Help Fish Have Spots!

[Ninjouzata]

You siphon your tank water into a bucket and then gently swish the filter media in it to get the gunk off.
 
Sorry for your loss :c
 
Carbon is another media that goes into your filter, it removes medications is why you're advised to take it out. It'll look something like THIS.
 
You raise the temperature of your water by turning the dial on the heater up. You do have a heater, right?
 
Can you give us the exact water parameters? And a picture?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

to the forum.
 
Sorry you're having trouble with your fish, hopefully we'll be able to help and you can have happy, healthy fish
 
Do you know what type of fish you have? If you don't know their names, try to describe them and/or get a picture (a picture would be the most helpful).
 
What do the spots look like? Do they look like grains of salt? Again, a picture would really help.
 
What test kit are you using? Would you be able to test your water and tell us the results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (if you have all of those tests that is. The most useful would be ammonia and nitrite but the others help too ). If you can't test your water, take a water sample to your LFS and ask them to test it for you, if you do this, make sure to ask for the results, don't accept the "its fine" response. 
 
What filter media do you have? If you don't know, google these "filter sponge" "filter wool" "ceramic rings" and "aquarium filter carbon" they should give you an idea of what each one looks like. Once you know, come back here and tell us.
 
Answering as many of these questions (if not all) as you can will help us sort out the problem. As I have already said, a picture would be very helpful
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask, we will try our best to answer them

 

[Xiomarieg]

Okay I am having an issue uploading the pic of my fish using my phone. I have 4 types of fish. There are a total of 7 fish. One fish is oblong (horizontally) and the color is like a neon yellow/green, like a highlighter, there are two of these. The second kind are small and deep reddish burnt orange, probably about the size of kidney bean. The next breed, is a bright red orange, long with a white spot on belly and long pointy extra part on tail. Lastly another bright red orange long fish with black tail and fins.

Now the parameters of the water....... Pretty basic pH: 8.0... Ammonia is reading 0ppm (however its just a hairline darker yellow than that of the color scale)... Nitrite is a solid 0ppm and finally for the astronomical number, the nitrate coming in at a whopping 40-80ppm (it's really hard to decipher the color red on the color scale). Poor fish!!!

Now as for the heater, this may sound foolish, but I had no idea we needed one. I just have a light, a filter, and the air bubble thing.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Okay I'm heading to pet smart today because its around all the stores I need to go to. What is the best thing to treat ich. I don't really like to treat with meds. So I am going to try salt and water heating method. Any other ideas?? And as for those parameters how do I get nitrate down and pH down too??

 

[Ninjouzata]

Unfortunately I have no imagination so cannot even begin with what fish you may have
 
You can reduce nitrates through water changes and having live plants in the tank.
 
Be sure to pick up a heater while you're out. Try the salt and heat, if that doesn't work then you may want to try QuICK Cure, which you can find at Wal-Mart.
 
Don't worry about the pH, the fish should adjust to it, especially if you get them locally. Changing the pH is something only experienced fishkeepers should do as if it swings wildy it can stress out the fish.
It's also unnecessary unless you're keeping particularly sensitive fish or trying to breed.

 

[Catfishlover]

Try using water conditioner. You can pick up a small bottle from petsmart. do you have any plants? Real plants can help sort out the issues in your tank. I know how it feels to lose a fish. One of my guppies died only a few days after we brought it home. Good luck with your fish.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Okay so, so far we've done two treatments of this all in one cure, we were encouraged to buy from a girl that has grown up in a family pet store. On the back of the packaging it said to also turn off the light. So for 5 days I am supposed to do this. Just today one fish did not make it. So we are down to 6 now. Poor fish. So far heat is up at 82°F and the medicine seems to be working. I was also advised not change the water once treatment started, I did a 75% water change to bring nitrates down prior to the starting of the treatment. I hope this was the right move. So far all the other fish seem to be doing okay.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Did an all in one treatment... Looks like fish are fine in the Ich dept, however... Looks like I've got an ammonia problem at the moment. One of my fish is swimming to the surface all the time and is looking darker than normal. I know this is not normal and I looked it up, looks like it may be the ammonia. I just took the parameters of ammonia, they are at .50ppm... What can I do to get this down ASAP please?!?! I have some seachems prime on hand! I know he's dying and he doesn't have much time!

 

[AshleyNZ]

Water change immediately