Medicating Fish with the
Recommended Treatment
for Fish Disease in Tropical Fish and Goldfish.
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If
your tropical fish or goldfish show Signs of Stress or Disease, give them the Recommended Treatment. It's difficult to determine exactly what makes tropical fish and goldfish sick, but we
always use the same 6-step treatment, and that treatment is given on this page.
Click
here
for a description of some of the most common Signs of Stress and Disease in tropical fish and goldfish.
Do the six steps listed below in order starting at Step 1 and ending at Step 6.
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1. Clean Your Fish's Home.
Click on the
underlined items in the list below for more details.
The first step is to clean your fish's home. Don't overreact and completely tear it apart and scrub everything. Just follow the advice given at the appropriate
link above. |
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2. Clean the Gravel.
Fish Bowls should have a layer of gravel about 1/4 inch thick, but aquariums with an external power filter with a BIO-Wheel do not need gravel. In an aquarium with a
BIO-Wheel the gravel is just ornamental. The fish don't need the gravel. If you do have gravel, make sure it's at most 1/4 inch thick. Click on one of the underlined items listed below to read
more about how to clean gravel.
You can avoid many problems with your fish's health by not having any gravel in your aquarium or
by keeping a very thin layer of gravel. |
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3. Change Some Water.
Remove
and replace some of the water in your fish's home. Click on the underlined items in the list below for the details.
Repeat water changes
every day until
the fish are no longer showing Sign of Stress or Disease. Remember don't change more than 20% of the water in one day. Click
here
for more information on measuring and calculating the volume of your aquarium or pond.
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4. Add Quick Cure.
The dosage on the package is 1 drop of Quick Cure for each
gallon of aquarium water or 1 drop per two gallons for Tetra Fish.
Elsewhere we've read advice to use only a half dose on delicate fish such as Clown
Loaches and Elephant Noses, but we've found it's safe to use a full dose on these fish. Your results may vary.
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So, for example, a 10-gallon aquarium gets 10 drops of Quick Cure,
or 5 drops if there are Tetra Fish.
Repeat adding Quick Cure once every day until the Signs of Stress and Disease are gone.
Quick
Cure is available in many retail stores
that sell pet fish and
in many online stores
including some that
advertise on this web
site.
On the back of the Quick Cure package it says, "Use one drop per gallon daily on all fish except those of the
Tetra Group. For Tetra - Use 1 drop for every 2 gallons daily."
The back of the package of Quick Cure says, "Remove charcoal or carbon from filtration system during
treatment." But our tests show that leaving charcoal or carbon in the filtration system does not affect the treatment, so we recommend you leave the charcoal or carbon in your filtration
system, and leave the filter turned on and pumping during the treatment.
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5. Add Aquarium Salt.
The dose recommended on
the package label is one Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per five gallons of aquarium water. So, for example, a 10-gallon aquarium gets 2 Tablespoons of Aquarium Salt. Do not repeat the salt
and do not use iodized table salt. Aquarium Salt is available in many stores
that sell pet
fish. Click here for more information on measuring and calculating the volume of your aquarium or pond.
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Click
here to go to another page in this web site and read more about Aquarium Salt.
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Treating Ponds. You can also use Aquarium Salt and Quick Cure to treat the fish in your pond. The dosage is the same, but it may be
more difficult to determine the volume of your pond.
Click
here
for more information about measuring and calculating the volume of your aquarium or pond.
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6. Increase
the Water Temperature.
If the fish you're treating are in a warm water aquarium with an aquarium heater, carefully increase the temperature of the water by 4 degrees to a maximum of
82 degrees F. Click
here for information on how to adjust your heater.
Even if your fish are coldwater fish such as Goldfish, it will probably help them to increase the water
temperature by 4 degrees to a maximum of about 78 degrees. This is somewhat controversial, but I have tested it for many years. It often helps and rarely hurts.
After 3 or 4 days lower the temperature by 4 degrees, and continue every 3 or 4 days
to adjust the temperature up and down by 4 degrees. |
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What not to Do
Do not use other medications or treatments. Do not add more fish until all the Signs of Stress and Disease are gone, and your fish
have recovered. Do not completely tear your fish's home apart and clean it. Click
here to read a Dozen Don'ts, which is a more complete
list of what not to do to your fish. |
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More pages in this web site with important information about sick fish and how to care for them. |
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Click
here for more information about Sick Fish.
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Click
here for more about Signs of Stress and Disease.
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Click
here for more information about Aquarium Salt.
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| More Serious Diseases that are not cured by the Recommended
Treatment may require more powerful medications. Click
here for information
about such medications. |
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Books about Fish Disease
The books shown below are listed on Amazon.com. You can click on the image of a book to go to the page at Amazon.com, where that book is
listed and discussed. In some cases you can preview several of the pages in that book. |
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Click
here for a complete list of
books about Diseases of Tropical Fish at Amazon.com. |
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Click
here now to go to another page in this web site with Customer Comments and our
Replies about using the Recommended Treatment to cure sick fish. |
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