Get rid of Goldfish Ick quickly, as your pet’s survival depends on it

Goldfish ick, or ich, is a very common parasitic disease. It’s also known as White spot. This common name comes from being able to see very small white spots on your pet fish. Please examine your goldfish closely to see if you can see any of the signs that they have been infected with this horrid goldfish disease.

This parasite is a single celled organism called Ichthyopthirius multifilius, and it’s very contagious. The adult digs under your pet fish’s scales or digs into exposed areas such as your pet’s gills, and starts to feed.

What an awful thought, your wonderful family pet is being eaten alive, you need to stop this.

The lifecycle of this parasite isn’t over with yet. Once it becomes big enough it falls off your goldfish, and forms a cyst. Inside the cyst the parasite reproduces thousands of more parasites which are eventually released into your fish tank and they swim around ready to attack your goldfish once again.

If goldfish ick, isn’t dealt with quickly it can kill off your whole aquarium.

What causes goldfish ick or ich?

Highly stressed goldfish can easily be affected. If new fish are added to an existing aquarium and they haven’t been quarantined properly, you could be infecting your whole healthy fish tank. If the water temperature is cooler than usual, this will allow the parasite to thrive.

Don’t fret, this disease can be easily cured

We can only kill this parasite when it’s in the cyst stage. So when your fish don’t have those white spots on them anymore they haven’t cured themselves, it’s time for you to cure them from the next onslaught, from the parasite.

As mentioned above the parasites like cool temperatures, so you’ll need to raise the temperature of your aquarium to about 28-30 degrees Celsius.

The water density needs to be increased and you must add 6-8 tsp per gallon of aquarium salt. Please note that if you add too much salt it could kill your aquatic plants.

Malachite green can also be added to your fish tank, but with higher water temperatures the quantity of oxygen decreases in your fish tank so please make sure it’s well aerated.

For a list of goldfish diseases including goldfish ick please click here.

Fin rot, is also another awful goldfish disease, and this one too can be easily treated. Other golfish diseases include: Fungus, Constipation, Dropsy, Pop Eye, Anchor Worm, Fish Lice, Swim Bladder, Body and Gill Flukes, and Hole-in-the-head Disease.