Dora

Alright, for those of you who have helped me out in the past, thank you again!! My tank seems to finally be cycled. I'm at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and Nitrates are between 5 and 10 (no more daily water changes . I did a 50% water change on sunday and I will do them weekly on sunday nights. All four fish survived and seem ok, BUT my betta has two white spots, one on each fin. Is that ICH?? I don't see anything else on any of the other fish. I don't have a hospital tank so I want to know what to do. A friend of mine said she had some "quick cure" that I could borrow if it was Ich but I know nothing about what that will do to the tank or the other fish. Any advice would once again be very appreciated. Thanks in advance!

dennis

These two white spots, do they look like salt grains? A picture will help a lot. If they look like salt, than it is ICH. just increase your temp to 82-84 degrees slowly and keep it at that level for a while.

Dora

I will try to get a picture of him but not sure how well it will show the spots. They are both quite visible and I guess they look like a grain of salt. Yesterday he only had one on his left fin, today I noticed the other one had one as well.

Blub

To expand on what Dennis said - you should do daily water changes as well is it if ich to remove floating ich looking for the fish!

Dora

*rolls her eyes* More daily water changes Does it ever end??

dennis

Oh and did you recently add any fish in your aquarium and what are your readings?

dennis

Increased temps speeds up the ICH cycle. ICH spores will drop in the water. By doing daily water changes what you are doing is cleaning your tank from those spores. And thanks Dora for catching the missing info in my post. I am sure there will be somebody who will give you more pointers on this issue.

Lucy

Unfortunatly, cycling with fish effects their immune system. It makes it harder for them to fight off illness and disease.

To add to denis and blubs advice you'll want to increase aeration to make up for less oxygen in warmer water and do a good gravel vac to pic up all the spores.
I can't say that I've heard of daily water changes while treating ich with increased temps.

Good luck, I hope your fish get better soon.

Shawnie

the spots could be from a decoration injury or even a peck from another fish..before you add any chems, make sure its ich ...and even if it is, you can turn up the temps to 83-84 and leave it for two weeks....add some extra bubble wands for air as warmer temps have less oxygen....you only need to do a water change maybe 2 times a week but its more a gravel vac thats important as the warmer temps will kill the ich spores and they will fall off the fish into the gravel....but again, make sure its truely ich ...goodluck!

Dora

I have not added any more fish, currently just have the male betta, two sunburst platties and a cory cat in a 10 gallon tank. My readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nitrates between 5 and 10. I will try to increase the temp gradually. I live in MA and today was a bit warmer than usual so I noticed the water was up to about 81 degrees today. I'll bump it up a tiny bit and see how it responds. If I don't have any bubble wands yet, how can I increase oxygen levels?

Dora

I tried to get a picture but just couldn't get a good shot of his fins. I think he was getting angry at me, it was quite funny.

agabr123

you can increase the oxygen levels by adding an airstone or bubble wand

it's definitely got to be at least 84F in order to speed up the life cycle of the ich. make sure you do thorough gravel vacuums to get up all the spores.

also, remember that a majority of the ich is actually inside the gills, so even if you can't see it, they could still be there. keep the temps high for at least three days after the last spot dissapears

vintagetankgirl

Raising the temperature is only one part of the Ich treatment. It will work on its own along with gravel vacuuming but will take longer. Adding aquarium salt will speed this up.

Ich cannot live in saltwater. Add the salt at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. Don't change water for a day or two then do a vacuum only taking 10-20% of water, replace with salt treated water. This should clear the ich up by the end of the week.

Another way to increase air in water is to drop the water level an inch or two to allow for more of a splash from the filter.

grump

Hi Dora and welcome... If you have a corycat in there you do not want too add salt to the tank as they don't have scales and there for won't take the salt in the water...Just raise the temp and wait ...Hope this help and good luck Rob

CHoffman

I would have to agree with Grump. I wouldn't add salt to your tank. But raising the temp is a great suggestion and it works. Good luck. I'm hoping it's not ick for your fish's sake and yours..

Blub

I read it on one of FL's ick articles. The water changes take out floating ick spores... Which is good because they can't attack fish if they aren't in the tank!

Salt and freshwater aquariums don't mix - most freshwater fish (With a few exceptions, like mollies and guppies) don't like it, and some fish hate it!