Ich Won't Go Away On Betta

[NewToFish1989]

Got a new betta last week, he's in a 40 litre tank on his own. Well a day after noticed 3-4 small white spots on him and knew it was ich as it was the same spots my neon tetras had in my other tank but that cleared up pretty easily with anti-white spot by interpet.

My betta has his temp at 79-80F so did one dose of the treatment and all was going well, most spots dropped off except 2, so bottle states not to dose again until 4 days after, yesterday was day four but the ich has come back with a vengeance and noticed his fins are shredded and he wouldn't eat his pellets this morning

The bottle says you can't dose again after a week but worry if I can't even wait that long because he's starting to rest on the gravel. I was going to try aquarium salt but someone told me not to as there sensitive to it and not to.

Ph: 7.6
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10-20ppm

 

[rmiller]

Slowly raise the temp of your tank to about 86-87, ich can not reproduce at this high a temp. You'll also want to air an air stone. Make sure to vacuum his gravel daily and top the tank back off with dechlorinated water. Meds really aren't needed to get rid of ich.

 

[Brad M]

I am really not a fan of this method. Raising the temp lowers the amount of air that can enter the water and it also couses fish to consume more air so it can be really dangerous and thats why the above posted recomends the air stone. A betta is probably one of the only fish I would try this with since they betta can breath actual air as well as using its gills.
I also agree with the comment about not using chemicals. Using knowledge of the ichs life you can take care of this problem naturally.

I prefer to not change temp or chemicals or anything. I set up TWO tanks with only a air stone and heater and put the infected fish in. After 12 hours I move the fish to the second tank then clean the first tank very well and set it back up. The fish is moved every 12 hours. That means the fish is removed before the eggs have time to hatch and latch on to the fish again. Filters are not really needed since cleaning them would destroy any BB anyway and changing 100% of the water every 12 hours takes care of ammonia.

This method can suck with bigger fish and tanks but a small betta should be easy to work with.

 

[Fishfur]

Betta fish are not sensitive to salt. In fact, salt is good tonic for them and aids healing of torn fins. I know a very successful Betta keeper who uses it in all her Betta tanks all the time. She wins a lot of shows, and has had Betta fish live past five years of age more than once, so I think she knows what she's doing.

Indian Almond leaf is also very good for injuries, having natural antibiotic properties, though is not a ich treatment per se.

You can use aquarium salt to help treat the ich on this fish if you want to, but by all means do provide extra agitation of the water, to improve oxygen content, airstone is good.

You can also raise the temperature to 86 or so, which should kill most ick in a few days. When you've seen no new spots for several days, the ich should all be dead.

 

[Brad M]

Ah I forgot about salt baths nice addition fishfur. This is another great tool to fight ich without using chemicals.

 

[Fishfur]

Salt is handy for speeding up the removal of ich. I am just grateful that so far I have escaped having to deal with it myself. Having read so much about it by now, I figure when my time comes at least I'll have a clue what to do.

 

[rmiller]

If you chose to add salt (good option, used it in the past myself) make sure that you get salt that does not contain any additives like iodine or anti-caking agents. I used to always keep sea salt in the house rather than standard table salt. Can't remember what the name was, but we used it in our cooking as well as the tanks on occasion. Most though will get aquarium salt just to be sure it's pure.

 

[Brad M]

My first run in was when I was young. Cranked the heat up to fast... didnt have enough air... half the tank didnt make it and the other half did ok but were stressed for a week or so after.

Second time I had multiple unused tanks and just changed the water twice a day. Other than handeling the fish so much I feel it is the best however I love for this hobby to take over my time and life. Lol. Most people wouldnt want to have to do. Water changes twice a day and clean and dechlorinate a system twice a day.

 

[Fishfur]

Nope, not even in a little Betta tank.. I put filters on my Betta tanks simply to reduce the need for water changes. Can't duck them entirely of course.. and I thank the stars for the inventor of the Python style devices !