Parasites?

[littlest]

I'm a bit concerned about my betta Copnericus, but unsure whether to treat him for external parasites or not.

I got him 8 days ago from a breeder. Since then he's been a filtered 15 litre tank, temp 80F.
I had fishless cycled, but there was a bit of a bump in the cycle and the water was showing a trace of nitrite (no ammonia).
I've been doing 75% water changes once or twice day to keep nitrite down. The last waterchange was 2 nights ago, since then nitrite has stayed zero.

Nitrite never went as high as 0.25 (on API kit the test was blue, but a darker blue than the sky blue of zero).

A few days ago I noticed him rub himself against the thermometer in his tank. It was just after a water change though, so I thought it was probably due to that.

Yesterday I saw him rub against the thermometer again and I had done no water change, so that made me panic somewhat.

I've been watching him closely since, and I'm not sure if he is "darting" (never seen so hard to know) but he does swim and change directions quite quickly for a betta. Also seen him down the side of the filter a few times and I'm not sure if he is rubbing himself against it or not.

I know it's not good to medicate unnecessarily, but I was reading last night about velvet and it said that if it got to the stage where gold dust is showing its pretty far gone and normally fatal, so at the same time I don't want to not medicate and risk him dying.

I have some Waterlife Protozin if I do need to treat.

There are no white spots, or gold dust, or fungus or anything visible on him.

Tank water is
ammonia 0
nitrite 0 (at last!)
nitrate ~20

Only thing added to the tank is Prime to dechlorinate and an Indian Almond Leaf.
Being fed Hikari Betta Bio Gold pellets. Have been feeding lightly so far due to nitrite. Will be varying his diet a bit more now though.

Other than the symptoms mentioned he seems fine. He's active, eating, flaring, blowing bubble-nests

 

[hollyp0p]

I'm a bit concerned about my betta Copnericus, but unsure whether to treat him for external parasites or not.

I got him 8 days ago from a breeder. Since then he's been a filtered 15 litre tank, temp 80F.
I had fishless cycled, but there was a bit of a bump in the cycle and the water was showing a trace of nitrite (no ammonia).
I've been doing 75% water changes once or twice day to keep nitrite down. The last waterchange was 2 nights ago, since then nitrite has stayed zero.

Nitrite never went as high as 0.25 (on API kit the test was blue, but a darker blue than the sky blue of zero).

A few days ago I noticed him rub himself against the thermometer in his tank. It was just after a water change though, so I thought it was probably due to that.

Yesterday I saw him rub against the thermometer again and I had done no water change, so that made me panic somewhat.

I've been watching him closely since, and I'm not sure if he is "darting" (never seen so hard to know) but he does swim and change directions quite quickly for a betta. Also seen him down the side of the filter a few times and I'm not sure if he is rubbing himself against it or not.

I know it's not good to medicate unnecessarily, but I was reading last night about velvet and it said that if it got to the stage where gold dust is showing its pretty far gone and normally fatal, so at the same time I don't want to not medicate and risk him dying.

I have some Waterlife Protozin if I do need to treat.

There are no white spots, or gold dust, or fungus or anything visible on him.

Tank water is
ammonia 0
nitrite 0 (at last!)
nitrate ~20

Only thing added to the tank is Prime to dechlorinate and an Indian Almond Leaf.
Being fed Hikari Betta Bio Gold pellets. Have been feeding lightly so far due to nitrite. Will be varying his diet a bit more now though.

Other than the symptoms mentioned he seems fine. He's active, eating, flaring, blowing bubble-nests

i'm currently on watch with my harlequin rasboras for a similar thing, maybe read up on flukes, as this can cause the fish to flick and scratch on objects, my betta has a thing with his thermometer, he doesn't rub it as such but cuddles up to it...lol..which is just him and not him being ill, but the movement you are describing sounds a bit suspicious, also watch out for ich, as signs before spots can be rubbing and flicking

 

[scooterchick]

Similiar thing going on with my fishies just now, teach me not to quaratine new fish. Anyway, as there are no other signs of whitespot or velvet I'm treating with sterazin and keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[hollyp0p]

Similiar thing going on with my fishies just now, teach me not to quaratine new fish. Anyway, as there are no other signs of whitespot or velvet I'm treating with sterazin and keeping my fingers crossed.

Mine were quarantined......trouble is mine are so funny in the ways they interact with each other i don't know if it's just a harley thing, one was doing it just now, but at the same time it was flaring at the harley right next to it, so it looked like it was wiggling at it, then it darted down and bounced off the top of my slate cave.....weird fish....now they're back to loosely shoaling

 

[littlest]

if you were to treat a betta, would you use full dose or half dose? I know on some meds its advised to use half-dose with bettas.

would advise Sterazin over Protozin scooterchick? I have some Sterazin too.

 

[hollyp0p]

if you were to treat a betta, would you use full dose or half dose? I know on some meds its advised to use half-dose with bettas.

would advise Sterazin over Protozin scooterchick? I have some Sterazin too.

wilder was telling me yesterday sterazin wasn't that good, which is annoying as it would be the easiest treatment I could get hold of quickly.
have you used it before? betta will be fine on full dose!

 

[littlest]

The only thing I've used sterazin for is steralising plants. I've not used it with fish.

Did Wilder say what about it wasn't that good... just not that effective?

 

[hollyp0p]

The only thing I've used sterazin for is steralising plants. I've not used it with fish.

Did Wilder say what about it wasn't that good... just not that effective?

yeah just no effective apparently, she recommended the fish worming stuff that plymouth discus sell on their website, i mean as i live in plymouth i could go extreme and get it, but it's like twice the price of waterlife products i thought it would be good cos myxazin is great!

 

[littlest]

thanks hollpOp, I found the one you mean on the ewbsite (the new wormer plus right?). Still unsure what to do though. I've been watching him the last half hour and he's not done anything weird at all.So I really don't know whether it would be good or bad to treat him.

 

[hollyp0p]

thanks hollpOp, I found the one you mean on the ewbsite (the new wormer plus right?). Still unsure what to do though. I've been watching him the last half hour and he's not done anything weird at all.So I really don't know whether it would be good or bad to treat him.

same as me i watch them for ages they do nothing, then they'll do it out of the blue for a second, maybe bounce off my slate, never anything else in the tank and there's bogwood and plants.....and then nothing again for hours.....it's weird....i'd say keep an eye on him, maybe do a water change if it makes you feel a bit better.

and yeah it's the wormer plus!

 

[littlest]

one thing I noticed, the thermometer is right below his bubble-nest and he's quite protective of his nest. He often seems to guard it, patrolling underneath it. I'm wondering if he is annoyed about the thermometer being there. I might move it to the other end of the tank and see if that makes any difference. Earlier he had his head in the corner below the nest and was moving his head back and forth between the thermometer. He was knocking against it slightly, but I don't think he was trying to rub against it. I think he just doesn't want it under his bubblenest.

Maybe I'm thinking about this too much.

 

[hollyp0p]

one thing I noticed, the thermometer is right below his bubble-nest and he's quite protective of his nest. He often seems to guard it, patrolling underneath it. I'm wondering if he is annoyed about the thermometer being there. I might move it to the other end of the tank and see if that makes any difference. Earlier he had his head in the corner below the nest and was moving his head back and forth between the thermometer. He was knocking against it slightly, but I don't think he was trying to rub against it. I think he just doesn't want it under his bubblenest.

Maybe I'm thinking about this too much.

that's funny because by the thermometer is the only place odin's been known to blow bubblenests, you sure he didn't do the same build it around it?
No that wiggling is a betta thing it sounds very much like odin, who jams himself between it and the tank wall and wiggles in that betta dancing way

 

[littlest]

the place where his bubblenest is, is the lowest flow in the tank. He tried a few places before he found that one. Just coincidence the thermometer is there - I placed it there because its easy for me to see. Will move it later and see if he leaves it alone then.

right now I got to go to work

 

[hollyp0p]

the place where his bubblenest is, is the lowest flow in the tank. He tried a few places before he found that one. Just coincidence the thermometer is there - I placed it there because its easy for me to see. Will move it later and see if he leaves it alone then.

right now I got to go to work

ahh well enjoy and hopefully he'll be happier later!