Ich in our new glofish tank!

[Enchanted Minnie]

Oh Man! I am a total newbie to aquariums. We got the kids a glofish tank for Christmas. We cycled the water for 48 hours before we introduced fish. I did twice a week water changes like I was told to. But today Dory, Chum and Bruce are dead. The green glowfish, Mickey has the spots now too! I have been reading up on it and many aquarium enthusiasts say to heat the tank up to 86 degrees and gradually add salt, 1 tsp per gallon.

They say it's better then the medicine you buy in the pet store because the ich goes through different cycles and it may only kill the ich in a particular cycle. Now I know that the glofish can handle a higher temp. But will this salt/heat method work? I also read to vaccum the gravel because the little spawns live in there until they burst open and then are able to attach to fish.

Does anyone know if this works? Any experts out there?

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Oh Man! I am a total newbie to aquariums. We got the kids a glofish tank for Christmas. We cycled the water for 48 hours before we introduced fish. I did twice a week water changes like I was told to. But today Dory, Chum and Bruce are dead. The green glowfish, Mickey has the spots now too! I have been reading up on it and many aquarium enthusiasts say to heat the tank up to 86 degrees and gradually add salt, 1 tsp per gallon.

They say it's better then the medicine you buy in the pet store because the ich goes through different cycles and it may only kill the ich in a particular cycle. Now I know that the glofish can handle a higher temp. But will this salt/heat method work? I also read to vaccum the gravel because the little spawns live in there until they burst open and then are able to attach to fish.

Does anyone know if this works? Any experts out there?

It's actually the opposite for the temp. The goldfish can handle cooler temps. The tropicals need it warmer.

I would buy the meds to wipe out what is alive there now and salt the water a little. Salt by itself takes too long.

With Ich, the temperature is the biggest issue. Warming the tank and treating it should wipe it all out.

Good luck!

(If you have any fresh water invertebrates like snails find a copper free ich med.)

Also...Doing water changes 2x a week is a lot if you have a filter. The tank needs to grow good bacteria.

 

[mcraige]

Is this a saltwater tank? In not, ignore the remainder of my post.

I'm not the expert here, but I let my new tank cycle for 30+ days before adding any livestock, and that was still rushing it a bit. Have you done water tests to see what the NH4, NO2, and NO3 levels are?

How did you acclimate the fish before adding to the tank? Did you test the pH and Alk before adding them?

I've only had Ich one time. It was on a Tang while it was still in my quarantine tank. I used hyposalinity over a period of about 8 weeks, combined with adding garlic to the food, and he overcame it.

My guess is your tank went thru a normal cycle, the levels spiked, and killed your fish.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

It's actually the opposite for the temp. The goldfish can handle cooler temps. The tropicals need it warmer.

I would buy the meds to wipe out what is alive there now and salt the water a little. Salt by itself takes too long.

With Ich, the temperature is the biggest issue. Warming the tank and treating it should wipe it all out.

Good luck!

(If you have any fresh water invertebrates like snails find a copper free ich med.)

Also...Doing water changes 2x a week is a lot if you have a filter. The tank needs to grow good bacteria.

Thank you! Nope, no snails. I was going to buy some Ghost Shrimp today, but guess I'll wait on that. I thought twice a week water change was a lot but I figured what do I know? It's a 10 gallon tank with a filter, so I guess just once a week then?

They are cool little glofish, I hope I can save the rest!!!

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Thank you! Nope, no snails. I was going to buy some Ghost Shrimp today, but guess I'll wait on that. I thought twice a week water change was a lot but I figured what do I know? It's a 10 gallon tank with a filter, so I guess just once a week then?

They are cool little glofish, I hope I can save the rest!!!

I just realized you said GLOfish...Not GOLDfish .

I would do 15% every week or 20% every two(that's what I do). Remember that when you take water out, if you are salting you need to replace the salt. If you're just topping off don't add salt because it doesn't evaporate.

There are products at the store that help with the cycling. "Prime" is a good one. I use a little whenever I add water because it also takes care of the chlorine.

But getting a little heater is going to help a lot.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

Is this a saltwater tank? In not, ignore the remainder of my post.

I'm not the expert here, but I let my new tank cycle for 30+ days before adding any livestock, and that was still rushing it a bit. Have you done water tests to see what the NH4, NO2, and NO3 levels are?

How did you acclimate the fish before adding to the tank? Did you test the pH and Alk before adding them?

I've only had Ich one time. It was on a Tang while it was still in my quarantine tank. I used hyposalinity over a period of about 8 weeks, combined with adding garlic to the food, and he overcame it.

My guess is your tank went thru a normal cycle, the levels spiked, and killed your fish.

No, it's not a saltwater. It's a freshwater. But on a few aquarium websites it said to add 1tsp of aquarium salt per gallon.

It's those little glowfish danios. We bought the glofish tank with the blue led light. I'm running to the pet store now. When I get back, I'll post a pic!

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

No, it's not a saltwater. It's a freshwater. But on a few aquarium websites it said to add 1tsp of aquarium salt per gallon.

It's those little glowfish danios. We bought the glofish tank with the blue led light. I'm running to the pet store now. When I get back, I'll post a pic!

That's about right to soften a freshwater tank. There are instructions on the box.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

That's about right to soften a freshwater tank. There are instructions on the box.

Thank you! I didn't want to "season" the fish! LOL Ok, so I did a 30% water exchange. I didn't mean to do quite that much but I was vacuuming the gravel and it was gross! Put the heater in and I'm slowly increasing the temp. The green "Mickey" seems to be hanging in there, hope I caught it in time!

Here's what the glofish look like:


And here's mine. They're fast little suckers so it was hard to take a picture!

 

[sonnyjane]

Ugh I'm so sorry to hear that! I kept fish for a decade but they always, for some reason or another, would succumb to ich eventually. Even with the commercial ich medicine I was never able to successfully treat it. Once one poor guy got it the others would too, then it was only a matter of time....... I stopped keeping aquariums... gosh..15 years ago now, so hopefully the medicine is more effective nowadays!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Ich happens. Best to let the children know that it is a delicate thing to get the tank ready for fish.

I would make sure the fish is treated, the tank treated and test by the fish store before you let knew fish into the environment.

Also, what gallon tank is it and how many fish. Some times that can be the problem.

They are cool looking fish, you get the saltwater glow in fresh water!!!

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

Ich happens. Best to let the children know that it is a delicate thing to get the tank ready for fish.

I would make sure the fish is treated, the tank treated and test by the fish store before you let knew fish into the environment.

Also, what gallon tank is it and how many fish. Some times that can be the problem.

They are cool looking fish, you get the saltwater glow in fresh water!!!

Yes, the boys are aware of the "circle of life!" But of course the 7 year old wanted a burial at sea I've tried hard to take good care of the tank and not bombard it with too many new fish. It's a 10 gallon tank and we had 3 neon tetras and 3 glofish. They are a little less then 1 inch long. From what I understand it's 1 gallon per 1 inch of fish.

Of course when I went back to Petsmart today the fish employee tells me the tetras aren't too hardy. (no wonder they were just $1!) It's the 3 tetras that died. But maybe them dying so quick will save the glofish and I caught it in time. The boys love the tank! The gravel, plants and accessories all glow.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

Ugh I'm so sorry to hear that! I kept fish for a decade but they always, for some reason or another, would succumb to ich eventually. Even with the commercial ich medicine I was never able to successfully treat it. Once one poor guy got it the others would too, then it was only a matter of time....... I stopped keeping aquariums... gosh..15 years ago now, so hopefully the medicine is more effective nowadays!

Gosh I had no idea this ich was such a pain! It's like the plague for fish!

I'm not sure if the ich medicine is better or not. From what I read it only will kill the parasite in a certain cycle. So it doesn't get rid of everything. I'm hoping the salt/heat thing will work before I try meds. Luckily the danios are tropical fish so they probably are loving the heat. So far the green one is swimming with the orange and red one. They seem to like to chase eachother, it's pretty fun to watch!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

First I must say I loved our gold fish BUT they are dirty fish. You have to double your numbers to accommodate for that. Plus they can grow quickly and get large.

DD had a goldfish for 5 years, much longer than a normal goldfish life cycle. But it got to be so big and dirty that is took over the whole 10 gallon tank, and we still had to clean it a lot.

I wish you all the luck in the world!!! My children really did like their fish tanks and they were a calming force in some bumpy situations.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

First I must say I loved our gold fish BUT they are dirty fish. You have to double your numbers to accommodate for that. Plus they can grow quickly and get large.

DD had a goldfish for 5 years, much longer than a normal goldfish life cycle. But it got to be so big and dirty that is took over the whole 10 gallon tank, and we still had to clean it a lot.

I wish you all the luck in the world!!! My children really did like their fish tanks and they were a calming force in some bumpy situations.

These are danio fish that have been genetically modified to glow, so they're called glofish. I know, I've caught myself thinking I wrote goldfish too!

They have a few different breeds, danios, tetras and barbs. Scientists were trying to find a way to breed a fish to show when the water in rivers and lakes was polluted. So originally they wanted them to only glow when it was contaminated. They discovered the fish were pretty neat and the public was interested. So the ones sold in petstores are modified to always glow. It's pretty interesting and part of the sell of glofish and their products goes to fund research.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

Here's more info on them. It's pretty interesting!

http://www.glofish.com/about/faq/

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Oops, sorry funny how your brain sees what it is used to.

I really do wish you all the luck in the Fish Tank world. They can bring a lot of joy and the new fish are really cool. If I had the patience I would consider setting our small tank back up. Better yet, post pictures every once in a while.

 

[Callie]

First off, I just did a marketing project on these GloFish a few months ago. It was based off stuff before they were even brought to the market!

Second, I never had any issues introducing my fish to a tank. My tetras stayed around for a LONG time, they only died after our electricity went out in winter. I was a bad fish mom too, I forgot to feed them, and my mom always cleaned the tank. Didnt realize how hard it was to start one! No advice, but good luck!

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

Thank you, I sure will

 

[sonnyjane]

First off, I just did a marketing project on these GloFish a few months ago. It was based off stuff before they were even brought to the market!

Second, I never had any issues introducing my fish to a tank. My tetras stayed around for a LONG time, they only died after our electricity went out in winter. I was a bad fish mom too, I forgot to feed them, and my mom always cleaned the tank. Didnt realize how hard it was to start one! No advice, but good luck!

As I mentioned earlier, I haven't kept fish in almost 15 year now, however I still have a nightmare about once a month that I've forgotten that I had a fish tank and that it had been months and months since I had fed them.

 

[Callie]

As I mentioned earlier, I haven't kept fish in almost 15 year now, however I still have a nightmare about once a month that I've forgotten that I had a fish tank and that it had been months and months since I had fed them.

I was so busy with school, two basketball teams, swimming, etc. Plus, I started to get tired of the fish. I wanted a pet, *coughs cat* so badly. Fish I couldn't do anything with! I did freak out in the middle of the night about feeding. Its hard to remember, because there is no empty food bowl in front of you!