Ick and new tank

[lordcactusjack]

Hey guys. Dorian is just one of those fish very sensitive to disease I've decided. I recently (past week) moved him into a larger 6.6 gallon tank with 3 live plants and a filter. It started as wispy stuff on his fins so i put half of a anti-fungal tablet in the water 3 days ago. Well I got up today and he has ick all over his body. so i cleaned his old 1 gallon tank and put him in it and medicated him for ick. (I moved him because the medicine would kill the plants).

1. Now that he is in his old tank he has bubbles in his side fins and clamps them. Is this something to worry about? I tried moving him around to get them off.

2. How do i clean his new tank with the live plants when he is ready to be moved back in? What do I do with it? i dont want to do a 100% because my plants have just started putting down roots

Housing
What size is your tank? 6.6 gallons
What temperature is your tank? About 78
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? waterfall filter
Is your tank heated? by a florescent light.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 3 plants (I guess)

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25-50
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? none other than water treatment

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

its been roughly 5 days. no

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? white dots and faded color
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? only when i moved him back to medicate him but thats because there are no rocks or decorations. he sits at the top.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 3 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes (see above)
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Good Lord yes...
How old is your fish (approximately)? 3-4 months since i got him.

[callistra]

Very sorry he is sick and you have no replies..

The 6.6 gallon will eventually need one weekly water change of about 50%.. sounds good there.. it will need to include a thorough vacuuming of the gravel using a siphon too. However, in the meantime the tank is cycling. This will take up to 2 months and you must use a drops kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Test daily and do a change any time you see ammonia or nitrite hit as little as .25ppm. Additionally, do the normal weekly water change. Ammonia will spike then nitrite.. Ammonia will go to zero first then nitrite. Finally after a month or so you will be left with only nitrates and those should be kept in check by weekly water changes like you have outlined already you are doing. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

Also be careful about acclimating during a water change:

To do a water change, use a little cup like a plastic solo cup - this cup must be only for him and have never been used with soap or other chems. Scoop him up in this cup (keep him in the cup about 1/4 full of water - it doesn't need to be much because he won't be in it for long) and leave him in the cup while you change his water. To do the 50% use a turkey baster - dedicated only to him that has never seen soap or chems - and drag it through the gravel and try to suck as much of the poop out as possible, in addition to 50% of the water. Use a thermometer under the running tap to get it to be the same temp as the water that is normally in his tank. When the thermometer says the flowing tap is the right temp, fill back up his tank. At this point, add the conditioner (dose for how much water you change - if you change half the water you add half gallon worth of conditioner, If you do a 100% water change dose for the full gallon change). Float his plastic cup with him in it in the new water. Slowly add a couple tablespoons of the new water into his cup every 10 minutes for at least an hour. Finally, dump him in gently but try to get as little of the old cup water back into the tank as possible. When you do the weekly 100% you will do mostly the same thing except empty his tank fully and rinse everything in it very well under warm water but never use soaps or chemicals. Once it's fully cleaned/rinsed you can refill it and repeat the cup/acclimate phase.

In the one gallon leave the bottom bare, raise temp to 85 and use AQ: This has more detail http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

[Shewbert]

With ich you actually have to treat the water,,,not the fish,,, the ich shown as small white dots are the eggs from the parasite, these fall off hatch then reinfect the fish making him worse, put him back into quarantine and treat again,,
you have no choice you will have to treat your main tank as well as when you moved your fish you moved the infection with him,the treatment will not kill the spots/eggs that is on the fish it only kills the parasite.
You might lose some plants, but if you want to save the fish this is a small price to pay, the plants will be infected as well.
Once treatment is finished you can place carbon in your filter to soak up any chemicals in the water.
Bring your heat up a little as this speeds up the egg drop, plenty of aeration.
Hope this helps
Mandy, Marine Biologist/Vet

[callistra]

Not all chems that treat ick are able to be removed by carbon, actually.

Salt and heat with daily water changes works best and is a lot less stressful on the fish.

[lordcactusjack]

If you guys can give me links to your best medicines and water test kits i would be grateful. I would really rather not lose the plants because I just bought them Saturday. But I guess if i have to I will. But if I leave him out of the tank for a few days without a host wouldn't the ick die? My budget is limited....Right now he is in a 1 gallon tank no filter gravel or anything because i cleaned it out and the filter is old. Im doing 50% every other day adding one drop of AP Quick Cure for Ick Parasites & Protozoans a day. The water is treated with 1/2 tsp dissolved into it. the only problem is I cant get the temp higher that 76. I've covered it with a shirt to help hold heat in.

[callistra]

A month without a host would be safe for ick. A few days won't be enough. A month without a host will also kill your bb supply/filter though.. so you'd have to be feeding it by adding some fish food for ammonia source. You will need to test the water and probably do pretty much a 100% water change before reintroducing him. Keep the plants in the larger tank and treat in the smaller with salt and you won't lose any.

With a temp that low the lifecyle of ick could be over a month.. going to be very hard to treat like that. He needs a heater in there to bump it up at least 80. In the 1g he needs 100% daily to remove the ick that falls off.. The sticky guide I linked to talks about treatment. If you can't get the heat up then Quick Cure with Formalin and Malachite Green should do the trick. Dose daily along with 100% water change.

[Shewbert]

It will not take 100% of chemicals but it does speed up the removal of any medicines, household sprays etc that can enter the water,
The water is very finely sieved through carbon plus it absorbs a multitude of sins that is in a tank, including good bacteria, hence they are not normally needed in an aquarium, heat speeds up the white spots dropping, and water changes are self explanatory.
The game is to get the tank back to normal as quickly as possible, if a carbon filter helps in achieving this then it is worth the advice to use one, it can be taken out again after a couple of water changes.

Mandy, Marine Biologist/vet

Originally Posted by callistra

Not all chems that treat ick are able to be removed by carbon, actually.

Salt and heat with daily water changes works best and is a lot less stressful on the fish.

[callistra]

I'm just saying that some of the meds that can be used to treat with ick require a 100% water change post treatment to remove them because they stay active and toxic any other way. Your post doesn't seem to recognize this.

I agree running carbon 24 hours when water quality is in question isn't a bad idea. I always keep carbon around.

[lordcactusjack]

I got the water up to 80 by putting a shirt over it. My question is how do i treat the bigger tank with only the plants in it? Is a 100% inevitable? I bought some Jungle: Lifeguard all on one treatment, but it says to not use in newly set up aquariums. treating him is no longer the issue. its getting the big tank safe for him again.

[callistra]

Leave the big tank empty a month. Seed it to keep bb supply up. Do close to 100% wc (vaccum down to the gravel) before adding him back and test to be sure all levels are ok too.