[kfish]

For the first time, it would appear as though one of my bettas is sick. I blame the ghost shrimp I got from Petsmart.

Sky is active and eating and all that, but about 30 minutes ago, I noticed him repeatedly rubbing his face on his plants. He's always had a lot of gold coloring around his face/gills, so shining light on him is inconclusive. Definitely no white spots of ich. So, if anything, I'm thinking velvet. I don't think anything could have contaminated the water.

And, as such, I'm treating him currently in 2tsp/gallon aquarium salt, floating in his tank. The light is off... which is problematic for my plants. So I may move him to floating in a tupperware bin with his heater cranked up to 84, so the plants can still get light. Right now, the game plan is to keep him out and in salt for a week. But, is that long enough?

How long should I keep him out of his tank to assure that the parasite dies off from the tank? I have snails and ghost shrimp, not sure how long they can carry parasites? I can't do a 100% water change, as it's a NPT. I intend to do a series of huge water changes (like 50-70% per day for the next week). I'd rather not treat the whole tank.

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallons.
What temperature is your tank? 80 degrees - upping to 82-84.
Does your tank have a filter? Yes.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No.
Is your tank heated? Yes.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 2 ghost shrimp, bunch of pond snails.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Aqueon pellets.
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets, 2x day, fast one day (today).

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? NPT, so once every... 6 mos - year. Last water change was Thursday, as I'm getting harder water into the tank.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 20-40%. I'll be doing 50%-70% changes everyday for the next week because of this, though.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.4
Hardness: 3.
Alkalinity: 16.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? It hasn't. Maybe more gold around the gills?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's scratching.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 30 mins ago.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? 2 tsp/gal aquarium salt, floating container in tank.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Never been sick. D:
How old is your fish (approximately)? I've had him almost a year, so ... 1.5?

 

[kfish]

Sky isn't very happy with me for being in quarantine, lol. He's not trying to itch anymore... I'm going to keep treating him for 7 days, but, I am now wondering about tank contaminants. There is potential for it, now that I think about it. I added a terracotta pot that was in Mr. Fish's tank, but has been out of tanks for a few months yesterday. It was residing in a bag, under a table in the living room. My mother may have sprayed Lysol/some other spray around it. I rinsed the pot before adding it, but not incredibly well, since I figured it was clean. x_x I wonder if it brought something in with it. There's new carbon in the filter, so... hopefully that'll fix the issue, along with my water changes. But, that pot is leaving, lol. I also tied moss to the pot with string from a frayed towel. I rinsed it, but maybe not well enough? Looks like the moss is gonna go on a seashell and get attached by good old moss wrapping, since I don't have fishing line.

He doesn't seem to be sick, so hopefully the issue is something easily fixed.

 

[Geomancer]

Increase the temp to 86, and wait it out a week.

Usually with a planted tank I'd say use Coppersafe, but with inverts ... always a risk.

With no host, it should die off by that point. I'm not sure on how effective the salt will be though. I know it works, but it is slower than meds usually.

 

[kfish]

Increase the temp to 86, and wait it out a week.

Usually with a planted tank I'd say use Coppersafe, but with inverts ... always a risk.

With no host, it should die off by that point. I'm not sure on how effective the salt will be though. I know it works, but it is slower than meds usually.

Thanks for that. He seems fine and isn't itching at all in quarantine. I don't see anything on him. He just keeps reminding me that he really, really wants OUT. So, I'm led to believe something in the water was irritating him. I took the pot out. Going to do some water changes and wait a week, test water parameters again, and acclimate him in, then watch him.