Betta has white dots on body

[Angelclown]

Salt does not cure ich, like once believed. It will do more harm to your fish than good. Never use salt on any freshwater fish.

[flip dskript]

Originally Posted by 0828Dawn you can add salt if you desire, I don't (plants)...but yes, you can simply do the daily 25% water change with the conditioner while leaving the temperature up to get rid of the problem.

I just did a 25% water change with water conditioner. I also changed the taller plants towards the back and have the middle of the tank clear for all the fish to swim around. I didn't feed the fish this evening. All of a sudden Valerie the Betta is swimming normally back and forth and not hiding into the plants. I will still do the daily water change for the next 6-7 days and see how things go.

Flip

[0828Dawn]

Originally Posted by flip dskript I just did a 25% water change with water conditioner. I also changed the taller plants towards the back and have the middle of the tank clear for all the fish to swim around. I didn't feed the fish this evening. All of a sudden Valerie the Betta is swimming normally back and forth and not hiding into the plants. I will still do the daily water change for the next 6-7 days and see how things go. Flip

Glad to hear things are going better!

[Betta man]

Originally Posted by Angelclown Salt does not cure ich, like once believed. It will do more harm to your fish than good. Never use salt on any freshwater fish.

Salt can be beneficial to bettas in correct dosage. Low doses of salt ARE good for bettas. I did not say it cures ich. It helps. Bettas have a decently high tolerance of salt. The idea is that the parasite will have less tolerance to the salt. I have also heard that it adds beneficial electrolytes to the water, but I cannot verify this. I am sure of my information on this subject. I have treated ich before and spoken with experienced hobbyists who have been in the hobby for upwards of 40 years like lohachata. Honestly, I trust what he says. He runs a chain store after all.....

[emc7]

salt is an electrolyte, lol. Any salt is. Something that breaks into positive and negative ions in the water. Whether it is beneficial depends on the fish and which electrolyte. Most fish do need things like Ca+2 and Mg+2, but not too much Na+ or CL-. "conductivity" is basically sticking in a leads and measuring how the water conducts electricity is a good measure of "saltiness". Some fish thrive in water with more ions in it and suffer in water with less (mollies, rift lake cichlids) other fish (some black water tetra and cories) suffer if the conductivity is high and can die from too much salt. Always research your fish before treating with salt.

The heat + salt cure is a old one and long proven to work. Salt alone may not kill ich, but may reduce attachment or be otherwise helpful. However, like any other living thing, ich evolves. There are now strains of ich immune to most of the various "cures" and if you half treat and stop, it comes back stronger and more resistant. Stores with low-dose salt and ich meds constantly in their systems don't help. It reminds me of Daffy telling Elmer to "wait til you get home" instead of "shoot me now", all the diseases are there, but don't start killing the fish until you get them home.

[Betta man]

That's why you do not overdose. You will end up creating a super bug that is immune to disease. I believe that's what mycro is. It is infecting petco's fish.

[emc7]

Fish TB. That is nasty stuff. There is a group of little bacteria (thus the mycro-prefix) that live everywhere. Related to TB is humans (which get multi-drug resistant and is hard to kill). It can infect you through a open wound exposed to fish water and require months of intravenous antibiotics to cure. The usually treatment is to kill all the fish and bleach the tank. But the stuff has been found alive in tanks after bleaching (perhaps the humans bring it back). If you want to quit fish, read some of the firsthand accounts of human cases.

Since similar bacteria live everywhere, its hard to condemn a chain on a "positive" quick test result. But if your local store actually has this in its system, find another source.

Bacteria live in an ecosystem of competing creatures and when we reduce one sort, another will multiple to fill the niche. You really can't win. They say UV sterilizers kill 99% of harmful bacteria, but the survivors are going to have the fish to themselves.

[flip dskript]

I did another water change with water conditioner and did not feed the fish today, I plan to feed them every other day for the next five days. It was suggested earlier that I raise the temp to 90 degrees to kill the ick. How long do I keep the temperature up at this stage? Once I see the ick go away do I decrease the temperature, if so to what temp do I keep my tank at?

Thanks everyone for all your input.

Flip

[flip dskript]

Today is my weekly water change. I am slowly lowering the temperature of the tank by a couple degrees. The ick is gone from the Betta. I did a 40% water change with water conditioner and will updated tomorrow.

[0828Dawn]

sounds like you are well on your way to getting over the ich in your tank.
lower the temp 1-2 degrees per day until you get it back to where you want to keep it...that'll be less stressful on your now recovering fish.

[Betta man]

Treat the fish for 10 days after all the spots are gone. I believe ich's life cycle is week long.

[flip dskript]

I'm still on schedule with the daily water changes. No more ick on the Betta at this time and keeping the tank temp at 80 F degrees.

Big surprise today, i seen three new Dalmation Molly fry today in the tank. I didn't expect to see any new fry this soon.

[0828Dawn]

if memory serves increased heat speeds up their gestation.

[flip dskript]

Originally Posted by 0828Dawn if memory serves increased heat speeds up their gestation.

I read somewhere online that the mollies will breed as long as the heater is on.

[0828Dawn]

I kept them years back...pretty much you name it and I've probably had it at one point or another.

Can't say if they'd breed in unheated water...but I know that's one sure fire way them to get the shimmy's & ich.