Looks like ich...great

[hacket]

She actually just fought off my pleco for a small piece of an algae wafer....Darn it! Haha I had to put in a second one....They are both eating their own now...So they've got plenty of energy.

 

[DizzCat]

Yea I used tap water. I guess it's bad for the bacteria due to chloromines and other additives? The tank is about 3 months old and so fully cycled.

Just wanted to jump in here quick. When you clean off your filter sponge, always swish it in tank water. If you run it under the tap you kill off the good bacteria and start another mini cycle. Also, when ever you buy new sponge media to replace the old dirty one, make sure and keep a small part of the old one in there until the new one gets established. Better yet, if it is a double filter only change one pad at a time. When I put new pads in, I will cut the old one in half and stuff it down in the bottom until the new one gets nice and gunked up. You can scrub all the plastic and mechanical parts under the tap, just not the pads.

Hope all goes well!

 

[hacket]

Just wanted to jump in here quick. When you clean off your filter sponge, always swish it in tank water. If you run it under the tap you kill off the good bacteria and start another mini cycle. Also, when ever you buy new sponge media to replace the old dirty one, make sure and keep a small part or the old one in there until the new one gets established. better yet, if it is a double filter only change one pad at a time. When I put new pads in, I will cut the old one in half and stuff it down in the bottom until the new one gets nice and gunked up. You can scrub all the plastic and mechanical parts under the tap, just not the pads.

Hope all goes well!

Ok, Thanks for the info If I started a mini-cycle, since I'm changing a little water everyday that should take care of any small ammonia buildup.

 

[hacket]

Just an update here, my fish seem to be doing about the same. Both are pretty active. I took readings last night and had a slight level (.5) of both ammonia and nitrites. Nitrates were very low, around .10. Changed water this morning and both ammonia and nitrites were down to about .25 as far as I can tell with nitrates at about .20.

Cleaning the filter must have thrown the bacteria out of whack, but it looks like it's stabalizing again. I'll take reading again tonight.

 

[neurotik]

Yeah, sounds like you started yourself a very small mini-cycle. With proper maintenance and keeping a close eye on things and doing water changes to keep your water parameters in check, it shouldn't be too long before your biological filtration can get itself back on its feet. Don't be alarmed if you start to see a bit of white cloudiness to your water too, if you did in fact put your filtration into a mini-cycle, but lets hope that it can get itself re-established quick enough to avoid all of that mess.

How are the fishies? Same amount of spots? More spots?

 

[hacket]

They are doing about the same. Same amount of spots on the betta plus she sits on the gravel for small periods of time. She'll get up if I go over to the tank though. And the pleco doesn't have any at all. Hopefully he will get skipped! I really can't believe how active my pleco is all the time. He's crawling around on the front of the glass right now and is usually digging around in the gravel, cleaning! Even during the day. He'll sleep for a few hours in the late afternoon.

 

[neurotik]

Yeah, you probably won't notice the amount spots changing too much for a while, but after a while you'll wake up one day and notice that they are really starting to go away.

That's good that your pleco is very active. I have three BN plecos in my 55 gallon and I catch a glimpse of them every so often throughout the day, but usually they're just hiding behind or under something. I see them all over the place at night though once my lights go out and my moonlight LED lights come on -- they're fun to watch! You must be lucky with your Pleco and the fact that he enjoys being active during the day. My clown loaches are the same way; everyone says loaches are active more during the night, but mine are all over my tank non stop throughout the day, and as soon as the lights go out, they go inside of this cave and hide for the entire night and I never see them again until morning!

 

[hacket]

Good news! I got my cycle back to normal. Testing this morning revealed nitrate - 20, nitrite - 0, ammonia - as close to 0 as possible on my scale.

Fish seem to be doing ok with the ich. A few more spots have shown up, and she is more lethargic, but she does swim around quite a bit as well. The temp is staying steady at about 88F

 

[neurotik]

Good to see that your water parameters are back in check now. I feel bad that your betta is becoming lethargic due to the Ich, but I guess that is just part of being sick for a fish sometimes I was lucky with my loaches I suppose, they never really lost any of their energy while they had Ich, they just looked a bit unpleasant for a couple of weeks. Hopefully she will start to regain some of her energy in the coming days/week.

I'm off to do my weekly 50% water change on my 55 gallon now, thanks for keeping me updated on your fishies, I appreciate it!

 

[logiemac]

go to a local pet store and get some medicine called NOX-ICH. that should do the trick. that is what got rid of my ich. and if you have a heater turn the temperature up to about 88 degrees

 

[neurotik]

Medications for treating Ich can be pretty risky to use, especially if you have certain types of catfish or loaches in your tank. Most Ich medication will also kill off your nitrifying bacteria colony as well, which will end up causing your tank to go through a mini-cycle at the very least.

 

[hacket]

I have good news to report. Woke up this morning and most of the spots on my betta are gone! There are still one or two, however. She's still got clamped fins as well, but it seems as though she may have a huge rip in her tail fin I may have to end up getting fin rot meds. Does anyone know if these kill nitrifying bacteria?

 

[neurotik]

I'm not sure if fin rot medication will have the same effects on bacteria as most Ich medications or not. Make sure you continue the heat treatment for at least a full 1-2 weeks after the last white spot disappears also. This will help make sure you got rid of all of it and also help to lower your chances of your fish getting it again soon after you thought she was better.

As for the fins, I'm sorry to hear about that. Are you sure it is fin rot or did she possibly just injure herself from all of the flashing and scraping she was doing back when she had first started to get Ich? If you're sure it is fin rot, maybe someone else can give you some more detailed info on specific medications and their effectiveness as well as any side effects they may have on your bacterial colony. If you're not sure that it is fin rot yet, I would say keep an eye on it for another day or so to see if it gets worse or if she starts to show more obvious signs of fin rot. I remember a couple weeks ago, I noticed one of my rainbow shark's fins had a tear straight down the middle of it so it was completely separated into two fins almost, and I thought maybe he had early signs of fin rot, but I waited a few days and his condition didn't get any worse and now his fine is back to normal again. So I guess he either injured it on something in the tank or possibly one of the fish nipped at him a little, but it hasn't happened again and I have had him for months now. If your betta's fins actually appear to be 'rotting' though, then disregard all of that nonsense I just said and seek out more information specific to fin rot, but I hope that is not the case

 

[hacket]

As far as I could tell this morning it just looks torn, so for now I'm going to just watch it and change water everyday. Keeping the water clean should help stave off fin rot.

I was thinking about it and what you said makes sense, about the flashing causing it. Sight....all this from not quarantining a pleco...That's going to be the first investment I make in regards to this hobby once I buy a house.

 

[hacket]

Great news! My betta has one small spot on her bottom fin. All the ich has dropped off , and she is not clamping her fins anymore

Her tail is torn in a couple spots, so I need to watch it for a while. Also I'm going to leave the temp where it is, 89F, til next Monday, just to make sure it's all dead. I don't want to deal with this again...

 

[spoonman]

Good news! Glad to hear it, Hacket!

 

[neurotik]

Awesome news man, I'm glad she's doing much better now. Just keep her water in pristine condition over the next week or so while her fins start to heal up and hopefully she'll be fine.

 

[hacket]

Just to completely update this thread, my fish have completely healed! All ich is gone, and I just began lowering the temp last night. It was at 86ish this morning and so set it to about 82. I'll lower it to about 78 and keep it there tonight.

Also my betta's fins haven't gotten any worse. They seem to be healing slightly.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[kaiofcanada]

Hey hacket....just a note...one the temp and the fin. Whenever I have had ick in my tank...I maintain the temp around 84 for about a month after I see the last signs of it on any fish. This is insurance for the ick to stay away, and the fish don't mind. It actually speeds up their metabolism and promotes healing, which I think your beta needs. Also, I would add stress coat to the water every couple of days as this gives a little extra help for promoting healing. You could also get a medication to help heal wounds and torn fins, but it sounds like she just needs to heal up and look pretty.