Treating Ich/Velvet In a Decorated Tank

[Sakura8]

What is the best way to treat an entire 10g tank? Should the tank be torn down and rinsed thoroughly and then treatment starts, or wait until treatment is over to tear it down? Also, what about the filter? Should the filter cartridges be tossed? Advice would be appreciated. I would move the entire tank to a barebottom, no decor tank but it's a sorority so that probably won't work.

[SchBetta5123]

You should never tear down a tank and clean it completely. All that does is destroy all the beneficial bacteria that breaks down the ammonia in the water.

Filter should also never be tossed or replaced. This is the main place where all the bacteria is kept, and the tank will start to cycle all over again if you do toss or replace it.

All you should do is raise the temp to 86*F and do 2 tsp per aquarium salt per 10 gallons. Some even do 1 tsp per gallon.

Medication should be used as a last resort. As velvet is not as easy to treat as ich, you might need to do the medication. I would do a methylene blue dip. Dips are usually more effective then just dosing the whole tank.

Other good meds for velvet are copper safe and clout.

[Oldfishlady]

How bad is the ich and is it ich and velvet...is the tank planted with live plants......

[Sakura8]

Thank you for the advice ScheBetta. I'm glad I didn't do anything drastic last night while I was panicking. I did take out all the plastic plants so I can do a thorough gravel cleaning.

OFL, it's ich as far as I can tell and not too bad yet. One girl has it the worst, mostly on her fins but I only see some clamping fins and flashing on the other four girls. The tank does not have live plants at the moment.

[Oldfishlady]

Over the next 24h get the temp up to 86F-and start daily deep vacuum of the substrate to manually remove the parasites for at least 3 days past the last day you could see any parasites on the fish....

Aquarium salt-dose at 2tsp/gal....you may or may not need to use salt...depends on how bad the parasites...if only one female has ich...QT her and do the two container treatment on her-change to a clean like temp water each day as the ich falls off to manually remove it....... but keep at the daily deep vacuum on the main tank

Stress can compromise immune response and this in turn allows the ich to infect the fish

Salt will help to kill the parasite..... but most important it helps to prevent a secondary infection from the wound that is left after the Ich detaches from the fish.....

[Sakura8]

I'll QT the female who is most affected. Should I dose the tank with the rest of the girls with salt just in case?

Check that, I just did a flashlight test again in daylight nd all have at least a few parasites on their fins.

[Oldfishlady]

After I re-read your post...I would treat the whole tank.....if more than one has the parasites...it better to treat everybody at once......this tank only has Bettas in it ...right......if you have other species of fish...make sure they are salt tolerant......

[Sakura8]

Okay. Yes, they're all bettas. 2 tsps per gallon, high heat at 86* and daily gravel vac. Thank you so much OFL. I've never had to treat more than one fish at a time before, I was a little overwhelmed.

[Oldfishlady]

I understand.....the first time I had Ich in one of my planted tanks I freaked out for a second...but then realized that I didn't even need to do anything because it was on a fish/Betta I just moved that was stressed and it resolved on its own within 2 days.....

They say Ich can lay dormant in the tank for years and I tend to believe this.......In the case of my planted tank and Ich......this tank had been established for 2 years and no new fish or plants in the house for at least 3 years except for the one born here and I propagate my own plants...so they don't count...lol......and I had Ich pop-up out of no where......

[Sakura8]

I'm still not sure what triggered this outbreak, possibly stress because I had to remove one girl with eggy issues. But I also have new danios and platies and although they are quarantined, I may have cross-contaminated somewhere. On the bright side, the AQ salt should help heal the nipped fins my girls give each other.

Thank you again, OFL, you're awesome.