Velvet? Need medicine advice

Im quite sure my betta has velvet and he's been going untreated for probably a week now because i couldn't work it out until someone mentioned it.

However cause im in the uk its so hard to get meds and i cant even get api general cure and i cant go out to my lfs so im relying on amazon. The only product that will come quickly for me is one branded Interpet which is a fairly popular brand as far as im aware. However the medicine says you cant use it on invertebrates and scaleless fish...which is my betta entire pack of tank mates (6 cories, 2 snails, 1 juvinile BNP) so what do i do??

I saw some info awhile back noting that these kinds of medicine would be okay to use with scaleless fish if the dose was halved and the course of the medicine doubled. Is this true? Im not 100% sure that my cories have actually contraced velvet so if i decide no, i am able to qt my betta. Should i do that plus a big wc to get it out of the water?

Thanks, sorry if thats too much at once!

1. Can i use the half and doube method mentioned safely?
2. Should i qt my betta?
3. How likely is it the velvet will come back if i dont treat the whole tank?

 

You might be able to get metronidazole OTC in the UK. Do a search for "ronidazole pigeon." Ronidazole is a newer version of metronidazole due to resistance in pigeon parasites.

Here's the treatment section from Noga's Fish Disease and Diagnosis book:

 

You might be able to get metronidazole OTC in the UK. Do a search for "ronidazole pigeon." Ronidazole is a newer version of metronidazole due to resistance in pigeon parasites.

Here's the treatment section from Noga's Fish Disease and Diagnosis book:

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Thanks! I appreciate it a lot, but to be honest it feels a bit intimidating

I'd mostly like to know if my cories look like they've caught the velvet. Because if not, I can qt my betta and avoid the worry of hurting them with the meds i do have. I used a flashlight and I kinda think it might just be their shininess (?) but im not very experienced so i don't know. They're acting completely normal though, just to add.

 

I went ahead and set up a hospital tank for him because I just figured, the cories are all acting fine and poor Raph has had this for a week just about so i have to treat him for it. The meds are a bit confusing as its one dose only and unfortunately i dont have a suitable filter for the tank, meaning i'll probably have to water change which will remove the medicine and you're only meant to dose it every 7 days so agh i need to try and work around that I suppose. I might see if I can get my hands on a cheap sponge filter

 

What size tank do you have?

Because bettas live in isolation from the time they are old enough to determine the sex to the time they are sold to you, it is quite unusual for bettas to bring diseases into your aquarium system. However, since you have multiple Corys in the tank, they are likely the ones who introduced the disease. Thus, they probably need treating as well.

As you are aware, Corys are scaleless fish that are sensitive to some medications.
One of the best medications for treating the parasite is copper sulfate, but this is not suitable for either your Corys or your snails. AvalancheDave is a lot more familiar with the medications available in Europe than I am.

Hikari Ich-X contains a modified version of malachite green that is considered safe for scaleless fish, but the Amazon.UK web site shows it as currently unavailable. That is what I would recommend in your situation if you could get it.

If this is velvet disease, you should try to raise the water temperature as long as the fish tolerate it. A temperature of 29 degrees C is recommended. This will cause the cysts on the fish to hatch so that medications can start to eliminate the parasites in the free swimming tomite stage. Ich is similar in this aspect of the life cycle.

The parasite responsible for velvet likes light, so turn off your artificial lighting an try to shade the tank from direct sunlight.

Before adding any medication, be sure you remove any carbon used in your filter.

You might want to move all of your fish over into the hospital tank if it is large enough. The one good thing about velvet is that the parasite can only survive for 24 hours without finding a new host fish. Thus, if you remove all of the fish from your main tank, any parasites remaining in that tank will die. Then you only need to worry about eliminating the parasites in your hospital tank.

 

What size tank do you have?

Because bettas live in isolation from the time they are old enough to determine the sex to the time they are sold to you, it is quite unusual for bettas to bring diseases into your aquarium system. However, since you have multiple Corys in the tank, they are likely the ones who introduced the disease. Thus, they probably need treating as well.

As you are aware, Corys are scaleless fish that are sensitive to some medications.
One of the best medications for treating the parasite is copper sulfate, but this is not suitable for either your Corys or your snails. AvalancheDave is a lot more familiar with the medications available in Europe than I am.

Hikari Ich-X contains a modified version of malachite green that is considered safe for scaleless fish, but the Amazon.UK web site shows it as currently unavailable. That is what I would recommend in your situation if you could get it.

If this is velvet disease, you should try to raise the water temperature as long as the fish tolerate it. A temperature of 29 degrees C is recommended. This will cause the cysts on the fish to hatch so that medications can start to eliminate the parasites in the free swimming tomite stage. Ich is similar in this aspect of the life cycle.

The parasite responsible for velvet likes light, so turn off your artificial lighting an try to shade the tank from direct sunlight.

Before adding any medication, be sure you remove any carbon used in your filter.

You might want to move all of your fish over into the hospital tank if it is large enough. The one good thing about velvet is that the parasite can only survive for 24 hours without finding a new host fish. Thus, if you remove all of the fish from your main tank, any parasites remaining in that tank will die. Then you only need to worry about eliminating the parasites in your hospital tank.

Thank you for all your information! I do agree on that it probably came from the 3 new cories.

Their home tank is 15 gallons but unfortunately my hospital tank is only 1 gallon, but it is longer rather than tall which makes it not so bad short term. I don't know if I would move the fish over as the only medicine I could get quickly isnt safe for any of my other fish. I made the choice to get it because my betta has been visibly suffering for a week now wheras all of my other fish are acting normal. And the fact that obviously catfish and snails poop a lot and i dont have a filter for this and was planning to just water change.

I could call my LFS and ask about hikari ich-x and see if they have any, then just keep my betta seperate while i treat the home tank with the safe meds. If they dont have any im not really sure what to do then