# Goldfish dying



## pxexaxcxex (Jul 28, 2009)

I had to raise the water temp in my goldfish tank to 86-87 because a prior fish that died had horrible ich that two medicines could not get rid of. I did a big water change put in a fraction of salt and a week later my other goldfish is dying. The only thing I can think of is the water temp. But I didn't know how else to get rid of the ich! It kept coming back. Now what can I do to save this fish, it is floating upside down, breathing normally it would seem. It swims to the bottom only if you spook it but it is just twirling around without much energy. I turned off the heater as soon as I saw this this morning, but am I too late???? No ammonia, the water is neutral, everything else seems to be fine. The fish seems otherwise healthy. 

18 Gallon tank, fish is with one 1.5 inch algae eater and goldfish is small-medium size. Oranda.

I should add that I strongly believe this is due to heat.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

its probably not directly from heat but rather from all the stress of the increased temparature medications and illness all combined. next time try not taking your heat up so high for goldfish try somewhere around 80-82 what medications have u tried? did u use coppersafe usually coppersafe is the absolute best for treating ich. are u keeping up with water changes? have u had ur water tested whats ur ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. if your fish that died werent removed right away this could have caused a mini cycle in your tank also depending on what kind of meds you used it can mess with your biological bacteria.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The heat isn't helping, that's for sure, but it alone isn't killing the fish. The ick is spreading like crazy from the heat, and that's what's doing the job. The other big problem is an internal infection brought about once again by the heat. The bacteria in the gut is producing a lot of gas, which is making the fish float.

Things look bad, and they are bad, but get the temp back down, slowly, and switch to another medicine. Alternately, raise the temp to 95 for a day, which will wipe out the ick by itself, and then cool things off again. Increase aeration at these high temps, by the way.


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## chocolatecrunch (May 21, 2010)

I think it may have dropsey but ich may also be it.
Like TheOldSalt said, turn it up to 90 for one day, but then SLOWLY decrease the temp. So like the next day, have it be 88,then 85, then 82, then 79, then 78, then 76...So I think it should take about a week or so for the fish to be ok and get things back to normal 

Good luck!
P.S. Tropical and freshwater shouldn't be mixed. Goldfish like temps at around 65 while tropical fish like the temp at around 75-80 wich isn't good for the fishie


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

I would use rid ick plus, that stuff works GREAT. I have been able to get rid of the worst ick using that stuff. You can also add an air stone in their to help with the oxygen. Every time I have a sick fish I add in an air stone.


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## someonefishy (Oct 14, 2010)

Someone posted here that the ich is spreading because of the heat ...

Did I read that correctly? When I was keeping tropical fish, I was always told, and I read, that ich is caused by the water getting too cold. That's why tropicals get it -- water not warm enough. If ich is a cold-water disease, how could increased heat spread it?

Just curious ...

-- someonefishy


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

ich can happen in any temp. Ich reproduces faster at high temperatures. You are often told to raise temp to treat ich because it speed the time to the 'vulnerable to med' stage of life ant thus shortens the time you need the med. However, if your med isn't killing the "baby ich", warmer can make things worse. 

But ich routinely strikes fish in tanks that get suddenly cooler. It happened to me once in an unheated endler's tank. IMO, its the stress from the cold water and the slowing of the fish's immune response that allows ich to get a foothold when the fish would be able to fight it off at normal temps. But any stress can set off ich, so its very common in new fish and new tanks. If you win this battle and QT new fish, you may never see ich in that tank again.


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## Ebaun (Sep 6, 2010)

the colder something is the more energy it takes to sustain life. if the temprature is higher it takes less energy from the bacteria and ick. therfore allowing them to reproduce quicker. the point in having the high temprature is because you can only kill ich during a a small period of there cycle, so they speed the cycle up to kill it quicker. make sence?


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