I have a 50 gallon freshwater tank that is filthy and has some fish in it......?

Question

A feeder and some cat fish and two other fish which are smaller. Now the feeder has white stuff on him. How can I clean this without killing the fish. I know your supposed to go slowly and keep adding water but it's really dirty. Should I remove the fish to another tank?

Answer 1

If you have a spare tank for the occupants, then it would be a good idea to move them there so you can clean the tank properly.

Answer 2

the white stuff is fungus and contagious should be quarantine add rocksalt and mythelene blue.

Answer 3

A filter would be very helpful if you don't already have one.  It probably would't be a good idea to change all the water at once, but one 50% change followed by smaller changes, like around 1/4th of the water, could be done every few days until the water has cleared.  Dechlorinating drops added to the new water will help your fish during the frequant changes.  Also, if you don't have one, a gravel vaccume is very useful for rapidly removing fish waste and everything else that's stuck at the bottom of your tank.

The white stuff on your goldfish sounds like ich or some kind of fungus.  You could image search for pictures of both to identify it and find out what you need to treat it, although it might clear up when the tank water is back to normal.  A water testing kit would be useful to tell when it is,

hope this helps

Answer 4

does it have a filter try putting one in

Answer 5

White stuff on fish, sounds like ick, it can pass to other fish and kill them if not being treated.

http://www.nunnie.com/ick.html

You should move the sick fish to different tank and get the ick remover.  

For the big tank, empty out 80% of the old water.  Clean tank really good, Add salt and ick remover in the fresh water as well, to prevent the diseases continue to grow.