bettas keep getting sick help

[nopeanuts]

ok i am new to owning bettas. i love them. but my first one died of ich. i have 4 bettas now. 2 in a 5g and 2 in a 10g. well 2 of them have ich. and 1 of them is sick but can't tell what it is. he looks normal has all color but he is lathargic and stay flat at the bottom, comes up for air then stays by the thermometer and back down again after a while.

i have done ich treatment on the 2 with ich. all 3 fish that are sick i have had under a month, bought at different times within the month. my oldest which is maybe 2 months has nothing wrong with him other then he is a mean betta

i have heaters in both tanks, filters, lots of plants with caves, thermometers. filters.
i have a test kit. water is crystal clear, all levels are in the good

what am i doing wrong

[gbose]

Nopea,

Are your tanks cycled? what are your readsings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?

If ammonia or nitrite are measurable, then start doing daily 50% water changes.

Good luck!

GB

[nopeanuts]

i cycled the tanks for about a week. and the test strips read out everything as ideal or good. and i just looked at the unknown problem i have with one fish and under his body near the head is a little swolen. is it possible he was sick 3 weeks ago when i got him and is just now showing signs of it?

[Micho]

Did you put your new Bettas in QT tanks before adding them to the big tanks? Sometimes even if they're not showing the symptoms they could be carrying something. And if you don't put them QT first, they could easily spread it to your other fish.

[nopeanuts]

thats what i can't do right now. i am hoping to get a new tank so i can do that when i get new fish. which won't be till sunday next time i can go and get one.

with school and stuff its hard to keep an eye on there recovery. but if these 3 die i'm going to hold off for the time being. but i would like to save them, they are very pretty and relaxing to watch when i study.

[Sena Hansler]

They probably had the disease, because of being in cups or bowls from the store. Remember even breeders have them in jars! He could have gotten it then, easily, and you have bad luck. Ich treatment for any fish is a must. If it were popeye, or anything like that I do not recommend medications as it kills many bettas (so sad, happened to 2 of mine) and now I do everything naturally.

I do suggest, using epsom or aquarium freshwater salt treatment for 6-10 days, doing 100% water change every day, tap water conditioned. This will help dramatically!!! a small container should suffice, as long as you keep it warm for your little bettas.

[nopeanuts]

that reminded me of when i put salt in the tanks. i put 3 table spoons of salt in both the tanks cause of the ich. that when i noticed the betta (the one that has unknown problems) started acting funny.
and i just put a flashlight up to him and the under belly looks dryed out kinda. not mossy or silky looking. the female betta i have with ich had 2 spots yesterday and i started ich treatment.
those 2 spots are gone and now on the tail fin 2 more popped up. the other betta with ich is hard to see how much since he is mostly white.

btw both tanks are devided.

[Neil D]

What salt are you using? Make sure it IS AQ or epsom salt. There are treatments for Ich like quICK Cure, which should work, and stuff like that. buys some liquid tests, the api Master liquid test kid should be good, expensive, but sooo worth it. (its what i have) they should give you better readings on it.

[Littlebittyfish]

Sometimes bettas can be sick when we get them.

How are you treating the bettas for ich? I have had good results using 1 tsp aquarium salt per gallon while slowly raising the temperature up to 86 degrees over the course of a few days. I would use different items to clean the uninfected tanks that don't have ich and wash your hands between cleaning each tank.

[nopeanuts]

both tanks got infected. but only 2 have ich. 1 has unknow problems and fits symptoms of old age which is weird. and yes its epsom salt. and i do have ich cure. have done both. i even turned off the filter over night. i mainly want to know whats wrong with the unknown betta problem as i would like to not have this happen again. as for the 2 tanks with ich patients i don't know what happened but i don't know if putting them both in the same tank would be any different. or should i put everyone in a cup and cycle the tanks?