Ich Dilemma

[tttnjfttt]

I was in my LPS today, and I saw an absolutely gorgeous betta who I had to have to fill up my empty 1 gal. The catch was he had one spot of ich I bought him anyways, and he is now floating in a 1 gal container inside my hospital tank so he can have the heat turned up to 84. I have added salt, stress coat, and Jungle's Ich Clear. I'm 95% sure this is ich. Its the size of a grain of salt, white. The catch is it isn't smoothe....I can't tell if that was because it was bursting or if it was a small spot of columaris as it loked like it had one or two small strings (less than 1 mm long), also the fact there is ONE spot is kinda wierd. I'm hoping its just the beginning, but no gaurentees.

The dilemma is the Ich Clear says to add another dose of meds daily until the ich is gone, but I am going out of town tonight until Sunday Afternoon. My grandma is going to be staying here with the dog, but I have no idea if I trust her to do a water change and re-dose the meds.

I do have a gal jug I could prepare some water (dechlor, salt, stress coat), and leave instructions on exactly how much meds to add to his bowl. This would make it so she would jsut have to pour out some water, then add more in. I can even keep the water warm by putting the bottle in the hospital tank my betta hospital is currently floating in. But I'm not sure if I trust her. Can anyone think of any possible way she can mess this up?

 

[WILDER]

The stringy thing that bothering me, get a magifying glass just to make sure it isnt an external parasite, just to be sure, you can get stringy fungus
http/www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich.php

 

[WILDER]

Fungus (Saprolegnia or Achyla)
Fungi are in fact colourless plants, they are very diverse in form and have not been studied that much in fish. Saprolegnia and Achyla are genera of fungi that attack weakened and injured fish, usually settling on damaged skin or gills. They will also attack the eggs of fish. The spores enter the aquarium from the air so there is no way to stop possible outbreaks. Threads of fungus spread under the skin forming a web like structure and eventually produce tufts of external hyphae that may be large enough to look like cotton wool. These form spores that become free swimming and can then go on to infect other fish that are weak or injured. It is important that you remove any fish you suspect immediately to a hospital tank for treatment. Symptoms of fungus are a grey or whitish growth in the skin of the fish, often associated with visible damage. Treatment can be with Malachite green in a separate tank for 30 seconds at a strength of 60 mg/L. Repeat treatments may be necessary. The fungus is stained by the Malachite and usually drops off within a few hours. Keep the fish under observation for 2 or 3 days as fungus can sometimes regrow.

Not the writer of this information.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I don't have a magnifying glass around, so that didn't work. Just watched him really closely, and I honeslty can't tell if the "stringy" things I thought I was seeing earlier were indeed little strings, or if it was the spot moving just slightly as he was moving around. He is still healthy enough to flare, because I gave him a mirror while I was giving him a quick once over (also discovered he is a double tail //veil tale betta).

There is some possible fin rot. There are two or three small dark circles on his tail, with a pinhole size hole in the middle. These only became obvious when he was flaring.

The dilemmas...

Hopefully, I can figure out what I need to do/change within the next four hours. I am goign to have to do a water change because the tank he was floating in was a little too full and some water leaked in/meds went out.

 

[WILDER]

Here you go he might need maracyn 2, good luck love to see him when he's a bit better.
http/www.petfish.net/finrot.htm

 

[tttnjfttt]

Is finrot always bacterial or can it clear up on its own once the fish is put into clean water? I've been wondering about this since I have heard so many different things, and now I get to deal with it again. If I do need to use the Maracyn 2, can I use it in addition to the Ich Clear (active ingredients Victoria Green and Acriflavine)?

He does seem to be breathing heavily, but that could be because I didn't think to add dechlor to the water the betta hospital is floating in. I have added a drop of declhor to his bowl and also dechlorinated all the extra water as well.

EDIT: The ONE white spot is still bothering me. It seems wrong for ich. I am still also going back and forth on if there is stringy things or not.

 

[WILDER]

Yes you can get bacterial finrot, his heavy breathing could be due to the whitespot hope it hasn't infected his gills to much, have you added an airstone for extra aeration as you no the med will reduce the 02,also you could maybe just half dose with the bacteria med, if using a parasite med as well, he is in a bowl on his own, just worried about adding another med if he's heavy breathing.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I was holding off on adding the air stone simply becausee he is only in a 1 gal critter keeper, which actually holds 3/4 of a gal (meds dosed appropriately). Its such a small thing I was afraid the bubbles would add more stress. I don't think he was breathing heavily at the LPS, so it may be from the chlorine that accidently got in there (bad owner, bad, bad...), or from the meds + warmer water. I've gone ahead and decreased the temp to 82, just to help with the oxygen.

How does this sound, since I just added the extra dechlor (about 20 min ago) to his bowl, give him another 30 min to calm down. Then do a large water change, and redose the ich meds since I know they got diluted. I'll also add in an airstone. If within an hour he seems to be doing better, I'll start treating wiht Maracyn 2, beginning with half the recomended dose, and slowly adding more until he is good.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds good, don't stress him to much though, the airstone do you have a gang valve, so it won't be blowing him every where. so you can turn it down

 

[tttnjfttt]

I unfortunately don't. My airstone is one of those that come in the 1 gal tanks. Translation VERY cheap. If he has trobuel, I could take off the stone part and just have the tube into the water. Tht should cut down on the current some, while still increasing oxygen.

 

[WILDER]

That's an idear, or try and stop the flow abit with the pipe, good luck keep us all updated on his progress, bless him.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, I'll try that. I'll definately keep everyone posted on how he is doing.

I think to answer my own initial question, I will have everything prepared for my grandma to do, just add in the water, add in the meds. With WRITTEN out directions, including don't worry about feeding all my fish.

 

[WILDER]

Lol, good luck.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Well, unfortunately, my grandma isn't going to get here until after I leave, so I guess he's not going to get meds redosed or a water change tomorrow.

 

[tttnjfttt]

UPDATE: Well I'm back in town, and the fish has survived. My grandma listened to my directions of DO NOTHING. Looking at this guy, it is definately ich, as there are a few more spots and the old one has since fallen off. I'm gonna slowly raise the temp up, because its sitting at 80 right now, didn't want to risk the high temp while out of town. He seems to be handling the meds fine. When I take him out for a water change I'm gonna show him the mirror again and check on the suspected spots of fin rot. If they are still there, I'll start those meds.