Betta & ich - read sticky, but still have questions

[mgodby]

Hi everyone,
I think my betta has ich, and I'm coming to you for help! Here is my info:

1. What type of fish is afflicted? Male betta, today I noticed several white spots
2. What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Unfortunately I do not have an ammonia testing kit right now. Nitrates and nitrites are at 0, I have a heater designed for small tanks which maintains ~76 degrees. I just did a water change and tested the water, the pH reads neutral (6.8-7.2)
3. How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? The tank is 1.5 gallons. It has been set up for about 3 weeks.
4. What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known. I have a Tetra Whisper Internal Filter, Model 1-3i.
5.How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? Just one betta.
6. When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? I just did a 100% water change, I do these weekly. I don't vacuum the gravel, but rinse it thoroughly at each water change.
7. How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? I've had the fish about three weeks and bought him at Petsmart.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? No, I've been using the same things since I got the fish.
9. What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? Just betta pellets, haven't changed diet.

I thought my fish, Socrates, was doing so well up until today when I noticed these white spots! He's been very active, eating normally, and even made a bubble nest the other day.

I am fighting the urge to run up to Wal-Mart right now (the only thing that's open), and get some kind of medicine.. but the more research I do, the more I find medicine is not generally recommended. I have read about using heat, but unfortunately since my tank is so small I cannot really regulate the temperature much. I also read about aquarium salt, and I do add about 1/2 tablespoon of aquarium salt after a water change.

So, what should I do? I am confused as to whether I should start treatment now or wait until the parasites detach themselves from the fish. I don't want to use any medicines that could end up killing him.

Thank you so much!

 

[mfdrookie516]

welcome to AA Sorry youre having problems, but i think i can help. First and foremost, it sounds to me as if the tank was not, and is not cycled. There are two links in my signature explaining cycling. Secondly, 100% water changes are not a good idea, and neither is rinsing your gravel. The tank needs to build up bacteria which will convert your ammonia in to nitrites, then to nitrates. Probably the reason you arent seeing any nitrates. Using straight tap water is worse, as the chlorine is in tap water for the sole purpose of killing bacteria, not good for an aquarium. Ich can be brought on by stress, most likely stress of having ammonia in the water. Are you using a liquid or strip test for what you can test? If it is strips, your best bet is to invest in a liquid test kit... strips are notoriously innacurate. As for treating the ich, if you cant raise the temp, youre going to have to use some sort of medication. I cant recommend any personally, ive never used any. hope this helps a little

 

[dkpate]

I used QuIck Cure I got at Walmart and it worked great! Only use 1/2 doses though since bettas are sensitive. Whenever you pick up a med for fish, if there are specific directions for tetras, do the same for bettas.
You should do pwc's once a week with a filter after it has cycled.
You should not use salt every time. You should never use salt for bettas for more than 10 days. (This info comes from a breeder I talk to who has been in the betta hobby for 30 years).
When I treated my betta for ich, I put the 1/2 dose of QuIck Cure in, added 1/2 tsp of aquarium salt to help with the slime coat, and did a 50% pwc every day while treating. If you don't do a pwc, you can OD your fish on the meds because the last dose is still in there. And just so you know, the QuIck Cure dyes hoses, seams and plastic items in the tank blue.

 

[mgodby]

mfdrookie - thanks for your reply. I am a bit confused about cycling because I read on a betta blog that if you did not cycle your aquarium you need to do 100% water changes. I will look into it though. Also, I am using the test strips.. I was not aware there were liquid test kits so I will look into that as well the next time I am at a pet store. thanks!

dkpate - thanks! I looked up quick cure and bettas online and did find other sources saying this was ok, so I went out and bought some. I am going to add 1 drop per day and do 50% water changes per day, for 10 days. I really hope Socrates survives this little ordeal!

 

[mfdrookie516]

if you read the one on cycling with fish, it tells how to deal with ammonia while the tank is cycling... if you keep doing 100% pwc's and rinsing the gravel, youre going to be hurting yourself by getting rid of what bacteria is there... just like you mentioned to dkpate about the 50% pwc's, thats more in the line of what you'll need to be doing, until you see the cycle complete. if you need info on a liquid test kit, i highly recommend the API_Master_fw_test_kit ... not necessarily from that site, but you can find one almost anywhere. that will test the important stuff. just remember to dechlor your water before you put it in the tank during a water change... in such a small tank, any chlorine that gets in is going to hurt your bacterial colony.

 

[dkpate]

Yes, until you get your tank cycled, do 50% pwc's every day. Then after it is cycled, you can just do 50% once a week. Sounds like you are well on your way to fixing Mr. Socrates! It worked great for me and my feisty little Diablo lol! And he is doing fine now.
P.S. I did do a 50% pwc before I added the first dose of QuIck Cure. And then a 50% pwc every day before the next dosing.

 

[mgodby]

some more questions..

Hi guys,
Well I am on day 7 of the ich treatment and everything seems to be ok. I have been doing 50% water changes and adding one drop of the treatment per day.

If you happen to catch this thread, I am a bit confused about the water changes and frequency. I read on a certain blog that I consider to be trustworthy, that 100% water changes should be done if your tank is uncycled.

Ideally, I would like to have a cycled tank. The tank I have right now is 1.5 gallons, and near the end of December I am getting a tank that is 2-3 gallons.

So,

Once the ich treatment is over, should I continue with 50% daily water changes? Or is the 100% weekly ok?

Is it better to cycle the new tank without my fish in it, and then add him once it is cycled? Or will that be too stressful?

What about a filter? I have one for my current tank that I have taken out during the ich treatment. Should I use it in an uncycled tank? Cycled?

Thank you so much!

 

[mfdrookie516]

if you want your tank to cycle, reducing the frequency of pwc's, you need to keep doing 50% pwc's until youre done medicating and the tank is cycled... if you dont want it to ever cycle, 100% water changes will definately help with that

 

[dkpate]

Since your betta is in an unfiltered tank right now, you should continue doing 50% pwc's every day. This is information I got from a lady who has been breeding bettas and taking care of them for 30 years. After the treatment is done, you should do a 100% pwc and rinse the stuff you are going to keep in there. The meds kill the ich after it falls off the body of the fish, so it is still in the substrate dead, but needs to be cleaned out.
It would be much better if you cycled the new tank before you but the betta in. That is exactly what I did when my betta was got over ich. It will be less stressful to him if you cycle it and then put him in. Sounds like you are going to be using a filter on your new tank, which will be good as long as you get 3 gallons or so. It is recommended to only use a filter on a 5G or larger since the current is too much for the betta in a smaller tank and will stress them out.
When I cycled my betta tanks, I use this product called BioZyme, and my tank were cycled in a week and the fish are doing great. You can find it online for about $3. If you get a bigger tank, (which is what I did, 5G, and divided it so I could add another betta lol), with a filter, you only need to do 50% pwc's once a week. Without the filter, 50% twice a week. Also, I found that in between pwc's, using a turkey baster to clean up the poo works really well!
Good luck!

 

[joy13]

There are small filters from Red Sea that work wonderfully for a 2.5 gallon betta tank. You can adjust the flow to almost nothing if you need, but I find I usually don't have to unless it is for one of my older bettas (as in over 3 years old). Once you are done treating for ich you can use some of the stuff in your tank now to actually do a silent cycle on your new tank. I cycle all my tanks that way.

You might consider feeding your betta a piece of shelled pea once a week to keep it from getting constipated. This is something I do when I get a betta usually they have been held hostage in a cup.and it helps clean out their system.

 

[dkpate]

+1 for the pea! I also feed peas once a week, on what I have dubbed "Pea Thursday"

Don't the meds kill any good bacteria that could have been growing in the tank?

 

[joy13]

Only if they are for bacterial infections ich is a parasite so it is a totally different med.

 

[dkpate]

Jackpot. I just looked up QuIck Cure, and it says:

"Will not effect biological systems"

Good call Joy!

 

[mgodby]

Thank you all so much! I did try feeding a piece of pea today, but I think it was too big because it sank to the bottom and he wasn't interested. Tomorrow is the last day of Ick treatment! Hooray!

I will continue with weekly 100% water changes until I can put him in the new cycled tank. I will try and get some Bio Zyme as well to see if that speeds up the process.

Thanks again!

 

[dkpate]

I would recommend doing 50% pwc's twice a week until you get him in that new tank, then if it's cycled, you can go to 50% once a week if everything in there is kosher. And also, you can use a turkey baster to pick up the junk on the bottom in the tank you have now. A 100% water change is stressful on a fish, because things change while it is sitting there, if that makes sense.
With the peas:
I boil them, squeeze the inside out onto a spoon, mush them with my finger, and then just scoop a little on my finger and put my finger in the water. When they are smaller, they kind of sink slowly. Slower that a big piece anyway.
How many days did you do the ich treatment? I only did mine for 7, but those were the directions on the bottle. Glad you are almost done with the treatment! Make sure when you are done, you clean the tank out really good too.