I am so completely upset right now. Dumbo has ich. I noticed the past 2 days he was clampy and not as active as usual. He wouldn't even flare at his neighbor, Liberty. He would just lay clamped up on the bottom of his tank, snuggled next to his panda cave. I decided to take a look at him with a flashlight. At first I couldn't see anything, but when he started swimming away from me after getting some air, I saw it. He looked like he was lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar. I lost 2 bettas to ich last year, so I recognized it immediately. I do not have any AQ salt. But when I saw it I did a 40% water change (didn't want to do any bigger, it was 1:00 in the morning and I didn't want to stress him too much). I also added some Rid-ich, the only thing I had on hand. This morning he didn't look much better, but he still ate all of his breakfast (3 pellets and 2 freeze dried bloodworms). I did a 50% just now and added another 3 drops of ridich. Still nothing. I think I am going to lose him. I am so very upset. But I'm doing all I can do with everything I have.
The ich parasite has a several day life cycle. The medicine cannot kill full grown ich parasites (the ones you can see). It targets the weakened stage in their life cycle where they fall off the fish onto the substrate to reproduce, therefore preventing reproduction. You will not see immediate results even if the medicine is working... You can try adding "Stress Coat" which will help him heal when the ich parasites fall off. Good luck, I hope he makes it.
I believe the water conditioner has something in it that improves stress coat. I feel so bad that I don't have anything better for him, but rid ich is like the fish version of an antifungal broad spectrum medication, right? LOL. I watch House and I want to be a doctor when I grow up, can you tell? Anywho. I am doing everything I can, I hope he pulls through. Should I do a 100% instead and add the medication and then acclimate him?
I've only used salt to treat, so I don't know anything about the medicines, sorry. But I do suggest raising the water temp to about 82; warm water will help speed up the parasite's life cycle so it can fall off the fish and be killed
Lola - isn't ich awful? Poor Dumbo just got over fin rot, and now his body is very slowly getting eaten away by a parasite I can't kill until it reproduces in the water and becomes free swimming. Oh man, I hope he pulls through. But if not, I can save another life. But I'd rather Dumbo live! I will try to warm him up.
If you can, it would be better to get "Stress Coat" since water conditioners only have electrolytes that support a healthy slim coat. Stress Coat actually has aloe in it help repair damaged slim coating.
As LolaQuigs said, if you raise the temperature to 82 F then that will speed up their life cycle. You can also just treat with high doses of salt instead of medications. I actually haven't had much luck with ich medications, I just go straight for the Potassium Permanganate...
I'll go grab my heater from one of my other fish tanks tomorrow, and next time I go to petco I'll grab some AQ salt. I might have to grab another betta too, Dumbo does not look happy. At least he's still eating and he tries to flare at Liberty. But the rest of the time he curls himself into a bowl in the gravel and just lays there all clampy, barely breathing. I wish I had seen this earlier! :( Thanks for all of your help guys.
Don't give up hope, ich is treatable. Medicines can be hard on a fish, I'd just skip them and get the salt. 1 tsp per gallon of conditioned water, making daily 100% changes. Do the treatment for 10 days.
I've had several fish recover from Ich with little problem. I know for me I used a product form walmart called quick ich (very green liquid), and it took about four days for the ich to clear up. I'd finish the treatment you're working on, and I'd be doing 100% water changes daily with ich. the more oyu can get out of the tank, the less that can get your fish.
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