# Ick treatment - What went wrong?



## Coreyzilla (Sep 18, 2009)

My goldfish have had ick for the past few months (Waited until it got warmer out to start treating it) and I've began adding rock salt to the pond as the treatment. (Rock salt as that's what we were told to use in place of aquarium salt on a pond of our size)

I'm on day five now and am currently at 390(Out of 600?) teaspoons of salt for a 350 gallon pond.
Starting on day three the fish started to act sluggish, so I knocked the amount of salt being put in down. Yesterday they were hiding in a low-flow area of the pond (Behind a brick) with their fins clamped. I've since done a small (60 gallon, with water conditioner) water change and halted all salt being introduced in to the pond. Today they seem a LOT more active, but I would like to know what I messed up on, and how to proceed from here.

I've also noticed that since yesterday, a few of the smaller goldfish have lost a large amount of scales on their sides. Was this caused by them hiding behind the brick, or is the salt also to blame for this?

These are the water tests that I've taken the last five days, roughly around mid-day: Nitrate - Nitrite - Hardness -Chlorine - Alkalinity - Ph - Ammonia

0 - 0 - Very soft - 0 - 0 - 7.2 - 0.25
0 - 0 - soft - 0 - 40 - 7.2 - 0.25
0 - 0 - Hard - 0 - 120 - 7.8 - 0.25
0 - 0 - very hard - 0 - 0 - 7.8 - 0.20
0 - 0 - Very hard - 0 - 0 - 7.0 - 0.20


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

Here is a salt protocol for treating ich in goldfish:

http://thegab.org/Illness-and-Treatment/treating-ich-with-salt.html

It recommends bringing the salt up to .3% (so 3 teaspoons per gallon) over a 36 hour period, and then maintaining it for 7 days. So maybe you didn't put enough salt in if you're at 390 teaspoons? Did you predissolve the salt in some separate pond water before adding it to the pond?


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## Coreyzilla (Sep 18, 2009)

pinetree said:


> Here is a salt protocol for treating ich in goldfish:
> 
> http://thegab.org/Illness-and-Treatment/treating-ich-with-salt.html
> 
> It recommends bringing the salt up to .3% (so 3 teaspoons per gallon) over a 36 hour period, and then maintaining it for 7 days. So maybe you didn't put enough salt in if you're at 390 teaspoons? Did you predissolve the salt in some separate pond water before adding it to the pond?


That was the treatment I was doing, and yes, I was pre-dissolving the salt. I halted it though at 390 teapoons when the fish took a turn for the worst.

I had asked on another fish forum what had gone wrong and if I should continue adding the salt now that the fish look better, but got no help or information. I'm hesitant to continue the treatment in general though since some of the smaller fish have lost a large amount scales.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

its so hard to treat a pond with salt and even harder to get the salt out of the pond and the fact that it will kill your plants the best thing you can do is individual treatment in a smaller tank i recomened a full salt dip for 5-10 minutes that can cure most anything and its a lot cheaper and more affective however it can be hard on the fish just make sure not to leave them in to long as it can kill them your other option is to use pond melafix or pimafix i cant remember which one is for fungus but it will take a lot less work and time.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The salt had nothing to do with the loss of scales, and considering that, I also doubt that it had anything to do with the fish being uncomfortable. As such, I'd leave everything as-is for now and see what happens.


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## Coreyzilla (Sep 18, 2009)

Revolution1221 said:


> its so hard to treat a pond with salt and even harder to get the salt out of the pond and the fact that it will kill your plants the best thing you can do is individual treatment in a smaller tank i recomened a full salt dip for 5-10 minutes that can cure most anything and its a lot cheaper and more affective however it can be hard on the fish just make sure not to leave them in to long as it can kill them your other option is to use pond melafix or pimafix i cant remember which one is for fungus but it will take a lot less work and time.


There are no plants in the pond, they've been removed and placed in a separate tank for the ick treatment.

I don't understand how a full salt dip would work to cure the ick, since I'd have to be spot-on with the trophont stage to rid it, correct?

Also, money isn't a problem as I care more about the fish at this point and their stress levels and well-being, but seeing as I don't have a lot of money to pour in to this treatment, I'm doing what I can.



TheOldSalt said:


> The salt had nothing to do with the loss of scales, and considering that, I also doubt that it had anything to do with the fish being uncomfortable. As such, I'd leave everything as-is for now and see what happens.


Would you say it would be alright to continue adding the salt for the treatment if the fish are looking better?


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

Coreyzilla said:


> There are no plants in the pond, they've been removed and placed in a separate tank for the ick treatment.
> 
> I don't understand how a full salt dip would work to cure the ick, since I'd have to be spot-on with the trophont stage to rid it, correct?
> 
> ...


the reason why a salt dip would work to cure ick in this case is because putting them in that much salt causes them to shed excess slime coat thus making the ick fall off with it then when if it tries to re atach itself it simply falls off again eventually dying if it were any other disease it would be the simple fact that they can not survive in that much salt luckily the fish can survive just a little longer. however im not sure but that may also hold true to ick the high salt content may just kill it straight up my mom just went through this her koi all got body fungas from a new addition the mela and pima weren't working so i had her do a salt dip and immediately after her fish all perked up and went back to full health!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

unless ur a very experienced fish keeper, stay the heck away from a salt dip. if you do it wrong ur gonna end up with a dead fish.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

i think your blowing it a little out of proportion we recommend it to people all the time even very inexperienced fish keepers with a very high success rate in fact ive yet to have someone come back and say there fish died from it instead they come back thanking us for helping save their fish. theres not much more to it rather than making sure the water is at a proper temp (best to use water right from your tank/pond) making sure you add the correct amount of salt and never leave them in for longer than your supposed to... you can find all the information on professional websites about exact amount of salt to use and really as long as you dont go over or under your not gonna have a problem. and goldfish of all fish are gonna be able to handle it more than any other.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

Eluviet said:


> unless ur a very experienced fish keeper, stay the heck away from a salt dip. if you do it wrong ur gonna end up with a dead fish.


oh and the way it looks like its going hes gonna have a dead fish soon enough its better than bringing salt levels in a pond way up.


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

blue king tetra? LOL here is a pic for ur reference! LOL.










oh i found it on GOOGLE.

and yes, a penguin tetra is also called a hockey stick tetra for the simple fact the black coloration on the body resembles a hockey stick! 

as asked by TOS: post editted!
FROM TOS: But not enough!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

some kids just wont lemme be civil would they? 

as asked by TOS: post editted!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

as asked by TOS: post editted!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

as asked by TOS: post editted!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

as asked by TOS: post editted!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

as asked by TOS: post editted!


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

lol type. meant to type thumb. crap happens!  ur still on eh?


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## Coreyzilla (Sep 18, 2009)

Geez, I come back and it seem as though a fight as broken out. 


Anyway, I'll be trying a salt dip then, because I have to agree that with the way the fish are looking it wouldn't be too much longer until I'd end up losing them.

My only worry is that some of the articles I've read so far have said that this could harm scaleless fish, and it seems as though it's more than just the small fish losing scales now as the bottom of the pond is spotted with them.

Should I hold off on the salt dip for now and start working on getting the current salt out of the pond?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Again, I don't think the salt is making your fish lose scales, so I don't see much use in getting rid of it. I also don't see much use in raising it, though.

A salt dip won't really do much good. It can get rid of a few ickies, but most of them are buried into the skin far enough that the sloughing of the slimecoat won't bother them at all. The best way to perk them up would probably be to put them into some clean new water, but if they're in really bad shape the shock of this might hurt them.

Now...Eluviet & Revolution, I'll give you little doofuses a choice:
Either go back through this thread and delete all your stupid pointless flamewarring posts, or get oh so VERY banned if I have to delete them myself. 
You have 22 hours.

By the way, there are about 4 or 5 Penguin tetras, and "Hockey Stick" would certainly make a fine trade/nickname for a couple of them. Common names are not "real" names though, so arguing over the common name of a fish is a bit pointless. That's why we have scientific names, after all.
That Blue King is a beauty, eh? I gotta get me some of those.


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## Guest (May 17, 2010)

oh i love mine! esp under the tubes am running on the tank for lighting the blue realy stands out! even my hockey sticks do. esp the dorsal and anal fins light up in a pale blue color.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

TheOldSalt said:


> Again, I don't think the salt is making your fish lose scales, so I don't see much use in getting rid of it. I also don't see much use in raising it, though.
> 
> A salt dip won't really do much good. It can get rid of a few ickies, but most of them are buried into the skin far enough that the sloughing of the slimecoat won't bother them at all. The best way to perk them up would probably be to put them into some clean new water, but if they're in really bad shape the shock of this might hurt them.
> 
> ...


and thats why i gave him the scientific name


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## sonicboomer (Apr 5, 2010)

It may take more than 5 days to get rid of the ich, I had to treat for 2 weeks until I was *99%* sure it was gone.


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## Guest (May 18, 2010)

some strains of ich never "go" away. they are quite capable of remaining dormant and springing up at any time, if not treated and cleaned right


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Only a half hour left to go, Revolution.
You can't say you didn't get the warning, since you quoted it.


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