Gobie Species Fish

[Jeanne]

I have a 10 gallon tank with bumblebee gobies and peacock gobies, this morning I noticed that one of my bumblebees has what appears to be ick. I have been all over the net and the info I did find as far as treating them for it is few and far between and the info varies. On one site I read not to treat your gobies with copper type treatment for ick. Another site said raise my temps to closer to 80 and add more salt. Now lets keep in mind that gobies are a brackish fish but can live in salt water. So, at this point I have upped my temp in the tank and added more salt. My question is this: anyone have any experience treating gobies for ick and with what? And, should I move the one gobie to a "hosp" tank and treat it only. I feel treating the tank is the most logical thing to do, since ick has 3 stages of life, the first being when you notice the stuff, and next being when the "cysts" containing the ick spores drops off fish into your tank to grow, then third stage is the only treatable stage, it is when the ick is in the tank and alive for something like 2 days looking for a host. I think it makes more sense to treat the whole tank- but could be wrong, if one of them shows ick visably, obviously, there is the possibility that it was brought in when I got the bumblebees. So I am afraid others may show it. Grr, I am upset about this, my gobies are my prized fish! Especially since I had to have them ordered to get them ( and wait a bit in the process for some to be found) in the first place since they seem to be harder to get and I have not seen gobies in the stores for over a year locally. I would sure appreciate any ideas some of you other fish keepers may have. Thanks in advance.

[SatanicIntention]

I don't think the ick treatment would hurt them. It's only malachite green and something else. Mostly called Ick-Away or Cure-Ick, something to that effect. WalMart or Petsmart will most likely have it. ust remember you can't use your filter at that time while treating, because the carbon filters it out. Like you said, the most sensible thing to do is just treat the whole tank. Seems to work better IMHO. Good luck to you, hope everything gets cleared up

[brownguy]

try Coppersafe by Mardel for about 7 dollars. It is the best stuff on the market it treats for 1 month. It is safe for all types of fish. If you have live plants in there it may harm them so they should be removed. my clown loach got ick and it commited suicide by wedging itself inbetween the glass and the heater. but the ick spread to two other fish so treatment should be rapid. If it covers the body there is really is nothing you can do. I just leave this Mardel in my quarentine so that there is no way to get the ick from the stress of moving.