Ich in a four way divided tank!!

[Gizmothefreaky]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80-81
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? divided into four sections with other bettas

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets and frozen bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2x daily. One meal of pellets, one meal of bloodworms.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1 50% and 1 75% weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? same as above
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? novaqua water conditioner.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
ran out of test strips, sorry...
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? White specks on three of four bettas in tank
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? none
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? not yet
Does your fish have any history of being ill? dont know, all are fairly new, had them for less than two months.
How old is your fish (approximately)? no idea...


Please help me... I dont know what to do.

[masshiimarro]

oh dear lord... this cant be pretty..
can you just treat the whole tank? since the dividers allow water flow in between them, i guess you have the option of treating them together in the same tank or QT each one and treat that way.. is it really bad? or did it just start? if you can raise your temp to about 80^ degrees. you have the option of using meds or AQ salt. but if you use meds, make sure you take out the filter if you have one.

[DarkMoon17]

You can treat them all together like masshiimarro said. You should consider getting a filter or bubbler to make some water flow for the salt or medication. Aquarium Salt is probably the safest and cheapest treatment. Treat with 1tsp/gal, three times, 12 hours apart so you end up with a concentration of 3tsp/gal. Continue treatment for 14 days. Increase temp to 85*F. You'll want to do a number of water changes and thorough gravel siphons to remove fallen parasites before then can reproduce. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Gizmothefreaky]

There is an air stone in the tank and i have started to raise the temp of the water since i got home from work, by the time i can get to the store tomorrow it should be around 85 or so. It is already 80, as i said in the info from the sticky.

They only have a few specks on them, maybe ten or so apiece, and i just noticed that the fourth guy has a couple starting as well...

The only problem i see is that i have a sand substrate in my tanks, i cant really vac like i could with gravel.. Should i qt them and treat them individually in bowls and just completely empty the tank while i treat? tbh that sounds way easier than constant water changes in a ten gallon... I have a bad back. ^^;

Only thing with QT is that i dont have heaters for the bowls... I guess i could cup them and float them in their tank with the heater, but i would feel bad about that because they have had all this space... heh...

[DarkMoon17]

QTing works too. It'll hurt you to do it but it really is best to float them in the tank. If you don't float them you won't be able to bring the temperature up high enough to increase ich's life cycle and you won't be able to kill it off in 14 days. It isn't safe to use salt any longer than that.

When you clean the tank 100%, either rinse the sand really well or get new sand, then refill it and put all the decor back in. If you leave the tank running normally for the 14 day treatment period, the parasites in the tank should die for lack of a host.

You can premix the solution in a jug to make water changes easier.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Gizmothefreaky]

Alright! Thanks for the advise. :) Ill be going to the store when my mother gets back from church. In the QT do you think meds or salt would be better?

And if i dose the tank with a high amount of salt while they float in it would it be better to kill off the parasites. Also, i have marimo balls in the tank, what should i do to clean those, i know they arent good with salt.

[Gizmothefreaky]

Started treatment this evening, hoping everything will go alright..

Also, went to the store for AQ salt and came home with another betta as well... >.> That makes ten... Pictures to come in the photos area... XD

[DarkMoon17]

Sorry about the late response and congrats on the newest addition! It happens to all of us lol

You are using the Aquarium Salt treatment right? Medications aren't usually necessary for Ick unless Aq. Salt can't be used for some reason. You don't really need to treat the tank as well. Just clean it really well then set it back up again. Don't put any fish in it until the 14 days are up. Any parasites left in the tank should die in that period of time just because there is no host for them to latch onto. You should be able to leave the marimo balls in the tank. Just rinse them pretty well at the same time you clean the rest of the tank.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Gizmothefreaky]

Thanks for responding! lol.

New guy is doing well, but now i am concerned again for my CT Mongkut, who is one of the four being treated for ich.. He seems to have bloated a bit overnight and looks to be having some SBD type symptoms... Should i wait it out, or is it okay to use epsom salt and AQ salt at the same time?

[Gizmothefreaky]

Just an update... They are doing well in 3tsp/gallon... and the only one who i still see ich on is Tybalt... Does that mean it is gone off the other three, or should i keep treating them the full 14 days?