help! Betta beginner... my fish has ich.... I think

I think my fish has ich
he's got little white spots... turning a greyish colour..acting lethargic and scratiching up on things...
I didn't notice until today, the white spots... but he's beena cting weird for at least a week now.
I bought the treatment today
have I waited to long to do aything about the ich?
is my fish gonna die?

 

It sounds like Ich or more likely Velvet. I'd recommend raising the tank temp to 83 (1 degree per hour) and treating with Parasite Clear. You'll want to keep the temp at 83 for 2 weeks. If you can find VitaChem or another liquid multi-vitamin.. and Garlic Guard - daily doses of those would help.

what are the current ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and temp. for his tank? do you have an air stone in it? what kind of filtration do you have? be sure to take any carbon out before adding meds to the tank.

 

EDIT: Lol, you know the information is good when two moderators post at the same time with basically the same information about temperature and filtration and bubblers and stuff.

You could just slowly raise the temperature of his tank to 83 degrees farenheit. (slowly raising as in 2 degrees per hour.)

Ich has two stages, one is attached to the fish, the other is swimming in the water. The waterswimming stage can not survive 83 degree water. The stage that is attached to the fish die off in about a week and if there are no free-swimming stages of ich to take its place your fish is cured of ich.

You can leave the water at 83 degrees farenheit for 2 weeks, make sure to do more waterchanges (I would suggest a small waterchange daily if the betta is in a small tank or bowl under 10 gallons.) Warmer water carries less oxygen, so the small waterchanges put oxygen back into the water. (A bubbler does the same thing, but doesn't remove part of the ich parasites that waterchanges do.)

 

And to just reassure you some more, I agree too. You're in good hands.

So that's 3 mods for ya!

Fishkeeping advice ahs never seen such consensus, somebody must mark this day!

 

where's my sharpie?

 

Oh, and just to add - you mentioned you had bought treatment - just wanted to check that you didn't buy Melafix as treatment - that is extremely harmful to Bettas and should never be used to treat ich on them. If you need to use treatment for ich on bettas, get BettaFix (I think) - and i'm sure one of the betta veterans here will know exactly what to get if you do want to treat it.

 

I wouldn't use any of the 'fix' meds on a betta.

 

Not trying to say anyone is wrong, just my personal preference, but anytime we can avoid medications we attempt to. Medications, even in humans, take a toll on the kidneys. Even minute tolls will add up, causing problems if done too many times. That is why a lot of people who are on 10+ prescription medications long term end up having to be on dialysis or atleast suffer severe kidney problems. Not saying medicating a fish a couple of times will do that, but it certainly adds up.

But anyway, that is just my opinion.

 

is it possible for my fish to have ich and fin rot at the same time?

 

it's possible to have both at the same time.

 

Yeah, I kind of agree here. If there are any known 'natural' cures, I'd give these my preference.

Fortunately, there are for both finrot and ich, when it is still light.

For ich, it's salt and increased temp. For finrot, it's a drastic regime of very frequent water changes/ornament and substrate cleaning - no detergents! - and vitamins.

But again, if things dont' improve soon, I guess then it's time to think of drawing the big guns.

Not trying to say anyone is wrong, just my personal preference, but anytime we can avoid medications we attempt to. Medications, even in humans, take a toll on the kidneys. Even minute tolls will add up, causing problems if done too many times. That is why a lot of people who are on 10+ prescription medications long term end up having to be on dialysis or atleast suffer severe kidney problems. Not saying medicating a fish a couple of times will do that, but it certainly adds up.

But anyway, that is just my opinion.

 

I actually think that Melafix killed one of my dwarf corys. I was treating him for bad fungus, and I underdosed the meds, but he passed away immediately.

Oh, and just to add - you mentioned you had bought treatment - just wanted to check that you didn't buy Melafix as treatment - that is extremely harmful to Bettas and should never be used to treat ich on them. If you need to use treatment for ich on bettas, get BettaFix (I think) - and i'm sure one of the betta veterans here will know exactly what to get if you do want to treat it.

 

the med I got for the ick is just called "ick guard" by Jungle. . .
it says it will "clear ick without raising the water tempurature" ( still raised it a bit)
the active ingredients are : Victoria green and nitromersol
is that not good enough? :S


what vitamins should I use for the fin rot?

 

Vitamins will not cure fin rot. What the vitamins will do is strengthen his immune system and help with the regrowth of the fins. Are you for sure he has rot and his fins aren't just torn or something? Rot will usually show a black coloring on the tips of his fins/tail and then soon after it will fall off. If that's the case then you'll need a fin rot medication.Something that treats gram negative/positive diseases is your best bet. Natalie

 

ich really doesn't need meds to clear it, usually keeping the temp 83 consistently for 2 weeks and keeping the tank & substrata clean does the trick. The only med we use for ich is an organic herbal med called ich-attack.

for fin-rot, we will immediately start a 10-day course of Rid-Fungus and Triple Sulfa.

 

Just to make a slight addition to Dave's post. Ich meds aren't needed for tropical fish, but temperate fish that can not handle 83 degrees farenheit may need the meds (such as goldfish).