Velvet, Right? How to treat and more questions.

[CalvinWill]

So, I am pretty sure my Multi female has velvet. The last 2 days she has been lethargic, spitting out her food, and getting pale. TodayI hit her with a flashlight and there is an obvious golden hue to her. She also has a few small patches on her head that almost look fuzzy. Sounds pretty textbook Velvet, right? Confirm/Deny?

The question is what is the best way to treat her. Her tankmate hasn't shown any signs of illness, but he does have a light gold dusting and has been spitting out his food too. I am going to treat the whole tank.

What do you recommend as treatment? I have already done a 50% water change, lowered the total level, and raised the temp to 84.

Tank = 10 gallon divided. Normally solid at 81 with a sponge filter.
PH - 8.1
Ammonia = 0 (maybe a trace)
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

No change is food (NLS and Omega 1), conditioner (mix of Prime, StressCoat, and IAL tea) or anything else.


The other, and more serious question: There is a slight but very real chance that I could have contaminated my breeders that are currently conditioning in another divided 10g. Neither show ANY symptoms (M1 looks better then ever and is blowing the nest of his life. The Black Fire chick is more colorful and active then I've ever seen her. No gold anywhere) Should I treat both tanks the same?

Note, The black fire chick was in the Multi's tank, but was taken out friday, before the multi started acting funny.

Help me out, folks. Should I treat both tanks and what medications do you swear by for Velvet and "maybe-velvet"?

poor quality pic, related.

[Pataflafla]

Instead of jumping to a medication immediately, try 1 tsp/gal of aquarium salt to see if that helps any. If it does, then slowly raise the concentration to 3 tsp/gal over a period of 24 hours. (Dissolve the aquarium salt completely before adding to the tank).

Velvet looks like gold/ yellow version of ick, maybe just a little bit finer. If it looks like that then, definitely try the salt treatment first. Also, keep things dark and warm as you already are.

[Sakura8]

Velvet:

Along with the salt that Pata recommends, if your betta looks like this, then also raise the heat slowly to 86 degrees F and cover the tank so that it is as dark as possible. Velvet photosynthesizes so cutting off light will really help. If the tank is 1-2 gallons, change 100% of the water every day and redose the salt. If it's larger than that, I recommend putting him in a smaller hospital tank so you can easily do the water changes. Changing the water is necessary because it removes the parasites that fall off before they can reattach or multiply.

I don't really recommend medication for velvet if the salt treatment works, as velvet is highly resistant to chemicals.

Follow Pata's salt instructions and hopefully it works. Good luck!