New Betta Has Ich :(

[viking_snail]

Hello all! I'm pretty new to bettas (although have kept goldfish for many years), and have recently got a lovely red male by the name of Angus However I'm fairly certain he has ich, and am looking for some advice on how to treat him! Here's some info:

[*]Test Results for the Following:
[*]Ammonia Level? 0
[*]Nitrite Level? 0
[*]Nitrate level? 10
[*]Ph Level, Tank? 7.5
[*]Ph Level, Tap? 7.5
[*]Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops? Nutrafin drops, except the ammonia test which was API drops[*]Water temperature? 28/82
[*]Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running? About 7 gals, have cycled it over the past few weeks and the betta went in on tuesday.
[*]What is the name and size of the filter(s)? Interpet mini filter, runs 200lph but it's baffled

[*]How often do you change the water and how much? Haven't yet as my betta has only just got here, but planned to to weekly of about 40%
[*]How many fish in the tank and their size? 1 small betta
[*]What kind of water additives or conditioners? Amquel plus
[*]What do you feed your fish and how often? Hikari betta bio gold, twice a day, 2 pellets a time soaked
[*]Any new fish added to the tank? Just this little guy
[*]Any medications added to the tank? Nope
[*]Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? Looks like he has grains of salt sprinkled over his body and fins. At first I thought they were bubbles, but they're not disappearing.
[*]Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? Nope


I'd reserved this little guy at the lfs last week, and kept popping in to check on him before buying him. All seemed well, so I bought him home on tuesday. Now, I have very little experience with bettas, but he looks pretty happy - swimming about, quite inquisitive, always coming up to look at me. He gets very excited at dinner time and gobbles up his food quickly.

Occasionally I've seen him swim quite quickly, almost wiggling. I don't know if this is a sign of irritation, or if that's just normal behaviour. He looks pretty happy, but I don't want this to get worse!

I will try my best to get a pic.. but I've only got a rubbish digital camera so getting a picture that you can actually see the spots in might be tricky! I've googled ich on bettas and it does look kinda like this:
http/web.mit.edu/t...c/betta_ich.jpg
But nowhere near as extreme as that!
I've turned up the heat 1 degree (from 27 to 28) and I've got some salt on hand if needed. But I have no idea whether this is ich or how to treat for it .. and meds in the UK are a bit tricky to get hold of..!

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Give him a saltbath once a say for 5 minutes, and slowly raise the temp in his tank up to 82F (not sure what that is in celcius)

 

[lilfishie]

make sure its aquarium salt

 

[Dieses Madchen]

make sure its aquarium salt

Yeah I forgot to mention that lol. Sorry

 

[viking_snail]

Thanks! Yeah, I've been slowly raising the temp, its at about 82 right now.
I shall give the salt a go .. he's still incredibly active, and got a good appetite, but he's got more ich spots today

 

[fishyfeet]

the temp should kill off the ich, the salt is a suportive for the fish

 

[Dieses Madchen]

When my betta had ich the salt really improved his breathing, unfotunatly I was unable to cure him. I wish you the best of luck

 

[loraxchick]

Id even up the temp a bit more...84-86. can add aquarium salt directly to the tank if hes the only inhabitant. Use 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gal. When treatment starts working at first the spots will disappear...but he isnt out of the woods yet. You need to keep up with the treatment for at least another week to kill the life cycle of the parasite. Do partial waterchanges and GOOOOOD gravel/substrate vac to try to get rid of as many of the parasites as possible. Might be worth stripping the tank and keeping it bare bottomed until hes better and start with new substrate once youre in the clear.
best of luck. Luckily ich usually is fairly easy to get rid of. As far as meds if you can get copper sulfate use that instead of salt. Will kill any inverts (as they are sensitve to copper) but you say hes teh only guy in the tank. That would be the best most affective route to go.
all the best
cheers

 

[Whisper]

To determine for sure if it is ich, look at him with a magnifying glass. Also, it irritates their skin so he would be flashing his body agains objects in his tank. Look to see it he lets his body touch an object then quickly darns away from it like he bounced off it.

It will look like table salt sprinkled all over him or sometimes only in a few spots until it gets worse. Ich takes about 2 weeks to cure and keep the heat up for another week even after he is cured as the ich lays eggs that reproduce on the bottom of the tank and will re-attach to him and then he'll get it again.

Be carful when doing water changes that you match the new water with his current water carefully. A big cause of Ich is a sudden temperature change. You are doing good with the salt and high tempurature but I would add a little Ich Cure medicvine that you can get from the pet store. If you add medicine do a 50% water change to reduce the salt in the tank.

As stated by Loraxchick, ich is pretty easy to cure. Just keep the temperature 84 to 86 for at least three weeks to kill it ALL off.

 

[fishyfeet]

ick is a parasite and will be free swimming in your tank looking for new hosts, the spots are the scabs left by the parasite when its leaves the fish, it then find a few host and reproduces once the ick larvae is mature they leave the fish making a tiny scab and so the cycle continues, protozin is really good, but ive heard heat and salt can work just as good, di

 

[viking_snail]

Wow thanks for everyone's input!

I'm upping the temperature gradually, we're at 84 now with a low level of salt in the tank. Regular gravel vacs each day, carefully temp matched water. I think I'll keep with the salt and heat for a while and see how it goes before considering meds.

He's been darting and rubbing a little bit today.. there's more spots today. Still quite active and eating well though, so fingers crossed!

 

[viking_snail]

Just to let you know, the salt/heat combination and lots of gravel vacs is working. Angus has no spots atall now, and is acting perfectly healthily. Will keep up the treatment for a couple of weeks to be sure all the ich has gone! Thanks for your help

 

[loraxchick]

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I am glad to hear that your betta got well! I wish I would have had that kind of good luck with mine when they got it.