Ich/Fungus. Am I treating it right?

[dramaqueen]

Well, 74 is better than 70. lol My heater is adjustable so I don't know if you do the same thing for the mini heaters, but I was told to acclimate mine for about 10-15 minutes to let the heater get used to the water temp, then plug it in.

[TianTian]

Whoops. I didn't do that. The set-up instructions didn't mention it, anyway. :o

Tian-Tian made one small bubble(that popped) and is no longer sitting at the bottom of his tank, listless. An improvement?

I think I'll do another 50% or 25% water change tomorrow afternoon. I really want to get rid of this ich/fungus asap.

[dramaqueen]

If the setup instructions didn't mention it then you may not have to do that with the mini heaters. I may get a mini heater for my 1 1/2 gallon but I want to see if other people are having any luck with them.

[TianTian]

Whoo! Good morning and a happy morning, indeed! :D

So I got up (rushing so I won't be late to my 8am class, forgive spelling errors) and I looked over at Tian-Tian's tank. Current temp: 76 degrees F.!!!!!! :D :D :D

Tian-Tian is happily swimming a lot more than he was. I'll treat him with a 50% water change, Betta Revive, salt, etc when I get done with my classes this afternoon.

Also, I'm glad I fasted him last night. What could've been a potential constipation problem is, well, taking care of itself. :) He's got his fins all fanned out (my GOSH he's even more handsome than before!!) and he's no longer clamping his pectoral fins like he was yesterday afternoon. Whew!

Atta boy, Tian-Tian!! :D

[dramaqueen]

Good for Tia Tian!! Maybe he'll reward you with a bubblenest when you get back from class. I'm glad your heater is working now! :)

[TianTian]

EEEEEeeee!!! You were right about the bubble nest! He's already started to build one! (I just got out of class, too!) It's lined along the length of his tank in a single row and there's a few individual spots here and there. (Almost as if he's laying the foundation for the biggest bubble nest ever....?) He's even flaring again at my tablet pen and chasing my finger around the tank. Frankly, I can't see any more of that ich on him, period. Looks like the fungus might be hiding, too.

Augh, but his water's all murky-lookin' now. Gotta go take an exam so I'll have to change it when I get back in about an hour and a half... (Exams are the bane of my existence.) I kinda hope I can buy a Whisper filter later today. That'll probably help keep his water just a little cleaner (and make it so the water changes will be less frequent, and thus less stressful).

[dramaqueen]

I'm glad he's doing better and building a bubblenest. YAY! Boy, I don't envy you having to write papers and take tests. I loved college but I think I hated tests worse than papers.Good luck with your exam.

[chrismcdonald]

sorry to tell you swollen belly and that fungus trailing of his head could be a Anchor worm. LFS tend to sell a lot of fresh water fish with this problem the worm would be borrowed to deep in his head for you to remove your self. You will have to bath him in potassium permanganate your LFS will help you find the right type of product.

[TianTian]

Woah, wait, rewind and run that by me again. What the heck is anchor worm? *Googles it* "Anchor worms are [COLOR=black ! important][COLOR=black ! important]parasites[/color][/color] that infect fish and one of the main problems with them is that they increase the risk of attracting other diseases. The [COLOR=black ! important][COLOR=black ! important]symptoms[/color][/color] of anchor worms include the fish scratching themselves against everything in the tank and white green threads hanging out with inflamed centres on the body of the fish".(http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/anchorworm.php)

...... aw, crap.
Well, the stuff wasn't green, it was white, almost clear. And I never saw Tian-Tian go and scratch himself against anything. Do they sell potassium permanganate at Petco, at least? I'm about to run over there in a while, anyhow. I just want to be sure...

The fungus that was trailing him just sloughed off his scales, fins and head. I don't see it anywhere. Perhaps it was JUST fungus? *crosses fingers*

Okay, time for water change. C'mere, my puppy-fish.

Also: current water temp: 78 degrees F. It went up!

[dramaqueen]

If your fish isn't showing any kind of symptoms now, I wouldn't worry. For anchor worms, you can use something called Coppersafe. Petco should have it.