[wildflowers]

Hello there,
I bought my Betta girl from Petco about 2 weeks ago. I just started the Betta Revive treatment in my 2 gallon Petco Hexagon tank with filter for one small female Crowtail Betta, this friday. I am on day 3 of the treatment in a brand new tank (I noticed signs of Velvet AFTER I upgraded her to a bigger tank than a 1.5 Marina gallon cube) and have been seeing great results with this blue stuff. The rust color around her gills are smaller and she seems less "gold sparkled" on her neck area, so something is definitely happening and the protozoan is being killed off. It helps that I put a small heater which keeps the tank at 82 degrees and have put binders around the tank to shield her from light.

I check on her periodically (I am obsessed with my little finned friend) and she is very playful and immediately comes to the front to say hello, eats all the time (I give her Hikari gold pellets). She seems to really enjoy her new bigger home and has all this space being she is 1.5 inches long! I know I am catching this early because she is not scratching herself like crazy or acting sick at all. Thank GOD. BUT....

My question is this: I have not done a water change because it seems like the medication is supposed to stay in its concentrated form in order to do its duty, but should I be changing her water partially while on this stuff because she still goes to the bathroom?

Have any of you had good experience and know how to use Betta Revive?, the directions are extremely confusing and vague. I would greatly appreciate the help or guidance

 

[Myates]

I would be doing 100% water changes daily. That is what is #1 on healing a fish. Do the water change and add in the treatment each time for the 7 days or however long it tells you to use it.

 

[Myates]

Velvet
•Symptoms: Can be found by shining a flashlight on your betta. If it looks like it is covered in fine gold of rust colored dust then it has velvet. Clamped Fins, no appetite, darting/rubbing, loss of color, lethargic
•Treatment: It is very contagious so you should treat the entire tank. Treat as you would treat Ick. PP•Potassium Permanganate (PP) is also my favorite for treating Velvet.

Ick
•Symptoms: Betta has white dots (looks like he was sprinkled with salt) all over his body and head, even eyes. Lethargic, No appetite, Clamped Fins, Might dart and scratching against decor
•Treatment: You can treat Ick either conservatively or with medication. Ick is a parasite. Because ick is contagious, it is preferable to treat the whole tank when one fish is found to have it. Ick is temperature sensitive: Leave your betta in the community tank and raise temperature to 85 F. Then you can choose to treat with salt or medication. Conservative: Add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Perform daily 100% water changes to remove fallen parasites before they can reproduce. Replace the water with the right amount of salt. Do not continue this treatment for more than 14 days. If it fails or you do not want to use salt, treat with Jungle’s Parasite Clear, API Super Ick Cure, or Kordon Rid Ich Plus. If your betta lives in a jar/bowl, then it can be difficult to heat the water. There are heaters for smaller containers, but you can also float the quarantine container in a larger heated tank during treatment. Do a full water change every day and add an appropriate amount of medication to the water.
•Alternative Treatment: Personally, I have not found Ick medications very effective. I prefer to use PP to treat all external parasites. In the past, I have used 3 or 4 different ick medications unsuccessfully, and every time I resort to PP which works like a charm. Do lots of research before using PP as it is a more dangerous chemical than most.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

 

[wildflowers]

Thank you for the quick reply!

why in the HECK would the Petco fish specialist say to not change her water for 7 days until the treatment?!

Have you had alot of experience working with Betta Revive? Also do you think whole water changes will stress her out every day moving her out of the tank?

 

[Sakura8]

Wildflowers, bit of advice: don't listen to anything a pet store employee has to say. 99% of the time they don't know what they're talking about, they're just repeating what they've been told to say.

As for the water changes, the benefits of the water change will outweigh the stress she might go through. To minimize that stress, leave her in the tank and take out as much water as possible until she has just enough to keep swimming in. Cup her with a plastic cup and then dump the rest of the water out. Refill with conditioned water roughly the same temp, redose the medicine, stir a few times, and then add/acclimate your girl.

Velvet is very hard to treat and also, many bettas have a gold iridescence that is commonly mistaken for velvet. The difference is in velvet, you will still see individual spots, just smaller than ich spots. Here's a pic of a Petco betta with real velvet, if it helps you. If your girl doesn't look like this, I would stop the Betta Revive. It has some pretty powerful meds in there and it's best not to medicate unles absolutely necessary.

I hope this helps you and good luck with your girl.

 

[GreenTea]

Wildflowers:

If you scoop her into a clear cup like the one she came in, they usually dont mind so much (mine anyway) if it's dim that will help ease her stress.

Be sure to float her in the new water and acclimate her properly and she should be fine. Like I said in the other thread, I do 100% every day as well if someones sick!

 

[Draug Isilme]

Velvet
•Symptoms: Can be found by shining a flashlight on your betta. If it looks like it is covered in fine gold of rust colored dust then it has velvet. Clamped Fins, no appetite, darting/rubbing, loss of color, lethargic
•Treatment: It is very contagious so you should treat the entire tank. Treat as you would treat Ick. PP•Potassium Permanganate (PP) is also my favorite for treating Velvet.

Ick
•Symptoms: Betta has white dots (looks like he was sprinkled with salt) all over his body and head, even eyes. Lethargic, No appetite, Clamped Fins, Might dart and scratching against decor
•Treatment: You can treat Ick either conservatively or with medication. Ick is a parasite. Because ick is contagious, it is preferable to treat the whole tank when one fish is found to have it. Ick is temperature sensitive: Leave your betta in the community tank and raise temperature to 85 F. Then you can choose to treat with salt or medication. Conservative: Add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Perform daily 100% water changes to remove fallen parasites before they can reproduce. Replace the water with the right amount of salt. Do not continue this treatment for more than 14 days. If it fails or you do not want to use salt, treat with Jungle’s Parasite Clear, API Super Ick Cure, or Kordon Rid Ich Plus. If your betta lives in a jar/bowl, then it can be difficult to heat the water. There are heaters for smaller containers, but you can also float the quarantine container in a larger heated tank during treatment. Do a full water change every day and add an appropriate amount of medication to the water.
•Alternative Treatment: Personally, I have not found Ick medications very effective. I prefer to use PP to treat all external parasites. In the past, I have used 3 or 4 different ick medications unsuccessfully, and every time I resort to PP which works like a charm. Do lots of research before using PP as it is a more dangerous chemical than most.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

I'm trying to treat my fish for velvet as well, and have been following the sticky, but I'm confused with the directions. No one's replying to my thread anymore, and since it's been brought up, I figured I would ask directly on a different one ^.^
Anyway, I'm using aqua salt at the moment, and I know I'm supposed to do daily 100% changes, but what it says above is somewhat contradicting. It says:

"Add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration."

From what I understand with this, that means I shouldn't change the water every day, but every other day, otherwise if I were to space out every dose 12 hours apart, then I'd only get 2x's the concentration instead of 3.... Or is it supposed to be within a 12 hour period, I'm supposed add 3x's the concentration? It's so confusing and I don't want to over/under dose my fish >.<

 

[xXbrokencrownXx]

From what I learned from my dad, and im not sure if this is true at all, AS is good to treat infections and to take away the acidic contents of the tank. I dont think you can overdose with salt haha, he basically shoved 3tbsp at least into my 1 gallon and my fish was really healthy after that.

Also, I used betta revive, and what I did is put it in at one specific time, then the next day i would do a water change around the same time, and after the water change i would put in betta revive. My guy sorta made a game out of it whenever i had to take him out. He would dart around and not let me catch him .

Sorry if what i said about the AS is wrong, my dad had fish a long time ago, but they werent bettas, and I'm still new to this!

 

[Sakura8]

I'm trying to treat my fish for velvet as well, and have been following the sticky, but I'm confused with the directions. No one's replying to my thread anymore, and since it's been brought up, I figured I would ask directly on a different one ^.^
Anyway, I'm using aqua salt at the moment, and I know I'm supposed to do daily 100% changes, but what it says above is somewhat contradicting. It says:

"Add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration."

From what I understand with this, that means I shouldn't change the water every day, but every other day, otherwise if I were to space out every dose 12 hours apart, then I'd only get 2x's the concentration instead of 3.... Or is it supposed to be within a 12 hour period, I'm supposed add 3x's the concentration? It's so confusing and I don't want to over/under dose my fish >.<

Draug, treating velvet is really hard. What I did was put 3 tsps of AQ salt in the tank and do daily water changes, redoing the salt each time. Also, keep the heat up at 86* and keep the tank as dark as possible because velvet photosynthesizes. This is what I was told to do by the author of the sticky. I hope this helps you.

 

[fishy friend2]

when i used betta revive i did 50 percent water changes every day

 

[Draug Isilme]

Draug, treating velvet is really hard. What I did was put 3 tsps of AQ salt in the tank and do daily water changes, redoing the salt each time. Also, keep the heat up at 86* and keep the tank as dark as possible because velvet photosynthesizes. This is what I was told to do by the author of the sticky. I hope this helps you.

Ah, okay, I can do that, I appreciate you clearing it up for me ^.^ I've got pre-treated water sitting right now, so I'll go ahead and add the extra salt needed and I may as well go ahead and put the remainder of what I need in the tank right now. Is 84 or 85 degrees okay? I had my heater set at 82 at first and it ended up being around 86 (first time usnig the heater, but it's adjustable and shuts off but I'm still watching it like a hawk), so I thought that was too high and lowered it, checked back at the sticky to double/triple/quadriple check and it said 85 xD So I believe it's now at 85 degrees, sometimes when I'm at an angle it looks like 84 or 86 so it gets kind of confusing.. but I'm pretty sure right now it's at 85 since when it was on 85 and 86 exactly, there wasn't anything to question. I had a night light on (I have two in the book shelf) 'cause someone said a bit of light is okay, and my light bulb is incandescent and it didn't have any listings for kelvin on the package.. but I've turned it off for now since I didn't know much about the light to begin with. Also I have another question. I took my marimo ball out a little after the treatment because I was afraid it was going to be harmed by the salt... but I'm worried seeing as how it was with my fish when I caught the velvet. It's sits on my window sill most of the time so it can get sunlight and it's sitting in tap water at the moment until I can figure out what to do.. any ideas on what to do with it?

 

[Myates]

From what I learned from my dad, and im not sure if this is true at all, AS is good to treat infections and to take away the acidic contents of the tank. I dont think you can overdose with salt haha, he basically shoved 3tbsp at least into my 1 gallon and my fish was really healthy after that.

Also, I used betta revive, and what I did is put it in at one specific time, then the next day i would do a water change around the same time, and after the water change i would put in betta revive. My guy sorta made a game out of it whenever i had to take him out. He would dart around and not let me catch him .

Sorry if what i said about the AS is wrong, my dad had fish a long time ago, but they werent bettas, and I'm still new to this!

Yeah, you can use too much salt, and prolonged usage of it outside of treatment can do more harm in the long run then help any. It's good to treat for external problems such as fin rot, ich, etc. 1 tsp/gal is the normal, but in extreme cases you can use 2tsp/gal. Just as long as there is 100% daily water changes, and not used for longer then 10-14 days at a time. =)

Mine make it a game at it too.. Xander flairs at me then I chase him around with the cup for a bit until he has to go up for air and I snag him. Spyro tries to hide in his cave, and since I started taking that out first, he just sits there and lets me scoop him.. I think he realizes he has no chance and it's either the cup for the net lol

 

[Sakura8]

Draug, you can rinse Katamari well in conditioned water and then QT him for a while. I think if there isn't anything for the velvet protozoa to attach to within a day or so, they die. When you get ready to put him back in the tank with your betta, rinse him really well and give him a good squeeze. He should be fine.

 

[Draug Isilme]

Ah, good, that's a relief ^.^ I think I'll be slightly cautious and leave him in the regular tap water for a day or two more and then switch to conditioned water. My tank should be in soon, so I'll probably keep him in the individual cup with conditioned water for now so I won't have to worry about him getting riddled with parasites while Zabimaru is being treated and I can cycle the new tank. Thanks Sakura, I feel much better now with the situation

 

[wildflowers]

Thank you so much! I learned the hard way that Betta Revive certainly did need changes when a Petco employee said not to..she almost died tonight on a overdose of Betta Revive. Guess the idea is to DILUTE the meds with each water change. Tonight, she began swimming up and down and gasping for air. I heated mineral water up to match her heated tank and now she is safely in her little cup while waiting for her tank to sit for a day. She has stopped swimming so radically and no longer gasps. I got her just in time!

The only thing that I put in her new clean tank was tap water with Splendid Betta Complete Water Conditioner by API. I am going to stop with the revive and see how she does in the next few days in fresh water. I want to give her a rest, she has been so stressed. She is a strong girl and is now calmly swimming in a new unused petco cup with mineral water till I get her in her tank.

Would any of you suggest adding aquarium salt to her new tank tonight and let that get filtered in the 2 gallon tank??

 

[wildflowers]

Also, should I add any good bacteria to get the nitrogen cycle started or should I just leave it since I have one fish going into a new tank tomorrow?

 

[Sakura8]

Wildflowers, wow, that must have been scary. I'm glad she's doing better. Yeah, never listen to pet store employees. :/ Unless you know they've kept fish and/or bettas, they generally don't know what they're talking about. Keep her in clean water and definitely no more Betta Revive. That's some powerful medication in there, albeit in small quantities. Can you post a pic of her? I'm not 100% sure she has velvet and if she doesn't, she probably doesn't need any kind of treatment except clean water.

And I wouldn't add any kind of bacteria. In my experience, those usually aren't the right kind of bacteria needed to start nitrogen cycles. I think you'll be fine.

Draug, I'm glad I could help.

 

[wildflowers]

It is so hard..she is swimming quickly, but here are the best shots of her right now. She is a light pink cambodian Betta, so could it be she is peachy iridescent as it is??

Do I need to add any aquarium salt to help her in anyway to the new tank?

Here are my best pics..

http://s1180.photobucket.com/albums/x415/wildflowers08/


or try this:


I appreciate you taking a look

 

[wildflowers]

I got a very clear look at her just now...her gills look like a copper penny, smooth in texture, no bumps...could it just be the coloring of her?

She is not acting sick in any way. She is eating, she is swimming fast (not up and down anymore), she is breathing regularly, she is responsive and looks right at me when I am at the jar.

If she doesn't have Velvet, then I definitely would feel like a total fool :-/

But would be thanking the heavens right now!

 

[Sakura8]

Oh, I have a girl very similar to her except mine is a veiltail. I love the crowntail look though. I wish mine was CT. From what I see, she doesn't seem to have velvet. Are her fins really clamped and is she not eating? Is she rubbing on decor or the tank walls like she's trying to get rid of something on herself? If not, I would say she just has some golden iridescence. Many Cambodian bettas do. My blue Cambo has a big gold spot on the top of his head; it looks like he has a blond wig on.

I think she should be just fine in the new tank without AQ salt if you acclimate her and make sure the temp in new tank is close to the temp in her old tank. She'll be a happy girl in her new home.