank? I am guessing it will take longer which I am okay with as long as it won’t hurt the fish or be ineffective. I am fish sitting my sister’s large single fancy tailed goldfish (Thelma) for two years while she’s out of the country and don’t want to buy a heater if I can help it.
So 10 gal tank means 10tsp salt every 12hrs. If I’m also doing a 90% water change for three days, does that mean an additional 9tsp salt with each water change (total 29 tsp a day)?
Thanks!
Yep, except 9 tsp not 29.
I need help bc its 9 pm and i have to go to bed but i dont want my fish to die bc i noticed a few dots on his tail
If it’s just a few, he shouldn’t die right away. You will want to perform the treatment.
So how many tsp would I do for a 65 gallon tank?? 65tsps every 12 hrs?
Yes
Hi there tonight I have just seen my two goldfish have white spots on there eyes and a slight white slim on their body’s . I got them on the 28th or April and everything has been fine until tonight they both are swimming but not as active as the normal would be . When I got up to sit by the tank to look at them they sit in the bottom of the tank and that’s not like them at all, I have done two water changes first one done because water was turning green ish , and second one done as my normal weekly change , they were fine yesterday with no spots and today they have them 🙁 help !
Have you tested the water?
That doesn’t sound like ich, rather cloudy eye. Test the pH
Im scared my fish might die is there anythit to prevrnt ich???!!!!
Don’t shop at pet stores. That’s how they pick up the parasite. But if you already have a fish do your best to take good care of it so it won’t get sick.
I have a pond with this problem and down to my last goldfish, how long can I just not put any fish back in until this disease runs its own cycle? Without any fish to feed on with it die off eventually?
It will eventually die from the salt.
Hi. So for a 30gallon tank = 30teaspoons per treatment, 6 treatments over a 3 day period, 90 teasponns in total.?
Well you don’t remove 100% of the water each time. You just replace the salt in the percentage of water you do add back in.
Hi i don’t know if this is inch but I got my fish like 3 day ago and I first saw the spot when I was cleaning the tank on one of the fish and I came back and it was all on it’s back they seem fine there eating right I have conditioning salt which reduces stress and helps for fresh water aquariums could I have put to much? Or is it inch
Goldfish don’t do well with salt always in the water, it could be causing stress.
Hi!! I’m not exactly sure if this is ich but I states out with 5 fish about 2-3 months ago and now I’m down to 2. Today I had another one die when it was fine through out the morning. Now with the 2 left I notice that one of them has these white spots and it’s not being active like it normally is. I cleaned out the tank yesterday. Would it help if I add more conditioner? And could this effect my other fish in the tank?
It could be ich if the fish are newer to your system and from the pet store.
I have 2 gold fish; one i have had for 3 years and the other i got recently. They are both in a 10 gallon tank which i recently swiched them to. I took a reading of the tank and all levels are good no ammonia and good ph. I dont over feed them ether but 2 days after putting them into the new tank the most recently bought goldfish developed ich. It showed no signs befor moving into the new tank or when i bought it. The older fish is white so i canot see any of the ich on it. I wanted to know how my fish could of gotten it so i can preven it in the future. Im new to owning fish so it is confusing at times.
When i said im new to owning fish i ment new to properly taking care of them. The 3 year old fish was in 2 gallon tank untill recently.l when i found out that was a huge mistake. I move it to a 5 gallon then now the 10 gallon with the new fish as a friend. So im still learning about all the diseases and stuff i need to properly take care of them.
10 galons may be a bit small, they could have less stress if you give them more room 🙂
I already treated my tank with otc meds and one pf my babies is getting sicker. Can I know do the salt or will it hurt them. Please help!!
Salt + meds is not a good combo.
My goldfish has big white patches of white. Would this be the same as ich?
No, that would be excess slime coat.
Excuse me, I have a black moor goldfish with a big white spot on either side. I had had the fish for ages without a problem but 4 days ago a big white spot appeared either side. The fish is acting normally and not having any other symptoms
At first I thought it was fin rot but now I think it’s ich and I don’t know what to do. I bought a treatment which is meant to work for parasites but don’t know how to do the emergency action plan thingy
Also, my tank is in Litres and I can’t convert it to gallons
Plus I don’t know where to get that type of salt
It isn’t in my local supermarket
What should I do? I have other goldfish but I don’t know what to do so none of them die.
I don’t want my fish to die but I’m worried it will spread. What should I do?
Only 2 spots may not necessarily be ich. I’d wait a bit and see.
my two goldfish both have a bunch of white spots on them.. my one was throwing up it’s food.. please send me any info that can help
Goldfish can’t throw up, but they may spit out their food if their gills are burdened or their mouth has another issue.
My goldfish is having white spot. When I used salt treatment that white spot grown more on goldfish and salt is also affecting my other fish . So what should I do now.
Did you test the water first? If the symptoms are worsening, it could be because of water quality not being good before using the salt.
Doing a 90% change between each treatment, does that mean one per day? Or one every 12 hours? Which means the start dose would be 10tsp, then 12 hrs later, 90% change and 9 more tsp… So in the first 24 hrs, 19tsp? If not, please clarify…. I just did the first dose. Also, my tank is always around 76° f… Is that bad?
Yes, water change between every 12 hour treatment. Your temperature should be fine.
My 6 year old won 7 goldfish 4-5 days ago. We followed water care directions, as we went through this same thing last year after I stupidly bought and added a fish from pet store. Fish got ich and the day after treatment they all died.
Now, our 1 large goldfish (6 others are small) has what appears to be ich. What happened?
If the large goldfish came in contact with contaminated water from the new goldfish, that is probably how that got transmitted. Ich can even survive out of water, so equipment can carry the disease around.
I’m not totally for sure if my gold fish has ich or something else. It’s in a 20 gallon tank with another gold fish. We also had algae eater up until yesterday night .( it died) the gold fish was acting weird yesterday morning before I went to work not being as active as normal. I noticed last night that when I came home that it had more like dandruff looking flakes on its tail. It’s just been sitting at the bottom of the tank. I had only had the algae eater for two weeks. So I don’t know if that had something to do with why my gold fish is now having problems. The other one seems to be just fine.
Are they spots or flakes? I’d try testing the water first especially if you just lost a fish.
My goldfish has started being lless active and has white spots appearing on its body. I just bought it two days ago for my aquarium. I don’t know what to do as im a newbie. Please help me
You’re probably dealing with ich and will want to go through the salt treatment.
I have an 8000 litre pond that’s out side in the tropics in south India. I changed the water the other day & since have had 2 fish die with these white spots & another now swimming at the bottom lethargically. The fish have all been there for 7+ years with no problem mostly all from the original 10 now too many to count with no problem– in the last4 days this has happened— could it be ich? What do do I cant change the water unless i use a huge pump.
It could be, but it could definitely be an issue with overstocking. You might want to split it up.
My gold fish and red cap fish is having white spots on body what shall i do?when they will get well ?
Are you trying the treatment guide?
Hey i got to shubumkin fish last saturday …4 days later one died 🙁 ….the other one left called *munch * still alive but since i got him a week ago with the other fush they sat at the bottom and wouldnt swim around i tested the tank all was good temp was perfect …….so i asked a friend she said get another lively fish to perk munch up ……which i did just a normal goldfish and he started swimming round …..but he stopped eating ….now ive woken up this morning and hes coverd if white fuzzy spots all over his back and tail and by new fish has only about 3 white marks on him ….there came from the same store and i have done 2 50% tank changes before the new fish and 2 full tank changes after the first died then when the tank got really dirty ……ive boil washed everything in the tank today and did put them in a salt bath wich i only put 1 tsp in about 2lrs/3ltrs of water and it noked him out now im scared to do it again incase i kill them
I dont know what else to do …..ive only had them a week
Did you cycle the tank first?
Hello, I have 2, 2 inch black moors, 2, 2 inch red orandas, and 4, 2 inch common koi in a 55 gallon. One black moor appears to have very, very small white spots on him. He is swimming and eating fine. No one else has anything and all are swimming fine. Is this ich at its beginning stage or something else? Any help would br greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Eric
It definitely could be, but it might also be due to stress. Koi shouldn’t be kept with goldies because they get so huge and can be aggressive to them.
I quarantined fish with spots in fish bowl. I’m still going to do treatment in tank with my other fish. And treat the infected one by itself in bowl. Is that a good idea?
I don’t recommend executing a treatment in a bowl. It’s too small of a space to have stable water parameters.
I moved my 2 goldfish to a 10 gallon tank yesterday afternoon (they were in a 1 gallon tank. I know they should be in at least a 30 but for right now they are in a 10) and the one appears to have developed a white spot on his tail. He is acting fine, actually much more active since he has more room. As of right now the other one does not have an spots on him. I tested my water before putting them in and it was good. Could he really have developed a spot in 1 day? I don’t know what to do
If you got the fish recently, they could have gotten it from the pet store.
My fish has small air like bubbles attached to its fins and tail but im not sure its an ich what can i do pls help me? Pls.
That sounds like gas bubble disease, not ich.
Hi I have 2 black moor goldfish (small) in a 10 gallon tank. I just noticed a few white dots on my one goldfish yet he seems to be acting normal and isn’t itching or rubbing up the side of the tank. Can you tell me if this is ich or possibly something else?
That is probably the beginning of ich.
Hello. I have had goldfish for quiet some time now. I started noticing white spots on one of my goldfish and instantly googled it online. I found out that this was Ich and started treating it. It went on for about 2-3 weeks before the ich was gone. I had to move, so I took my aquarium with me, and now it seems that the ich has returned as now one of my goldfish seem to have their whole tail ripped open by the ich. ( Worse then the first time!!!) It is way to expensive to keep buying medicine for ich and I don`t know what to do anymore. I followed the recipe above last time, but it seems that the ich returned. Please tell me what I could do.
My parameters are all normal, PH is normal etc.
I do once a month/twice a month small water changes + water conditioner to protect my fish against tap water. (As I have a big tank/ a big filter I don`t need to do more then 20% twice a month.)
I have had fish for over 2 years, and only recently having problems with this.
I also did not have any plants in my tank when the ich returned.
You might need to up the water changes, as if you have a dirty environment it could be stressing the fish. Did you introduce any new creatures to the aquarium?
I have 3 very small goldfish. We’ve had them for only a couple of weeks. I was told 1 1/2 gallon tank was enough. I just noticed 2 of them have these white spots. Is the tank too small? I also was not told to not dump the water from the store into the tank with the fish. This is all new to me. I was just trying to put something nice together for my 4 year old son who got a free goldfish from a festival. I bought a small aquarium kit and 2 other fish for $ .19. They have been a joy to watch, but now this. I didn’t want to deal with a heater. I was told goldfish were resilient. I am using distilled water and I rinsed everything in the tank in warm water before use.
Yes, Joyce, the tank is far too small. Ich means the fish are very stressed, but you can’t treat them in that size of a tank without a big risk, because there is probably very high ammonia in their water. A heater isn’t a must but it speeds up the treatment process.
I have two goldfish that are pretty good size I have had for a year and I brought an algea eater last weekend and put in the tank but didn’t realize I was not supposed to dump water they came in in the tank. Well now I noticed red spots on my gold fish and in one day they look like they got a white film on them. They lay on the bottom of the tank. I brought E.M. Erythromycin and put in their tank today. Can you tell me what they have?
Red spots can have more than one cause, Tana. It could be high nitrite or ammonia levels in the tank. It could also be a response to parasites. The first step would be to test your water, and figure out if that is what is wrong first.
One of my four finned goldfish looks like it one of it’s tails is not there. It definitely has Itch, as there is one small fuzzy speck on it’s tail. I will start treatment tomorrow. It does not seem to have a problem swimming, though. I have not found a tail in the tank when I do my weekly cleaning. Could it have lost it because of itch?
Is the tail shredded, or rotted away? Usually a missing tail is from very high ammonia levels. For ich, you want to treat for 14 days. However one small white speck might not necessarily be ich, but an immune response to the tank environment – I’d test the water if I were you first.
Thanks for the reply! The tail doesn’t look shredded or rotted, but looks like it’s underdeveloped on that side, like its malformed. I use Prime conditioner, which says it detoxifies ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. It might be a bit old, or I’m not using enough. I’ll instead buy a test kit for now. Thanks!
In that case it could just be genetics. 🙂
Also, for how long do you treat them?
To elaborate, it looks much smaller than the other 3 tails, and I’m sure it had four 2 weeks ago when I got it.
Feel free to post pics to our FB group if you want 🙂
Hi I’m trying to do a treatment of ich in my gold fishes tank and I can’t get the salt to disolve what do I do to get it to melt so that i can add it to their tank
Try mixing it in a cup or two of tank water with a spoon 🙂
So i have a few questions. Should i use non iodized salt or the aquarium salt that you linked? And also, is changing the water temperature completely necessary? Because i do not have a heater.
Either one is acceptable. Raising the water temperature is not mandatory but it speeds up the process.
My goldfish has a small blister like lump on his head. He doesn’t seem to itch it at all. I don’t know whether I should be worried about it, or whether it is harmless and will go away o it’s own. I don’t know whether he has ich or not. My other goldfish do not have any blister like lumps on them. Can someone please help me
Is the lump clear?
I noticed this morning my black moor goldfish had a white spot on his head. I have a 55 gal tank with 6 medium sized goldish (although they are not juveniles as I had them for about four years, but they are about 2 inches long without their long flowing tails). Last week I bought the sixth one and I added him without quarantine, but he looks healthy. They all do. Two weeks ago I completely cleaned and replaced the substrate from sand to gravel. So I am not sure what caused the issue. It seems like ich, as it seems similar to an outbreak I had 3 years ago. I treated it that time with some blue liquid. Having a 55 gal tank doing 90 percent water changes seem like a lot of work. Should I purchase a 10 gal tank and move them all there and treat that instead? or should I just treat the black moor on its own? Please help.
You will probably have better success in a larger tank than a small one for treatment. All fish should be treated who have been exposed.
Hello, I have a 20 gallon tank with 4 goldfishes (two comet, one common, one black moor) and 2 pleco (albino brittlenose, and just a normal black one), and three of my goldfish have developed white spots all over them. Normally they get white breeding spots at this time of year, but I think it’s Ich because they have been acting weirdly (hiding, laying down at the bottom), but they still have a healthy appetite and are eating (I just feed them broccoli). Do you think that’s the case? If so, how do you suppose I should treat it? My extra tank has recently started leaking, so I don’t have anywhere to put my plecos. I also don’t have a heater, to raise the temperature. Do you think I need a heater? My tank temperature is around 73 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve tested my water and the nitrate and nitrite are in the safe zone. Thank you.
A heater isn’t completely necessary, it only shortens the life cycle of the parasite. I would isolate the plecos in a tupperware bin or something else if need be.
My goldfish spent summer outside in big tank. No filter or anything. Well we brought him in for winter. (Small 5 gallon tank) I noticed just now one white spot on his nose. Wondering if it’s stress from his big move.
It very well could be stress, white spot isn’t always ich.
What should I do since I have another fish in my tanks that is not a goldfish?
You can rehome him, give him to someone else or take him back to the pet store. 🙂
Hello we have a 30 x18 tank with three fish and we noticed these white spots yesterday Yao I looked it up and we did what is said we add warm water in it right away and two of them looked better by this morning but there is still one at the bottom and I don\\\\\\\’t have tester to test the water I bought them for my daughter who has many disabilities and they are her pride and joy she loves them I am scared what would happen if one died. I am on a very tight budget and can\\\\\\\’t afford expensive things
Water changes are the best place to start, as well as removing the substrate if you have any. Make sure there is no gunk in the tank anywhere includihng filters
Hello, and thank u for your article. It is very informative and helpful. Just a quick question. We purchased a fish at our local pet smart with ich in most of their tanks. The Oranda we bought had no signs at the time but soon developed after a day or two. We are starting your treatment plan in our 75g tank to save both the new fish and our healthy one and was wondering if in addition to taking out our plants do we need to remove our nirite snails?
You may want to remove plants and snails. Salt can definitely damage plants.
Thank you for your website. It has been so helpful. We have a 55g with four comet goldfish. They have had very few problems over the two years that we have been raising them. Recently, we added two fish that the pet store said are helpful in eating algae since we have had recent issues with algae. These fish have whiskers and are black and gray with stripey like designs (not sure of name). Three days after adding them, our fish had white spots all over them. (We are sure it is ich). We raised the temp over 3 days time to 84 degrees and added aquarium salt. They do not look better at all. Day 4 and they are all bleeding all over…not just fins and belly. They are eating and swim to eat but the rest of the time they are on the bottom breathing rapidly away from the heater. What are we missing? We did a water change (four days ago) and will do another one tomorrow. 50 percent water change. I do not know the amm. or nit, numbers at this moment. Please help!
Hi there, you might be having an ammonia or nitrite problem. I would recommend large daily water changes and replacing the salt, as well as making sure your tank is cycled and maintenance is on point. Hope this helps 🙂
You are not very clear at all,l on the treatment instruction. 90% water change, every 12 hours for 3 days????? While adding salt to maintain salt concentration????? Or, Do a water change after 3 days off adding salt every 12 hours????
Every 12 hours, the water change will be done followed by resalting of the tank. Hope that makes sense.
I wanted to thank you very much for this blog and all of your responses! My 3 baby butterfly koi, goldfish, fancy goldfish, and pleco ALL survived ick thanks to you!!!
I removed all unnecessary decorations and substrate, rinsed it all with hot tap water, and let it air dry for the duration of the treatment. I started with 80% water changes every 12 hours for the first 4 or 5 days then dropped back to about 70% every 24 hours for about 10 more days to make sure. I treated the pleco in a separate container with a bit less salt since they are more salt sensitive (same water change %’s and schedule)
I don’t understand the hundreds of confused comments from people about the 1 tsp to 1 gallon dosage of kosher or aquarium salt… if you remove 5 gallons during water change you add 5 tsp to the replacement water … if you remove 500 gallons during the water change then you add 500 tsp to the replacement water. And the initial salt treatment (before there is any salt on the tank) you add the same number of teaspoons as there are gallons in the tank. Always maintaining the 1 tsp per 1 gallon ratio. It made perfect sense to me. But I understand the panic you feel when you are just trying to take action and love your fish!
Anyway many MANY thanks from Spot, Spike, Mrs. Pearl, Mello Yellow, Pure Goldfish, and Mr. Pleco
Wonderful to hear <3
I recently used tetra lifeguard tablet treatment to ensure that my new oranda didn’t have anything when I put it in my main aquarium. turns out that the tablets seem to have stressed the fish to the point it got a very bad case of ich. it got to the point that the poor oranda was covered in white dots from a completely covered tail with now blood streaks, fins and wen. the fish went from a large number of spots only on its tail to whole body with bloody streaks in tail in 4 days. after the tablets I did a large water change and used aquarium salt and tht didn’t do much, so I tried “super ich cure” from pet smart and that only stressed the poor guy further and more spots appeared …so now I’m back to aquarium salt only and hes a bit better, gave him a 5 min salt bath as was recormended when I researching ich cures. is there anything I can do that will ensure the ich will go away?
Keep the water very clean and keep the salt in. Ich can take 3-4 weeks to go away. Turning up the heat will make it go away faster. It may get worse for a while before it gets better.
Hello Pure Goldfish,
I have read your article and several earlier comments, questions and suggestions. We have two gold fish and from what I have read, I am positive Billy has the Ich and want to start the treatment right away. However we have a biOrb aquarium. Is there a different process we should follow with this particular aquarium to eliminate this parasite?
I would advise lots of frequent water changes, especially in a smaller space.
In this article it says to add 1 teaspoon of salt per 1 gallon of water, but the article that I came here from (“Help! I Have a Sick Goldfish!” 17 Diseases and Their Treatments) on this same website says to use 3 teaspoons of salt per 1 gallon of water… Would you mind clarifying which it is? I don’t want to hurt my fish with too much salt, but they’ve got a bad case of ick so I don’t want to use too little either. Thanks in advance
It is 3 teaspoons per gallon added over the course of 3 treatments, 1 tsp each. I need to update the article, sorry!
Will non-iodized kosher salt work the same? It doesn’t say it’s sea salt.
That will work.
Hi PG, I have had a juvenile (6cm) fancy goldfish since July but which developed ich after I added a 2cm bristlenosed pleco to it’s tank (qubie 40 approx 45L) a fortnight ago. I test the water regularly and do 25% water change, feed a spinach leaf and 4 Tetra Goldfish Gold Japan (premium fish food for fancy goldfish) pellets twice a day, occasionally peas or frozen daphnia/bloodworm. Worried about oxygenation I have superfish aquaflow 100 and 200 (swapped out active carbon for poly filter fibre) and 2 airstones. Only fake plants, marina aquarium gravel. I raised the temp and added API aquarium salt at the rate you recommend, the white spots disappeared but he began to stay at that bottom of the tank, fins clamped for longer and longer periods, now some reddening has appeared between stomach and anus and he swims erratically, often seeming to be startled from lethargy to feed and sometimes dives repeatedly in the airstone bubbles. I have been changing 15L of water (adding the salt still) for 2 days now but worried perhaps there’s something else I can do to help him. Pleco is fine munching on a piece of screwcumber a night…
Could be an internal bacterial infection. These are common with ich as it causes so much stress on the fish. If your water tests good you might need to consider Kanaplex.
Hello…I have a goldfish who recently developed a white patch and then later it grew to a bubble . we have quarantined it now to a 5L bowl and has been treating it with protozin (1ml per gallon). It’s been 4 days now and we can’t see any visible improvement. We are trying with sea salt ( 1.25 teaspoon/5L) today. Is there any other treatment available? The fish seems fine to br so far though the bubble has grown in size. can you suggest any possible causes or treatments?? Pic can be forwarded if required.
You might want to try posting a photo in our group of this bubble, Shari, as that can help with identifying the issue.
So in my tank I have a common Pleco, a bristlenose Pleco, a Khuli loach, a dojo loach, a fantail and black moor. My black moor and fantail have ich. Am I safe putting in salt to treat the tank or will it kill my other fish.
I am not sure about the other kinds of fish you have as far as their compatibility with the salt, I only know that goldfish are highly tolerant of it.
I have 2 goldfish in my 20 gallon tank, over the past year I have added 2 tetra, 2 very new guppies in the past week…since I added the guppies the smaller goldfish is acting funny…the goldfish started out as feeder fish and have been healthy til this week..they are big goldfish 7″ and 5″ long..can I treat the goldfish in the tank or should I remove it…
You will need to treat the whole tank and all fish who were exposed.
Are these breeding tubercles or ich? I added 2 fish 2 days ago, and the one is a female ryukin that appears to be carrying eggs. This male has been displaying classic mating behavior ever since toward her, and this morning I noticed all these white spots on him. I would think he had ich, except for the intense mating behavior with the addition of the (pregnant) ryukin???
Are these breeding tubercles or ich? I added 2 fish 2 days ago, and the one is a female ryukin that appears to be carrying eggs. This male has been displaying classic mating behavior ever since toward her, and this morning I noticed all these white spots on him. I would think he had ich, except for the intense mating behavior with the addition of the (pregnant) ryukin???
Probably breeding tubercles, if they are located on the gill plates. Sometimes they show up in neat little rows on the body.
Hi,
I’ve just begun the Ich treatment you recommend and I’ve removed my two fish from the tank first. The thing is, I’m worried I’ve messed up, as I didn’t dissolve the salt first and I just added it to the tank! Can I reintroduce my two fish to the tank, if I wait a while for the salt to dissolve, or will it still burn them if I put them back? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I’m so scared of hurting my fish.
You can stir the salt around in the tank and it will dissolve pretty quickly, then you can reintroduce them in 🙂
Hi Pure Fish, My Orandas’ have a problem of which I have no good solution. I’ve lost 7 of my 9 fish, the remaining calico appears to be losing its scales and the fins appear to be tearing, the remaining black appears to have a light gray film over his body and a small white spot rising from its head. I’ve emptied the tanks water the tank is 29 gals, changed and thoroughly scrubbed the filter system, the temp is usually 78 degrees, scrubbed the decorative plants, treated the water with Stress Coat and Ich solution. I had purchased small relatively young fish and over the last year they had really blossomed into beautiful large fish. I’ve removed the remaining two placed them in individual containers treated the water, they survived the night but neither is eating today. Do you have any suggestions.
You are probably dealing with some parasite, it may not be ich though. There are lots of parasites that cause those symptoms. It sounds like whatever it is is a quick killer, may be costia. I would use MinnFinn and order it asap.
I have a 20 gallon tank with a gold fish and a algea eater they have white spots on both them. So I change put most of the water then fill it using a conditioner for city water then use 20 tsp of salt and do it for 3 days.
It will probably take longer than three days for things to resolve fully, but you’re on the right track.
So I am adding salt twice a day and also doing water changes twice a day? Or only doing water changes every 3 days while adding salt twice a day? How often do i add melafix?
You add salt twice a day until the 3 doses are added. Only do the 90% water change before starting salt then again afterwards, vacuuming daily and replacing the salt you took out. Melafix should be added as per the bottle’s instructions and replaced when the water is changed.
Hi,
I got 2 goldfishes in a 60 gallon tank, I recently purchased 1 moor goldfish. Just now One of my goldfish got white spots, which is an ich. Do I need to put him in a hospital tank or should I treat all of them with salt and high temperature?
Thanks
All fish exposed must be treated.
Is the ich contagious? Or so I need to move the one goldfish who doesn’t have the ich?
Highly. All exposed fish need treatment.
So we put one tsp of salt for every gallon?
Yep
Hello, so I’ve had a common goldfish for quite some time now, maybe about 9 years or so. She’s a bit bigger now so we got her a new 40 gal tank that she seemed quite happy in. It wasn’t until recently that I noticed she would erratically swim back and forth in her tank sometimes bumping her nose on the glass and she would jump out of the water during her erratic episodes. We got her tank back in January and she never had this type of behavior in the past. This past Monday I noticed she started developing white bumps on her skin and that’s how I was brought to this blog post. I’m really glad that I found this, but after reading some of your articles I’m almost worried that maybe she won’t get better. I finished her 3-Day treatment yesterday and now I notice she goes back down to the bottom of the tank and doesn’t swim too often compared to the first or second day of treatment where she seemed quite fine. What I can definitely notice is that she hasn’t started developing anymore white bumps and that one’s she originally had are now turning into a grayish red. And I have been carefully following every step listed in this blog.
Is she actually getting better? Should I maybe do this treatment again in a few months to maybe help terminate her ich infestation? And also should I keep her at the 80 degree temperature and add salt to her water every time she gets a water change?
If you’ve had the fish 9 years, you wouldn’t be dealing with ich unless you’ve introduced something new (new fish, plants snails etc.). This sounds like it could be something else.
Well I had introduced new plants recently that ended up turning weird after being in her tank about maybe three months? I had removed them not too long ago.. but I am unsure if maybe I should look into some other kind of treatment? The plants developed a gooey kind of film that didn’t seem natural, and they were plastic so not at all live plants
If they were plastic and new from the store, that wouldn’t be it. I highly doubt you are dealing with ich.
My goldfish got really sick because they were in a small tank with poor water quality. My dad wouldn’t let me give the fish a better tank and my brother wouldn’t let me get the fish medicine or change the water. So now the fish are dying. What should I do?
If you can’t use salt or medication, you’re kind of stuck if they have ich. But if its just poor water quality, filtration and plants are a good place to start.
my goldfish has white spots only on his eyes, is that still ich?
Probably not
hi i have one black moor one red moor and a shubunkin my black moor is getting white fuzz all over his sides i am really worried and dont know what to do. please help!
A water test is a good place to start. It could be excess slime or fungus.
Hey Meredith, Great information here… I have one fantail and two fancy tail goldfish along with 4 peppered cory’s in a 40 gallon long tank. I have had all of these fish for over two years now and have always been healthy.. I had a rubbernose pleco in with them until recently I noticed he was sucking the slime coat and chasing the goldfish around. The fantail and one of the fancytail goldfish look like they lost all of their scales. The fancy also has a big red mark on his side where I think the pleco sucked on him. I have also noticed a few white spots that kinda look like ich but it has been over two weeks now and the white spots are still there but no additional ones. Do you think this is ich or what do you think? Also, can I do the salt treatment since they have lost all of their scales? I don’t want to burn their skin… Thanks…
If you haven’t added new fish lately, it’s probably not ich. You can add 1/2 the salt to assist in healing.
Thank you! I used the treatment and the seems to be going away.My fish are as active as ever. This is my first tank so I was really worried . Thanks a lot!
Glad you liked it!
I have a 120 gallon aquarium. A year ago I had goldfish in it but they all died. I still don\’t know why. I am thinking it was a combination of ick and bad water parameters. So I let the tank sit empty for 4 months. Then it had water in it for another 6 months but no fish. Two penn plex canister filters rated for 100 gallons each with only sponge media pumps the water out of the aquarium into two large planter boxes filled with lava rock and 4 large peace lillies. The water returns to the aquarium through a water spillway. I decided to attempt to add fish again to the system.
I added 8 shubunkins (4\” to 6\”) and one blackout comet six days ago from a reputable online source. Two days ago the white LEDs of my aquarium light went out. I have a new LED light on order. They have been sitting in the dark until today when I turned on the blue LEDs. That is when I noticed the white spots on my blackout comet. On closer inspection of the other fish, it looks like they have white spots on their fins as well. So from the tub of ParaSalt I have, I added salt according to the directions. I also have half a bottle of Melafix. So I added 2 oz of that as well. But, I worried so I googled ick treatments and found this site. Obviously I did not do this according to your directions. The fish, since I added the treatments, don\’t seem worse. My little blackout comet seems a bit more stressed but I am thinking that is from me catching him in a net to handle him to get a closer look at the white spots.
Oh… my water parameters have been okay. Last time I checked ammonia was 0 ppm, nitrites were 0 ppm, and nitrates were at 5 ppm. I am struggling with my PH however. I am using an acid buffer each day. When I add it, my PH is at 8.4. The buffer brings it down to 7.8. My KH and GH is 40 ppm and 150 ppm. That said, I am using Tetra EasyStrips. I just ordered API GH & KH Test Kit to get a more accurate idea what these two parameters are.
So, I am wondering. How do I proceed from here? In 12 hours, should I do a 90% water changing adding salt according to the ParaSalt box instructions? Or should I give it three days? How about the melafix? The bottle says dose daily for for 7 days then do a 25% water change. So instead of doing a 90% water change in 12 hours, should I dose the metafix as directed for the next seven days and then do a 90% water change adding salt? Do I repeat the Melafix treatment if I still see ick spots? Or perhaps I should do a 25% daily water change adding back the salt I take out plus the melafix treatment for the next seven days? Then do a 90% water change? When do I do a massive water change and stop adding salt and melafix? The more I think about this, the more I get confused. What do you think?
Not sure what the Parasalt instructions are. What is your salt ratio?
The instructions for routine application is 8oz of salt for 100 gallons. So I put in 10 oz for my 125 gallon aquarium.
I don’t think that will be enough salt to kick ich. I would recommend doing a 100% water change then using the ratios in the article.