Newbie Treating Betta For Ich

midwinter
  • #1
Hello all,

I've been planning to get a Betta for several months now. Personal circumstances meant I had to wait before taking this on until now, but I have all of the equipment. Yesterday I brought home my betta.

I could swear I checked for white spots ten times and never found any, but perhaps I'm just not the brightest because it was only a few minutes after I got home with him that I noticed. They look like salt or sugar, as described, and when I looked through pictures of ich to compare that confirmed it. I'd be pretty surprised if I were wrong. His permanent home will be a ten gallon tank, but I put him in a 2.5 gallon in quarantine first.

I'm treating him with medication, but the more I read the more it seems like he has a much higher chance of survival if I heat the water in addition. The problem with this is that I only have a heater for the 10 gallon and everything I'm reading says it's way too much of a risk to transfer that to the 2.5 gallon, which is basically what I suspected. My question: do I need to suck it up and buy a heater for the 2.5 gallon?

I would love to not have to buy a heater for the quarantine tank. I will, however, do so if necessary... I'm the one who brought home a sick fish and it strikes me as unfair not to help the little guy out if all it means is going a tiny bit over budget. How important to him is it to have that heater? Have you had experience with being able to treat a betta with just medication?

Thanks for reading all of this and for your help!

P.S. I don't know if it makes a difference at all, but if it weren't for the blatant white spots I would have no clue anything was wrong with this fish. He seems active and curious and doesn't seem to be attempting to sooth an itch. Coloring is vibrant. Hopefully maybe this means I caught it early?
 
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Gourami36
  • #2
How many watts is your heater? Temperature is very important. 86 degrees kills ich. 82-85 speeds up it’s lifespan
 
midwinter
  • Thread Starter
  • #3
The heater is 50 watts
 
Gourami36
  • #4
The heater is 50 watts
That should be fine. I had a 50 w in about 3-4 gallons. Is it adjustable?
 
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midwinter
  • Thread Starter
  • #5
I'm really relieved to read that! It's adjustable.
 
Gourami36
  • #6
I'm really relieved to read that! It's adjustable.
What’s the temperature in the 2.5 gallon right now? Change is up by 1 degree every 8-12 hours or so.
 
midwinter
  • Thread Starter
  • #7
To be perfectly honest, it's not anywhere near as high as it should be for a betta, but I just worked it out and the heater starts out a temp low enough that I should be able to increase by just one degree in the beginning. Thank you so much!
 

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