Ick! My goldfish is suffering pleaseeee help.?

It's not necessary to start everything over. If ich doesn't have a fish as a host, it will die off itself within a few weeks. The Quick Cure is about as good as you can get for a medication to cure ich (anything that uses both malachite green and formalin). So if this isn't working for your fish, they may have had too heavy of an infection when you bought them. Also, be sure you have the carbon removed from your filter. If you don't the carbon absorbs the medication, so it's about the same as not adding anything to treat.

It may take a little while before you notice any change on your fish. When the ich parasite is attached to them, they are enclosed in a cyst and aren't affected by the treatment. They can only be killed when they drop off into the water. Another common mistake is that when people no longer see the spots on the fish, the stop treating them - but you should allow 3-5 days after you no longer see any spots to do a water change, just to be sure all of the parasites are killed.

You can help speed up the treatment by increasing the water temperature which speeds up the life cycle of the parasite so they drop off faster. Just do this slowly (change no more than a few degrees each hour) and provide good aeration (to compensate for warmer water holding less dissolved oxygen). A temperature of 86o or more is best (and goldfish can handle this temperature if it's changed slowly), but any increase can help.

if you catch it early and give the proper dosage the ich treatment should work. My preferred way of dealing with Ich is aquarium salt and a temp increase of the water. You gotta keep the tank clean and remove the carbon from the filter as the carbon will reduce the effectiveness of the salt and the Ich treatment... Good Luck and hope the fishies get well! :D

Here's a website that you can check on for the exact dosage and temps:

Continue the quick cure treatments exactly as the instructions on the bottle. Get the temperature up in your tank to 82-84 degrees. The combination of the medication and higher temp will kill the ich. Daily doses of quick cure will work. Don't discontinue until the ich is gone. Then bring your tank back to normal temperature but remember to treat for ich with the quick cure every month with the temperature normal.

Ich is a parasite so it needs to be treated as such. Many people tend to treat it as if it were a disease and then get frustrated when their existing fish or new fish start showing signs of ich after they have treated the obviously infected fish individually. The fact of the matter is that if you see one fish in your aquarium afflicted, it's only a matter of time before the rest will show signs of the same affliction.


Ich has three life stages --

Trophont Phase: This is the phase when you discover your fish have ich. The parasite burrows through the slime layer and becomes encased in a hard shell which is often called a "cyst." It is these cysts that have the distinctive "grains of salt" appearance. The parasite at this stage is immune to medication, being protected by the skin of the fish and the hard shell of the cyst.

Tomont Phase: When the parasite matures it breaks out of the skin, still encased, and falls away leaving a tiny open wound in the skin of the fish. The cyst falls to the bottom of the tank or into the cracks and crevices of an object such as a rock or plant. Inside its casing the tomont divides. At this stage, the parasite is immune to treatment.

Theront Phase: When the tomont ruptures it bursts open to release hundreds of theronts into the water. This is the phase of the Ich life cycle when the parasite is vulnerable to medication. Theronts have a life span of approximately two days and will die if they have not successfully located a host fish.


It can only be killed in its free-swimming stage. If you stopped treatment after the white spots/cysts disappeared, it's possible that there were still parasites going unnoticed in your tank and (re)infecting whatever fish is exposed to it and starting the cycle all over again.

They most likely wont die if you treat them promptly. Ich is a parasite and is very contageous. If you always add aquarium salt to your water (1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per 2 1/2 Gal of water) and one drop of Aquarisol per gal, the fish will probably never get it. Since they already have it, you need to treat the whole tank by raising the temp. to 85F and adding one drop of aquarisol per gallon every day until cured. It should only take a few days.The reason is that the parasites are sensitive to the heat and at 85F they become free swimming (detach themselves from skin and go for a swim in the water which contains the Aquarisol. Aquarisol then kills them).

there is nothing you can do to save it really its gonna die next time you get fish from somewhere you need to make sure the have no sign of ick or even look sick and most in likley if u keep buying them from the same place they are going to have ick so i would go somewhere else and buy them.

I had a fish with ick- It didn't infect the other fish however. Try net dips. That could help you, however if all the fish are infected, remember you MUST take the filter out while you treat the tank- no Carbon can be present or it neutralizes the cure.

Hope it helps! :(

I'm sorry, I had the same problem. I had one goldfish with ick and the rest died.

Even if you do get treatment the ick might not die because it creates cysts in their scales. But I guess you could try, when you put the medicine in take the carbon out of your filter or the medicine won't work.

You can try taking your filter out and retrying again if you like, be sure to check temp often on the fish, from what I have seen so far online searching, 85 degrees on them would be a biigggg no no. you would kill your fish. I would suggest quarantine period of atleast 2-4 weeks in seperate bowls. Treating them not as a group but as individuals. Also try buying 1-3 fish at a time instead of a bunch.
At this moment in time I would suggest that you start over. Purchase a new filter, heater, rocks ect. I would also suggest cleaning the entire aquarium out then waiting atleast 2 weeks of rinsing it and cleaning it before getting new fish. Start with one goldfish in a small tank and see how it does, if it starts showing ick then you need to go the the pet store and report to them what is happening. I would also suggest getting one of the fish experts in your area to come to your home and see your set up and see what they have to say about it. I hope this helps and I will pray for your grieving to be swift and easy.