I’m so sorry to hear about your poor oranda, Maryum! If your goldfish has ich, I’d really highly recommend picking up some aquarium salt. Not only can you use it to treat ich infections, but it can help improve oxygen flow whenever your goldfish is stressed out or sick – especially when medicating the water!

When treating hospital tanks with medication, I generally like to hold off on feeding (to prevent waste and ammonia buildup in the tank). If I do think my fish will need the additional nutrients, I will feed a small amount about once per day. You can add a few drops of Garlic Guard or something similar to the food, letting it soak for a few minutes before feeding – this may help improve recovery of both the parasite and bacterial infection (plus, garlic juice is wonderful for enticing fish to eat if they won’t eat otherwise). If your goldfish is too weak to swim for its food, you can try handfeeding it (make sure to always rinse off your hands well to remove any residue from soap, grease, or lotions – preferably, it’s better to use latex gloves).

By the way, I do really suggest thinking about buying a larger tank for your fish. One goldfish should really be housed in 75 liters or more (you can read about why in my goldfish tank article here). 15 liters is pretty small for a goldfish, even if you’re just keeping one.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, you should try testing the water for ammonia and nitrite with a freshwater test kit – your goldfish can’t recover if the water quality is poor. You’ll want both ammonia and nitrite levels to stay at 0ppm (parts per million). You can read about water testing here. Though the water may appear healthy, it may still contain high levels of unhealthy water parameters that will make your fish sick. Ammonia and nitrite spikes can be pretty much invisible but just as deadly – you won’t know if your tank water has unhealthy levels of either unless you test the water for both parameters. If you can’t get a freshwater test kit, I recommend taking a sample of the water and having it tested at your local pet shop.

Let me know how your goldfish is doing and if there’s anything else you need help with! I really hope your fish can recover. :/ Good luck with treatment!

Hi Matt,

Goldfish can live 20 years and longer, so your goldfish would be considered still just a babe. If your goldfish has white spot disease, I recommend treating him quickly before the ich get too far out of hand.

I hope this answers your question!

I was wondering how long my goldfish (in reasonably good health, aged 18 months) might survive if I were to ride him into battle.

Please advise,
Matt

That’s wonderful news, Jennifer! I’m happy your goldfish was able to pull through.

Good luck on the ich treatment, Beverly! Ich can definitely be persistent. I’d recommend continuing treatment for at least three days after the last signs of ich. After the cysts have dropped off your goldfish, there’s a chance that some parasites still haven’t reached the free-swimming stage yet. You want to make sure you treat all of the parasites once they hit the free-swimming stage. That’s why you want to continue treatment for at least three days longer – otherwise, you might have to begin treatment all over again.