ICH scare help!

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SushiTheFemaleBetta

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Hello everyone,

I have a female betta (about a year and a half) that I raised from a fry named Sushi. I absolutely love her. She lives in a 10 gallon filtered and heated tank with an abundant amount of live plants. I am very diligent about water changes and the water quality is almost perfect (I test it weekly). I stupidly thought (human error on my part) that I could introduce some neon tetras to the tank, having done research and hearing good reviews about their compatibility. Well today I introduced 7 tetras, all of which I thought were healthy upon inspection at Petco (never buying there again), and all hell broke loose. I did separate one when I got home, as his spine looked weird (something I noticed once in the bag). Upon studying them with Sushi, after introducing the healthy ones, I realized one had two tiny white dots on his dorsal fin. I freaked out and immediately separated all the tetras in a separate 2.5 gallon tank. I'm so freaked out that they could have infected Sushi's tank water , even though the tetras were only in the tank about 5 minutes at most. Is this enough time to spread ICH or maybe neon tetra disease? Also, to continue this horror story Sushi had obliterated one of the tetras by ripping him to shreds. Luckily for Sushi, this tetra was not the one with the white spots and the bent spine tetra was separated, as I know that for Neon Tetra Disease to spread a healthy fish has to ingest a sick one. Does that mean she's less at risk? I thought she was docile, as she loves my mystery snails and never bothers them. I just hate myself for killing that poor little Tetra and if Sushi does contract something, I will never forgive myself. I will be returning the tetras tomorrow, as I have no means to keep them without my 10 gallon. My question is, how much of risk is my betta of contracting something? Only one of the 8 tetras had the white spots (only two on the dorsal fin) and one other had a bent spine. I have added stress zyme to her tank. Also, how many days do I wait to know if she's contracted something? Here are pics of Sushi and her tank for reference on her environment. I have also attached a picture of the tetra with the white spots. What do you think?

Thank you !!
 

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Hi, I'm new and can offer no solid advice, but maybe if you're concerned about the ICH breakout you could bump up the temp to about 81 degrees and do a few 50% -75% water changes over the next few days. That way at the very least if by chance something got transferred it will be removed via water changes or die off with the heat. I would clean your equipment that you did use with peroxide and or bleach disinfection solution and let it air dry completely. Hopefully you won't have to treat her with meds, and that will also ease your mind a bit. Your tank is beautiful though and so is Sushi! Again I'm new to all of this myself and I'm just learning as I go. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can offer you much better advice!
 
New fish can spread disease very quickly if you don't quarantine them.
It's hard to say how fast it can spread.
Just observe the Betta for a few days.

But if you want to take precaution, the simplest method to treat Ich is to increase the temperature to about 86degF / 30degC.

Or some people will add salt for treatment.
It's about 1 tablespoon for every 10 liter of water.
10 gallons of water will be about 38 to 40 liter.
So, you can add about 4 tablespoons of salt.

I think you can forget about Neon Tetra Disease that will infect mainly the Neon Tetras unless your Betta has more symptoms of the disease.

Here are some info:
.
 
Hi, I'm new and can offer no solid advice, but maybe if you're concerned about the ICH breakout you could bump up the temp to about 81 degrees and do a few 50% -75% water changes over the next few days. That way at the very least if by chance something got transferred it will be removed via water changes or die off with the heat. I would clean your equipment that you did use with peroxide and or bleach disinfection solution and let it air dry completely. Hopefully you won't have to treat her with meds, and that will also ease your mind a bit. Your tank is beautiful though and so is Sushi! Again I'm new to all of this myself and I'm just learning as I go. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can offer you much better advice!
Thank you good advice! Although I did just change her water yesterday before adding the tetras so I don't want to overdo it because I'm also afraid to ruin the ph balances
 
@Fishmanic could you maybe merge the two threads for this for an easier read?
 
New fish can spread disease very quickly if you don't quarantine them.
It's hard to say how fast it can spread.
Just observe the Betta for a few days.

But if you want to take precaution, the simplest method to treat Ich is to increase the temperature to about 86degF / 30degC.

Or some people will add salt for treatment.
It's about 1 tablespoon for every 10 liter of water.
10 gallons of water will be about 38 to 40 liter.
So, you can add about 4 tablespoons of salt.

I think you can forget about Neon Tetra Disease that will infect mainly the Neon Tetras unless your Betta has more symptoms of the disease.

Here are some info:
.
Thank you for your reply! I heard that it affects bettas, as well as a lot of other types and that the name is often misleading. Thank you for your advice about the heater but my heater is a one temp heater and can't be adjusted :/ I will monitor her for the next few days! fingers crossed
 
As far a betta in community tanks, something I have done several times, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Most betta are not suitable for cohabitation with other fish. Of the 3 females I have tried only one of them was successful in a community. The other earned her the name Jaws. I have noticed that females actually tend to be more aggressive towards other species compared to males. When attempting a community, you should always add the betta last (or completely rearrange the tank) so there is no established territory. You also want the tank to be very heavily planted in order to break line of sight. Several times I have had to return more aggressive fish for a calmer one.
 
It would be best to assume that there is ich in the tank. As others have said raising the temp is the best way to deal with this. The usual advice is to keep the temp raised for 2 weeks after you see the last spots - but 2 weeks will be enough if you don't see any. No need to add salt as this is usually to assist fish recovery from infestation and you have caught this early - so hopefully no damage has been done.
 
As far a betta in community tanks, something I have done several times, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Most betta are not suitable for cohabitation with other fish. Of the 3 females I have tried only one of them was successful in a community. The other earned her the name Jaws. I have noticed that females actually tend to be more aggressive towards other species compared to males. When attempting a community, you should always add the betta last (or completely rearrange the tank) so there is no established territory. You also want the tank to be very heavily planted in order to break line of sight. Several times I have had to return more aggressive fish for a calmer one.
Great suggestion! Thank you. Sushi is a Jaws for sure. Honestly, I won't even try it again because I'm scarred lol. I think you're right about females being more aggressive though because I've never had issues with my males in the past!
 
It would be best to assume that there is ich in the tank. As others have said raising the temp is the best way to deal with this. The usual advice is to keep the temp raised for 2 weeks after you see the last spots - but 2 weeks will be enough if you don't see any. No need to add salt as this is usually to assist fish recovery from infestation and you have caught this early - so hopefully no damage has been done.
Thank you! My issue is my water heater cannot be adjusted and remains at about 75... Do you think this is warm enough?
 
New fish can spread disease very quickly if you don't quarantine them.
It's hard to say how fast it can spread.
Just observe the Betta for a few days.

But if you want to take precaution, the simplest method to treat Ich is to increase the temperature to about 86degF / 30degC.

Or some people will add salt for treatment.
It's about 1 tablespoon for every 10 liter of water.
10 gallons of water will be about 38 to 40 liter.
So, you can add about 4 tablespoons of salt.

I think you can forget about Neon Tetra Disease that will infect mainly the Neon Tetras unless your Betta has more symptoms of the disease.

Here are some info:
.
Too much salt for a betta. One tablespoon per every 5 gallons is standard aquarium salt dosage. I would only do 1 tablespoon for entire 10G tank for betta and increase the temp as per above for 10 days. I agree that NTD is highly doubtful.
 
Too much salt for a betta. One tablespoon per every 5 gallons is standard aquarium salt dosage. I would only do 1 tablespoon for entire 10G tank for betta and increase the temp as per above for 10 days. I agree that NTD is highly doubtful.
The other thing is I have mystery snails so salt is a no for the tank, so I will actually separate her tonight and give her a tiny bit of salt in a separate place when I do a water change
 
Thank you! My issue is my water heater cannot be adjusted and remains at about 75... Do you think this is warm enough?
No it does need to be 85 (30C), measured by a thermometer, not the heater thermostat. It is only at that temperature that the free swimming ich will die. It can only be killed in the free swimming stage which is why 2 weeks is recommended to allow what is in your tank to go through a full lifecycle. If any cycst have dropped off the tetras these could hatch and later attach to your fish.
 
No it does need to be 85 (30C), measured by a thermometer, not the heater thermostat. It is only at that temperature that the free swimming ich will die. It can only be killed in the free swimming stage which is why 2 weeks is recommended to allow what is in your tank to go through a full lifecycle. If any cycst have dropped off the tetras these could hatch and later attach to your fish.
OKay great. To my knowledge I'm not even sure if it is ICH. I just attached pictures of the tetra to this post. Maybe its scarring from a fin tear? What do you think? If it is ICH cysts, there were two before and there are still two so does that mean Im in the clear? Thank you
 

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