Whitespot In Divided Tank - Help!

[MarkOne]

Have 1 female and 3 males, each in a divided section on a 18g tank. My middle male has got a few white spots on him and looks a little lethargic!

Are my options;

1) Keep the fish in there and add Protozin whilst increasing the temperature
2) Have 1 bowl, but could find some temporary storage, and removed each of the bettas to their own housing and treat ALL tanks
3) Remove just the affected one and treat his new home and the current infected one?

Please HELP!

Thanks

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'd go for option 3. While it shouldn't be too contagious if all the others a fit, its bets to remove the affected individual and trat him seperaely. And the main tank, and also increse the temp in both tanks.

 

[MarkOne]

Thanks option 3 would actually mean moving him into a bowl which wont have a heater....will this be OK for treatment purposes??

 

[OohFeeshy]

Should be, I'd add a light to it to keep it a bit warmer, but increase the temp on the main tank to speed up the life cycle of the ich. Or you could find some way of floating/attatching the bowl inside the tank to warm the water in the bowl up.

 

[Durbkat]

I would say to just treat the whole tank with all fish in it so you can make sure it hasn't spread already and you can raise the temp to make the ick process go faster. And be sure to take the filter media out of the tank and don't put it back in once your done treating because you will just reinfect the tank so remove the media then after treating put new filter media in. Good luck

 

[MarkOne]

Thanks...think I will remove the infected one, and treat both tanks...presumably I can turn the filter off then, if no media is inside??

 

[OohFeeshy]

IAnd be sure to take the filter media out of the tank and don't put it back in once your done treating because you will just reinfect the tank so remove the media then after treating put new filter media in. Good luck

Uh... no. The meds kill the free swimming stage, changing the filter madia/taking it out isn't going to help, probably make it worse by stressing them out with all the spikes.

 

[MarkOne]

I thought that was the case, as the meds description said it didnt harm the bacteria within the tank!

Will take the infected fish out and place in a bowl, and treat both tanks....

IAnd be sure to take the filter media out of the tank and don't put it back in once your done treating because you will just reinfect the tank so remove the media then after treating put new filter media in. Good luck

Uh... no. The meds kill the free swimming stage, changing the filter madia/taking it out isn't going to help, probably make it worse by stressing them out with all the spikes.

 

[Durbkat]

Well ohhfeeshy if you left the filter media in it would soak up the medicine and it will be a wasted effort. And whenever I treat any of my tanks I remove the filter media,treat the fish, then put new filter media in just to make sure the old media doesn't have any ich or ano other diease bacteria in the media. And you don't have to turn the filter off because it will cut oxygen off so leave it on and treat the whole tank. But if you don't want to treat the whole tank good luck because you will need it since you don't want to prevent the whole tank from getting sick. I bet that after you treat the affected fish the other fish will get ich also then the affected fish will get ich again. Well good luck

 

[OohFeeshy]

Well ohhfeeshy if you left the filter media in it would soak up the medicine and it will be a wasted effort.

Uh, no. Only if you use carbon, in which case, yes, take out the carbon. But only the carbon. You don't need it if you use it at the moment. Don't give advice unless you know what you are talking about The only time you need to remove the filter media when using meds is if it clearly says it kills filter bactria, but very few meds do that. The only one that springs to mind is anti-crustacean, but you aren't using that so its ok.

 

[Durbkat]

Well when I first got marcyn 2 they very knowledgeable people at the lfs said to remove the filter media so it would soak up the medicine and I never said it would kill the bacteria on the media I said the filter cartridige would soak the medicine up. I do know what I'm talking about

 

[RandomWiktor]

Guys, if you want to argue back and forth, please do not do it in the thread.
So that the POSTER knows, read the packaging on your medicine. Some will say to continue normal filtration. Others will say to remove any carbon from your filter. Carbon reacts with many medications, causing them to be deactivated; it isn't so much "soaking up" the meds as it is detroying thier effectiveness. So long as you read your packaging, you should be fine.

As for moving him to a bowl... I don't know. On one hand, I see the benefit of getting the infected animal out, but if the tank is divided, they probably all have it anyways. Changing the environment dramatically can really stress fish out, which does not help recovery time at all. However, being able to see other fish in a divided set-up can also be stressful, especially to an animal who is weakened and feels more vulnerable to attack. So, there are positives and negatives to both. If it was me, I would probably leave him in, since it is much safer to dose a large tank than a small one, plus your large tank is heated and filtered, unlike the bowl. But, whatever works, right? Good luck!