Ick & Velvet!

[Tim tam]

Housing QT Tanks:
What size is your tank? Qt tank 1 litre
What temperature is your tank? 22 degrees centigrade
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? no.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? on their lonesome

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? betta micro pellets (colour enhancing)
How often do you feed your betta fish? once dayly although theyre off there food at present.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Currently Daily
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water purifing drops and multicure by Aqua master

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? no i havent.


Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? white spots all over both male and female plus a velvet texture all over my female. female is the worst,
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? my male still seems pretty cruzy, quite happy to flare up on occasion. female seems listless. shes still perky at times though. im not panicking at their behavour yet.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 6 days ago..
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? aqua masters multi cure, water conditioner. did try epsom salts for two days. and raising their tank temperature. now just using multi cure.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately) Maybe 6 months

ok so i selected my beautiful pair, theyve done their thing, fry are happily swimming about the main tank...however...my female (in QT) has velvet and ick. oh..and my handsome male has Ick too(also in own Qt).
I tried epsom salt first but have now moved on to betta multi-cure (turns the tank a beautiful emerald colour) as this was advised by another fellow betta lover. (contains Malachite green, methylene blue & acriflavine) im 4 days into treatment and doing 25% water changes daily.

My question is: Is there a rough estimation on how long these disesases take to be cured. Im gazing at them willing these little polkadots to disapear. i think its working in the female tank as theres white dots floating around...although these may be released eggs maybe? theyre about the same size?

Any further advise would be greatly aprectiated. also how do i sterilise my net please?

kind regards
Tamsin

[aokashi]

With parasites you need aquarium salt. work it up to 3tsp/ gallon...
for the male.. raise your temperature over the course of a day up to 86.
the temperature and the salt alone will kill ich.

for the female...
get her a parasite medication... copper based are rather tough on fish and will will do long term damage...
ive heard maracide is gentler...
you need to treat her right away

[jeremywadejunior]

For parasites, I have heard anywhere from 5 to 30 days of treatment.. The parasites detach from the fish to reproduce, just to re-attach to the fish again, only with more parasites. Buy a treatment and read it's suggest time frame.

[Tim tam]

the multi cure is apparently for treating white spot, velvet and fungal conditions. but i shall up their tank temperatures and salt them up again and enquire at my local aqarium shop (theyre really passionate) regarding parasite meds...ie maracide...i do hope these little guys improve promptly..:(
thankyou aokashi

[aokashi]

these paeasites are only susceptible to medication when in their free swimming stage. which means, the one that are already attached to your fish will not be affected.

do daily water changes to eliminate as many parasites as possible. if you have them in a small quaratine tank. scrub off the tank everyday with hot water to get rid of any eggs.

bettas are much easier to cure due to their tolerance to frequent water changes.
my other fish had me baffled for a while because it was a fully lanted tank with lots of inverts....

I dont have a large enough bare bottom tank to medicate 6 fish, and i i used medication it will kill all my plants snails and shrimp.... it was a pain