I got my betta named pirate about two weeks ago. He is in a 5 gallon tank with a few decorations and a moss ball. He has a heater that has the tank at 79 Fahrenheit and a tetra whisper 10 internal filter. He eats new life spectrum small fish formula, he also freeze dried blood worms, and frozen brine shrimp. How can I rid him of ick without killing my moss ball and my bio filter? Or staining my tank green?
My betta has ick, help
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You shouldn't have to use medications to treat ick. Slowly bumping up your heater to 84* should do the trick. You need to do a gravel vacuum everyday to suck up any ick that fell off the fish, or else it can reinfect. I'm not sure how long you continued treatment after the ick has disappeared though. I'm thinking maybe a week?
And since you're not using any medication, I don't think you have to worry about doing any damage to your moss :-D
And since you're not using any medication, I don't think you have to worry about doing any damage to your moss :-D
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take him out to a quaratine tank. you can float him in the original tank if you do not have a heater for a smaller tank. turn temperature up to 82.
Dose aquarium salt at 1tsp/gal, increase dosage slowly up to 3 tsp/ gal.
Change the water everyday and scrub the quaratine tank with hot water before refilling.
If the ich is bad, quaratine him the same way, but instead of aq salt, use medication.
Make sure none of the meds get into your tank.
You will have to keep him in Qt for 3 weeks before you can be sure that the ich in your tank has died out.
meanwhile, may be dosing kordon ich attack will help...
Dose aquarium salt at 1tsp/gal, increase dosage slowly up to 3 tsp/ gal.
Change the water everyday and scrub the quaratine tank with hot water before refilling.
If the ich is bad, quaratine him the same way, but instead of aq salt, use medication.
Make sure none of the meds get into your tank.
You will have to keep him in Qt for 3 weeks before you can be sure that the ich in your tank has died out.
meanwhile, may be dosing kordon ich attack will help...
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After searching the internet for extended periods of time and reading countless articles the most popular answer is a water temperature of 85 degrees for a sick betta with ick.
The biggest debate is using medicine or warmer water. I say go with your gut instincts. It if just started (with careful monitoring) you can try warmer water. If its been a few days and you see signs of lethargic or unusual behavior I would not risk it and go with meds.
The biggest debate is using medicine or warmer water. I say go with your gut instincts. It if just started (with careful monitoring) you can try warmer water. If its been a few days and you see signs of lethargic or unusual behavior I would not risk it and go with meds.
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ich needs a host. all you do by upping the temperature is to speed up its life cycle...
but deprivin the ich of its host > the betta fish. they will eventually die out. I would still recommend you do a 100% eater change and vaccum out the gravel. The betta should be treated separately.
but deprivin the ich of its host > the betta fish. they will eventually die out. I would still recommend you do a 100% eater change and vaccum out the gravel. The betta should be treated separately.
I disagree. u have to treat ur original tank as well. Actually, I don't see a reason for a quarantine tank. Why wouldn't u just get rid of all ick at once rather then dealing with 2 separate systems?
I had ick with corries and live plants including a moss ball. What worked for me with no stress to any animals, plants or bio-filter was Metronidazole. It's safe for everything, even a snail, and doesn't stain water. People say it's best to feed it rather then just dump the powder in water. i had a pretty bad case, especially on my pleco, and i completely eliminated the problem with just one round of dumping, not feeding. I'm sure other things work too, but i can tell you what didn't do the trick for me - Kordon Ich attack and QuickCure.
My suggestion:
1. Finish the heat treatment. As I said, I don't see a reason for the quarantine tank. But if you wanna use it, change water and raise temp + salt in the original tank too. I didn't get if your main tank doesn't have gravel or the quarantine one, but either way if u have any gravel u gotta vacuum it. if not - less work for you
2. If the heat treatment works then great. if not then dose the entire tank with medication
I had ick with corries and live plants including a moss ball. What worked for me with no stress to any animals, plants or bio-filter was Metronidazole. It's safe for everything, even a snail, and doesn't stain water. People say it's best to feed it rather then just dump the powder in water. i had a pretty bad case, especially on my pleco, and i completely eliminated the problem with just one round of dumping, not feeding. I'm sure other things work too, but i can tell you what didn't do the trick for me - Kordon Ich attack and QuickCure.
My suggestion:
1. Finish the heat treatment. As I said, I don't see a reason for the quarantine tank. But if you wanna use it, change water and raise temp + salt in the original tank too. I didn't get if your main tank doesn't have gravel or the quarantine one, but either way if u have any gravel u gotta vacuum it. if not - less work for you
2. If the heat treatment works then great. if not then dose the entire tank with medication
I decided against a quarantine tank do I could treat my entire tank. My fish seems ok with the heat and his ick has disappeared, I'm going to treat with heat for 2 weeks to see what happens, thanks everyone for the advice, I'll keep you updated. Also I'm not using salt either.
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