Betta with Ich

[anasfire23]

I've never had a fish with Ich before so therefore don't know how to treat it. I've given his tank a dose of Milti-cure that says it's for velvet, white spot and other fungal infections but I've also read that ich is a parasite so i'm not sure what to do. I'm going to do a gravel vac coz it seems he hasn't been eating his food and add some sea salt in the hopes that this will help. I can get some melafix of pimafix tomorrow but I'm not sure which is better for treating ich.

[ikermalli]

I would not recommend using mela or pima fix because it a an oil, and the oil can cover your bettas labyrinth organ an make it hard for him to breathe. Also your betta will become very unhappy and he will lose alot of colour. If you still want to use mela/pimafix you will notice a drastic change in colour because most bettas don't like it. I think using sea/aquarium salt should be fine how big is your tank? is it that split tank that you posted a picture of? I hope i helped

[anasfire23]

um, I'm not sure which split tank you are talking about..if you mean the barracks that my ex built...no that is at his house and we are actually selling it on that auction website that starts with an e and ends in bay lol. I have a few smaller barracks here..he's in the middle section of a triple barracks I have and thank god the chambers aren't interconnected because it would have spread to the other 2! I've got a heater in with him at the moment, temp is 78 and i'll be upping it by 1-2 degrees every hour until it is around 85. I've also done a 50% water change and added some sea salt. I'm hoping all these measures will kill the rotten things! his back half is pretty well covered in white spots. I did a little more research and found out that ich is also referred to as white spot and the medication I currently have him in is for white spot so it should cure it! I'll try and take a pic of him tomorrow for all to see the spots but he's currently in green water so I don't know if it will come out too well.

My main concern now is whether he has infected the female he spawned with 3 weeks ago and his poor little fry. I suppose only time will tell.

[Baby_Baby]

Lemme know if these help you

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/dise...ught-fish.html

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/dise...salt-safe.html

*runs off to go find some more goodies*

[Dr_House]

anasfire23 - There are as many opinions as there are fish-keepers in regard to the proper or most effective treatment for ich. What has worked best for me is a product called Quick Cure. It can be purchased at nearly any fish store. In fact, I used to get mine from Wal Mart. I do a half dose on any fish and the ich is usually gone in 1 treatment.

As I said, this is what I do, and there are many treatment options available. Of at least the same importance is figuring out why your fish got ich in the first place. How does your water test in terms of toxin levels?

As far as your female, just keep a close eye. If you start seeing little white spots, treat accordingly. If you don't, you're home free.

[anasfire23]

I'm pretty sure he had it from when he was at the pet shop and it took hold after he was taken from his spawn coz he was depressed and stressed.

[kbjunior8]

well ikermalli is right just make sure you dont use pima or melafix i used when my betta was sick and he just got worse and couldnt breath but i just gave him time and a way bigger tank and he is extremely happy and never stops flaring

[ikermalli]

aquarium salt should do the trick but if anything DO NOT use mela or pima fix, your betta will hate it

[Dr_House]

It's good you've identified the cause, anasfire23. Good luck with the treatment. Keep us posted.

[anasfire23]

Sadly he died this morning! He was looking so much better too! I did a 50% gentle water change yesterday and added some more salt, but no more multi-cure, and he was actually eating! I think maybe he succumbed to a secondary infection of some sort. at least we have his fry still, hopefully one of them will look just like him!

[ikermalli]

aww *tear* that must have been hard to absorb was it the betta in your picture?

[anasfire23]

yes it was the Betta in my avatar. I'm kind of used to losing them now. Over the past 3 years I've lost that many fish it doens't really phase me now. I mean I'm a little annoyed that we lost him, he was an awesome breeder but once I noticed he had ich I had kind of realised and prepared myself to lose him. Like I said too, we still have his fry and at 3 1/2 weeks old they are all doing really well. Will be doing another 100% clean out tonight so will post another head count!

[ikermalli]

I only have two bettas and I love taking care of them, if I lost one i woul be so sad

[Dr_House]

I'm sorry to hear you lost him, anasfire23. Hopefully you can use the information you've gathered from this thread if it happens again.

[FinnFan]

When mine had Ich, I used Quick Cure for the first several days, then I switched to swapping out his bowl, daily. I boiled the gravel (or at least washed it off with the hottest water that comes out of the faucet) and it did work. I'm sorry to hear your little guy didn't make it.

[Baby_Baby]

AWWW! So sorry to hear about the little guy
I always cry when I lose a betta...or a neon....
I get rather attatched to my fishies ^_^

[ikermalli]

same here, but I haven't lost any of my fish buddies yet but I get attatched to them easily

[anasfire23]

I get upset if it's an expensive fish like Gourami or something but not with neon's as they are fairly cheap. Bettas I'm not too concerned about coz my LFS sells them fairly cheap and they usually have nice CT's in there!

[ikermalli]

most people get upset because their aquatic buddies died but you don't get upset if they are cheap? They are living beings and once you get to know them they should be kind to them, as i know you are but i feel that you only care about how much money a fish costs so you feel upset that you lost that money that is just sad

[anasfire23]

Of course that's not all I care about, I love my fish...they calm me when I sit and watch them but sometimes it can't be helped that you lose them eg ammonia spike kills off the weaker ones or a fight breaks out and u lose the smaller ones it happens and if you get attached to them all then you are constantly going to be sad! All i'm saying is that I try to maintain a healthy attachment to them so when I lose them I'm not grieving for days and can move on. If you think that makes me sad so be it, I can't live my life worrying what others think of me...I have to live with myself every day not other people. Have a great day Ikermalli