My son has a little cheap goldfish that I got for him about a year ago. Well, the fish has been quite content living in his aquarium until recently when he got an especially bad case of Ich. It developed overnight and literally went from one teeny spot the night before (I had to wait until the next morning to get medicine) to completely covering his body the next morning.

I have been treating him with Malachite Green and I think he is almost cured. I honestly expected him to die because by the time I got him the medicine, he was sitting on the bottom of the aquarium barely moving and was covered in white spots. Now, all the white spots are gone and he is swimming around eating normally.

While he had all the white spots, he also developed 2 or 3 blood streaks in his fins which looked a lot like septicemia. I have not given him any antibiotics yet because the blood streaks are disappearing. Should I give him antibiotics just to make sure he is okay? Or should I not give the antibiotics since the streaks are getting better?

6/14/2008 3:12:53 PM

dont waste money tryna save a cheap fish

6/14/2008 3:18:04 PM

6/14/2008 4:07:06 PM

normally I would have to agree with just flushing him and trying something else because it's a cheap goldfish, but since it's your kid's fish . . .

I would wait and see if the fishie gets any better. It's probably been already extremely stressed and the antibiotics might stress it's system even more. If it gets worse give a call to Fish Pros and see what they say about treating it. I am aware of septicemia but not all that familliar with treatments and such :/

It's also kinda weird that after a year the fish all of a sudden develops ich? Did you introduce some new fish to the tank or something?

6/14/2008 4:33:45 PM

MOST goldfish diseases, including ich, can easily be treated with simple aquarium salt. salt won't stress them and i usually keep a little in my healthy tank just for good measure or whatever. remember though that it does not evaporate, so don't add more and more and more. the packaging for the salt will have instructions as far as dosage for healthy tanks and sick tanks.

it's would be really weird for something like that to show up w/ no reason changes to the tank.

as far as the red streaks, that is most often a sign of elevated ammonia levels. change some water and/or get some amquel (or similar product).

i would not buy any antibiotics. it would be a waste of money bc salt will cure it just fine and it's a $.12 fish.

6/14/2008 5:02:02 PM

No. Don't give him any antibiotics, it will kill all your good bacteria in the tank and will mess up your nitrogen cycle and possibly kill your fish that way. I would wait and see. I would keep an eye on the fish closely for a while to make sure that he gets better and that the Ich doesn't return. Ich has a few different life stages and only one of them is vulnerable to treatment so you may have to retreat again if there are still some eggs in your tank, which you won't know until the infection comes back or not. In the mean time add a little aquarium salt to your tank it will help relieve stress on the fish and help it heal quicker. If you get another infection then SLOWLY (buy a small heater and raise it a degree or two every two days) raise the temperature in your tank to around 75 degrees F and then you can treat again with malachite green. With fish the most conservative treatment is usually the best. Oh and be careful with malachite green, it's a great treatment but some scientists think that it could be carcinogenic so wear gloves it you have them and wash your hands really well afterwards. Good luck! I hope your fish pulls through!

6/14/2008 6:59:07 PM

Quote :

"but since it's your kid's fish"

then this is a good opportunity for the kid to learn that fish die easily

6/14/2008 7:05:16 PM

Thanks for the helpful advice and I wouldn't think about flushing him until he was dead. My son loves the fish (and due to the color scheme of the fish, it would be impossible to buy a double) and I have become quite fond of him as well...he's a resilient little fucker. Just because he's not cuddly and fuzzy doesn't mean we can't love him ...anyway, hes acting completely normal now and the ich is gone and the blood has all but disappeared from his fins. I know I need to change some of the water out, but how much should I change out? Is it safe to do this now, or will that just stress the fish out more? Also, I was told that light is bad for fish with ich, so I have had the aquarium light off since the fish developed symptoms...when would it be safe to turn the light back on?

And to answer the question as to how he got the ich: I introduced an algae eater into the aquarium recently and I think he brought it in. He was healthy and I kept him seperate for 2 weeks before adding him to the aquarium, but he died 2 weeks after I put him in with the goldfish. He didn't have any symptoms and didn't act sick before suddenly dropping dead, but he did die and it's the only source I could think of.

6/14/2008 9:37:05 PM

heh I was going to suggest buying a stunt double till I read ^

It sounds like he should be okay from what you said, at least for awhile.

6/15/2008 1:35:26 AM

What size tank is he in? Goldfish need a lot of water.

6/15/2008 11:16:41 AM