Ich In Coldwater

[Myuu]

I came home from staying at my dad's house on sunday, I go to say 'Hi' to my goldfish, and they're covered in ich. It was already past 7 so the petstores were closed, so I went down to the grocery store to get some non-iodized salt and dosed the take one tablespoon for every five gallons. On monday I was able to get to the petstore after school, and got some coppersafe. My worry is, how long will it take to eradicate the ich in coldwater? I can't heat the water, and I don't really have the money to buy a heater for my 46 gallon goldfish tank right now (I'm a senior in highschool and have no job, lol) and heaters are expensive. How long should I treat the tank?

Oh, and about water changes, when I do a water change, do I replace the salt and medication for the water I took out? The bottle of coppersafe says it treats the tank for a month, btw.

 

[Colin_T]

It depends on how cold the water is but in cold water (below 20C) you might have to treat the tank for a month or more because the parasite grows slower in cool water. As a general rule in tropical tanks you keep treating for at least a week after all the spots have disappeared. In coldwater it would be safer to keep treating for 2 weeks after all the spots have disappeared.

If you need to do a water change then do it just before you re-treat the tank. The directions on the bottle might say to treat the tank once a week. If so you simply do a partial water change and the treat the tank.

 

[Myuu]

Well, the tank stays at about 74F, which I think is around 23C. It's not so much 'cold' water, it's 'room temp' water.

 

[Colin_T]

if the temp is 23C then it will probably take about 2 weeks to get rid of the disease.

 

[Myuu]

Well, I guess I caught the ich too late and has killed two of fish already, and the third isn't looking too good Gah, this is the worst ich I've ever had to deal with, and I'm one fish away from it wiping out my entire tank ;___;

 

[Colin_T]

If the temp is about 74F and the fish have only had the spots for about 5 days, and they are dieing, then I would say you might have poisoned them with the medication. Whitespot normally doesn't kill that quickly at that temp. The other option is the fish had whitespot for a week or so before you saw them, and they are now dieing because the parasites have done serious damage to the fish's gills.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

There is 3.785 litres in a US gallon

 

[Myuu]

Kay, the tank is a bow front, so I had to improvise. I separated the tank into two different volumes; the rectangular part and the bow. I turned the bow into a triangle, since I don't know how to find the volume is a semicircle shape, so it might be a little off. I either did the math wrong, or my sister told me the wrong gallonage, because I came up with about 26-27 gallons, when I though it was 46. I'm gonna be so mad if she told me the wrong gallonage and I just poisoned my fish. Sigh~

And I think they might have had the ich for a little while before I started treatment. I just introduce a new fish into the tank. It looked healthy when I got it, no visible signs of illness, etc. I don't have a quarantine tank cuz I don't really have the space. I think about wednesday-ish is when I saw a few white spots around only one of my fish's head and wen, and since I just introduced a new fish, I thought I might have guessed the gender wrong of the fish, and thought it might be breeding stars or maybe wen growth. On friday, I came home from school to grab a few things and went right back (football game; marching band) and went to my dad's house for the weekend right after the game, and came home sunday and they were covered in ich.

I am most definitely setting up a quarantine tank now. I feel so bad, cause I know it's all my fault ;__;

 

[Colin_T]

Many tanks are sold as 40gallon or 50gallon tanks but in reality they hold less than that. And when gravel and rocks are put into the tank they displace water. And the water level is never right up to the top either. This is a bad sales ploy on behalf of the shops and annoys me a bit. If they are going to sell a 50g tank then they should have some instructions on working out tank volume so you don't overdose.
I did the same thing many years ago. I treated a “40g tank” for whitespot and killed everything in it. After I calmed down I measured the tank and came up with about 30g. Even when I measured the outside dimensions of my tank it was way less than 40g. Boy was I miffed. Needless to say from now on I always work out how much water is in any tank before I treat it and I don't trust shops who tell me the tank holds so much water.

Regarding the white spots around the head of the goldfish. Male goldfish produce small white spots on their gill covers and pectoral (side) fins when they come into breeding condition. It often happens when they are taken from a coldwater tank and put into a tropical tank. The warmer water causes them to develop the white dots. However, the dots don't appear anywhere else on the body so if the fish developed white spots on their tail then they had whitespot.

 

[Myuu]

The thing is, at first, I only saw the white spots on the gill covers, and only on one fish. The other goldfish was mostly white, and I guess just didn't see them, or something. And I know nothing of breeding goldfish, and didn't know that they breed in warmer water.

Thanks for the help, though ;3 I guess this has been a learning experience, although at the expense of my fish. sigh~

Though I don't think the tank is actually only 26-27 gallons, I must have done the math wrong. It's been so many years since I've taken geometry~