Betta ich help!

[goldfish1212]

I have two male bettas i got about a week ago from Petco in a divided 10 gallon. This morning when I left they were active and fast eaters no spots, tonight I came back to my room to find at least one has ich. He has several tiny white spots and is lethargic swiming and floating vertical drooping his fins and mostly moves to breathe and find a different spot to rest on. The other one is white, and I can't see any spots, but he's very active flashing up against the walls and scratching himself on the sand and moss and wall. They have not been like this, one has been way more active than the other but neither seemed sick both swam plenty and showed interest in me and the sicker one was even working on a 2 inch long bubblenest. I was watching because I expected something bad from Petco but I didn't even notice they were sick with ich till tonight I feel awful I missed this, how, i thought ich had warning signs.

The tank is cycled and the water tests out fine, I've increased the heat to 84F, and am going to do 50% water changes and vacuum the sand everyday. I put in an air stone on the side of the betta with spots of ich. I don't have any transportation to petstores anymore, but I ordered some aquarium salt and bettafix which says it will be here 3 to 5 days. Will that be in time? Is the heat raised enough? I know I need to remove the carbon insert when treating, (Aquaclear 20 filter) but how much should I wash the rest of the filter and is there anyway to do so without starting the cycle all over? Should I wash off the sand? There is a plastic decoration, wood, and live plants should I wash those off too? Is there anything else I can do to treat the ich or at least help the bettas hold on until the aq salt and bettafix arrives? How long should I continue large water changes? How should I change feeding or should I? I'm feeding aqueon betta food and freeze dried brine shrimp on alternating days and was planning on feeding some pea on the weekend too if they will take it.

There is so much information about treating ich on the internet, but it seems so conflicting, the only certain info is raise heat, add salt, change water, clean stuff...

Please someone help provide specifics if you have treated bettas with ich before!!!

 

[Delapool]

I have two male bettas i got about a week ago from Petco in a divided 10 gallon. This morning when I left they were active and fast eaters no spots, tonight I came back to my room to find at least one has ich. He has several tiny white spots and is lethargic swiming and floating vertical drooping his fins and mostly moves to breathe and find a different spot to rest on. The other one is white, and I can't see any spots, but he's very active flashing up against the walls and scratching himself on the sand and moss and wall. They have not been like this, one has been way more active than the other but neither seemed sick both swam plenty and showed interest in me and the sicker one was even working on a 2 inch long bubblenest. I was watching because I expected something bad from Petco but I didn't even notice they were sick with ich till tonight I feel awful I missed this, how, i thought ich had warning signs.

The tank is cycled and the water tests out fine, I've increased the heat to 84F, and am going to do 50% water changes and vacuum the sand everyday. I put in an air stone on the side of the betta with spots of ich. I don't have any transportation to petstores anymore, but I ordered some aquarium salt and bettafix which says it will be here 3 to 5 days. Will that be in time? Is the heat raised enough? I know I need to remove the carbon insert when treating, (Aquaclear 20 filter) but how much should I wash the rest of the filter and is there anyway to do so without starting the cycle all over? Should I wash off the sand? There is a plastic decoration, wood, and live plants should I wash those off too? Is there anything else I can do to treat the ich or at least help the bettas hold on until the aq salt and bettafix arrives? How long should I continue large water changes? How should I change feeding or should I? I'm feeding aqueon betta food and freeze dried brine shrimp on alternating days and was planning on feeding some pea on the weekend too if they will take it.

There is so much information about treating ich on the internet, but it seems so conflicting, the only certain info is raise heat, add salt, change water, clean stuff...

Please someone help provide specifics if you have treated bettas with ich before!!!

Sounds like your on the right track. Haven't done ick for bettas in years though. I prefer 86F and that should solve.

Also remember your change water has to be the same temp.

Salt will help and your can leave the filter as it is. However any plants will probably not do well with the salt.

 

[goldfish1212]

Ok, thank you! When you say the plants will not do well with the salt do you mean they will die flat out or just be "unhappy" for a little while? Like should I remove the plants so as not to kill them?

 

[Delapool]

It's hard to say. At the salt dose needed to kill ich, your plants will also go (last para).

As a tonic to prevent secondary infections and help get rid of ich, 1 teaspoon per 5 gal should be ok. After that it just depends on the plants. You are best off removing the plants as you say and keeping them elsewhere for 10 days to make sure all the ich has died off.

With the heat method, you keep heat up for 10 days after last spot is seen in main tank. Gravel vacs help but the heat is doing all the work.

At higher heat and with ich sores, you need to keep an eye on the fish for bacterial / fungal infections.


A 3ppT (parts per thousand) salt solution is equivalent to 0.3% salinity, or 3 grams per liter, or ~2.5 teaspoons of salt per gallon (~2.5 tsp = 11.4 gm/gal US). This is the standard recommendation for salt treatment for skin parasites and for Ich. A level tablespoon is equivalent to three level teaspoons US/UK (4 Aust).