Purchased A "baby Betta"

[grownocean]

I stopped into Petco tonight - long story short - purchased a betta fry. I literally just brought him home and have his cup sitting in my tank and then I noticed white specs on his body in the light. His behavior seems relatively fine, other than the very obvious stress stripes on his body. How am I supposed to tell if it's ich or not? There's no way I'm going to introduce that disease into my tank (it's a 10 gallon). The spots are microscopic... please help /:
 
- Andria

 

[attibones]

First, I just want to say that I hate that Petco sells these. They are not for the beginner or average betta keeper. It makes me mad that Petco sells these. However, if you are truly dedicated to raising a baby betta, the experience, I hear, can be quite wonderful.
 
Do the specks look like they are raised, or do they look flush with the scales? Ich typically is... three dimensional, I guess is the best work for it. 

 

[grownocean]

Trust me, I totally agree with you. I've been keeping bettas for a few years and I wanted to try this. It's always so sad seeing them so stressed out in the store. I never thought I would actually get one, something just came over me.

Anyways, it's honestly so microscopic that I can hardly tell, but I think they could be 3D. I just tried using a magnifying glass.
Can ich be this puny? Maybe I'm seeing things and it's a part of the "sparkle" in it's coloration. I honestly cannot tell.
I'm leaning towards 3D

 

[attibones]

Hmmm.... Do you have a spare tank you could set up? Is he going into a community tank? It's so hard to really get a good look at the little ones when they are in the cups, particularly if they put that blue junk in the water. If you have like a plastic food safe container that's around a gallon, it would work well for observation for a few days until you can tell if it is ich or not. I'm guessing it's really too small for you to get pictures of the spots.

 

[grownocean]

My 10 gallon currently has three ghost shrimp and two nerite snails. 
 
I'm thinking about just taking him back in the morning, I'm being overly cautious /: 

 

[attibones]

It is something to consider. I don't believe snails and shrimp get ich, but I do think medicines for ich will kill them, unless you decided to do the gravel vac and warm water method. If you like the idea of keeping a baby betta, or at least challenging yourself in a new way, it is worth a shot, but if you think he's sickly, then it may not be the best idea either.

 

[grownocean]

Yup, I agree. I don't want to deal with the stress of trying to treat him/her, which is hopefully understandable. 

 

[grownocean]

I'm kind of attached to him because I think he's going to be a pretty adult. How would I be able to tell if he/she has ich after a couple days?

 

[GuppyGirl20]

Can you try and post a pic of it? I agree with Atti that if you want to keep him then you need some sort of observation tank of you don't want to introduce him to your ten gallon. Did you see the spots in the store? It could be the way the light reflects off of his scales but without a pic that's kind of hard to determine.

I bought a baby betta from Petco back in April. I love him! He's the fish in my signature. I have a journal called My Baby Doubletail if you'd like to check it out. I eventually named him Spiderman (It took me a couple months to get soild agreement on the gender).

 

[grownocean]

I think I'm going to see if I can return him, I'm rather weary about treating illness. I've been trying to get a pic since I came home, but I can't get one focused enough to see anything.