Gill parasites

[baylee767]

(Sarcastic) Hooray! Neon has gill parasites!

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 81 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? filter
Is your tank heated? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? biogold pellets and occasionally bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 pellets 1X daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? everyday
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? aquasafe

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? his head is twitching
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? unknown


Neon keeps on twitching his head when ever he gets overly excited (if he swims too fast, flares too much, there's too much current, etc.) And in another thread it was confirmed he has gill parasites. (Note: this is the only symptom he has, so it isn't severe)

I was wondering how I could treat him? He's in a filtered 10 gallon, and he's the only fish in there. I plan on adding cories in a few months... and no, the tank isn't cycled, I'm doing the fish in method. I do 25-50% water changes daily.

I own maracyn 2 and the salts (espom and aqua) so what should I do to treat him and what should the exact doseage be?

[Betta Slave]

Gill parasites? Very easy to treat. Very.

1 tsp of aq. salt per gallon for ten days, and I'd keep up with the 50% water changes daily... Maybe 75% some days.

I've asked a friend about maracyn for parasites, and she said she had better luck with aq. salt. I've never tried maracyn, however.

Feed him pellets soaked in garlic juice daily (the regular amount of food you'd feed him)- just get a garlic crusher, put a pinch of pellets into the crushed garlic, into the microwave for 30 seconds, and that'll be good.


This is what I do, and the parasites always go away after a month or two, depending on how many parasites there are. I've treated many bettas with this method and it has never failed me.

Good luck!

[baylee767]

But would the salt taint the water for the cories? I have a 2.5 gallon if I need to do the treatments outside of the tank... but he wouldn't like it. Also, I'm going on a trip in March so they need to be cured before then.

[Betta Slave]

Oh, the cories. Wasn't thinking.

You'll either have to wait to get the cories, or use the 2.5 as a hospital tank... By March, though, he should be fine, if you keep up w/ pellets soaked in garlic juice and the water changes.

[baylee767]

Thanks! I think he should be safe seeing as I'm adding the cories in a few months... just making sure that there wouldn't be any salt remnants. So I'll do the aq salt thing for 7-10 days and garlic soak his pellets.

[Betta Slave]

Awesome.

When you get the cories, though, I'd scrub out the tank, etc. with vinegar, to get rid of any salt that may still be lurking around in there.

Good luck!

[bamsuddenimpact]

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/corydoras/
help on cories. research the type, cuz they may be able to deal with salt