Severe ich, please help!

[adeebm]

So, it seems that my 10gal tank that I just stocked with a gourami and a betta has ich. I got them at the same time so one of them must have had it. Anyway, it's been about 5-6 days since I noticed. I cranked up them temp to ~86-88F. Can't tell exactly because I have a strip thermometer atm. I also added 3tbsp of marine salt, over 2 days. The gourami seems to be doing well, some of the ich has dropped of, and he's eating. He is actually getting more active by the day. The betta however, is in poor condition. He has lost all his color, spends the day lying under a rock and can barely swim. Plus, lying on the ground seems to have made it easy for the ich to find him, because he is covered with it. He looks almost dead. He wouldn't even eat today. He came to the surface and swam around like he was looking for food, but never went for a flake, even when I dropped it right infront of him. What can I do to save the poor guy? I don't think ich could get to him so fast, so it must be the heat right? Should I go to normal temps and try a med? I have a live plant(its okay if it dies tho) and plan to have inverts, so which med would be best? He's a really beautiful betta and I'm sure he would appreciate your guys' help

--Adeeb

 

[dkpate]

The high heat will make the ich reproduce faster, and that's a good thing, and it's also why it is looking worse. It will look worse before it looks better.
The ich falls into the substrate, forms a cyst, and then explodes into thousands more, then re-attaches onto the fish.
Since you are using salt, you will need to do partial water changes EVERY day, as well as a really good vacuum to get the cysts out. Bettas can only handle salt for around 10 days, before they go into kidney failure. Keep the heat up even after you see the last ich on the fish.
Also, the gourami and betta probably should not be in the tank together, and the betta should be getting fed pellets, since flakes bloat them.

 

[happygirl65]

Just keep the temp up like dkpate said...that is really your best defense. Crossing my fingers for your betta. Wishing you luck...keep doing water changes, and slow way way down on feeding maybe every other day, they won't eat nearly as much while they are trying to fight off the ich.

 

[adeebm]

Ok so temp is at 87F (finally got a digital thermometer). Malachite green helped and the gourami is cured. The betta still has some spots left but seems to be doing better. I did a malachite dose for 4 days as bottle said, so I'm assuming more than that is dangerous for the fish? So now all the malachite is gone and the betta is still infected, so should I do another course or just keep the temp up? Will temp alone kill the ich or do I need to add more salt?

--Adeeb

 

[dkpate]

The temp will not allow it to reproduce.
99% of meds are only supposed to be 1/2 doses for bettas, what does the bottle say for tetras? Use the same for bettas.

 

[happygirl65]

The temp will not allow it to reproduce.
99% of meds are only supposed to be 1/2 doses for bettas, what does the bottle say for tetras? Use the same for bettas.

Well the last time I had to deal with Ich, it took 2 full weeks of high temps to get rid of it...just keep up on the water changes and keep the temp up. All you can really do is wait it out at this point.
Good luck!

 

[dkpate]

Right, keep the temp up for a while, even after you see the last spot on your fish, but keep in mind the salt thing I mentioned with the betta.