[mulder]

i have a betta in a 5 gal and i'm sure he has ich, being slow, hiding, not coming up for food, and the little white specks. i've prepared a small 1 gal tank that is sitting to acclimate and i will put him in it tonight. i will change the 5 gal tank water 50%. i've read that salt can help. my meds are expired and i can't buy more. i'd also read i can use small amounts of table salt? is this true and how much do i use for a 5 gal? my parameters are all fine, the snail is fine, the plant is fine, the ph is about 7.2-7.4 and it's really warm in our apartment so i assume the water is easily near 80f. thanks

note: i'm sure this happened form a pleco i'd bought, that died. when i returned the pleco to the store, the dozen that were there, were also dead.

 

[Sasami]

There's no need to move him to another tank if he lives alone. In fact, it may only stress him more.

Ich is caused by some form of stress 99% of the time. Either something is wrong with the water quality, something in the environment is stressing the fish out (a tank mate nipping them, for example...or not enough hiding places), or he has another underlying problem.

So, with that being said, I'd test the water asap for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. You said the parameters were "fine" but actual numbers would help . Are you using test strips? Those are notoriously inaccurate.

If you have freshwater aquarium salt, use that. If not (it's cheap btw), you could use non-iodized table salt. The dosage instructions for the aquarium salt are on the carton, if you use table salt I'd imagine you'd dose about one teaspoon of salt per gallon or something, keeping in mind that your tank really holds 3-4 gallons after decorations and substrate.

Why did you have a pleco in a 5-gallon? The pleco may not have brought Ich into your tank but simply stressed the betta out. I wouldn't get another one.

Other than the salt, just keep up with water changes and raise the temperature. What is the actual temperature right now? If it is 80 degrees, you could raise it up a few degrees over the next few days. That will speed up the parasite's life cycle.

And as you may know already, keep up with the treatment for the next few weeks even if the spots go away.

Good luck!

 

[mulder]

Thanks sasami. The betta and pleco (bushynose/bristlenose) were in the 10 gallon. after 2 hours of acclimating the pleco, the betta still decided he didn't like him after lying on him during his "float like a leaf" dance. the betta went attacking at the pleco, so i quickly removed the pleco and put him in the 5 gallon (cycled still). the next day i swapped their tanks knowing the pleco would grow to 4" needing more than 5 gal. then 4 days later the pleco died, and the betta started burying his nose and hiding a lot. and now we're here lol

i don't use test strips i use kits that have test tubes where i put x number of drops in and wait for colours and match it to charts. ammonia stays yellow so it doesnt even hit 0.1, nitrite and nitrate stay clear which is 0. i do 30% water changes once a week.

thanks about the un iodized table salt tip and i won't move him to a fresh tank, i don't want to stress him further. he just keeps lying around like a human with the flu, i feel bad for the little guy.

he has an unglazed clay pot, a piece of slate rock, 2 plastic plants (1 tall and 1 short) and one live plant. usually he's up trying to keep finding new places to float and dancing around whenever we walk by.

 

[Sasami]

I'm guessing that he didn't really catch it from the pleco but rather it took hold because of the stress (the stress from being with the pleco and then moved multiple times). That should make it easy to beat since he's no longer under stress.

 

[mulder]

thanks sasami. my water is okay other than raising the temp? what about the tank light, should I leave it off? it doesn't leave him in total darkness.

 

[mulder]

why can't i use iodized salt? what does the iodine do?

 

[Sasami]

why can't i use iodized salt? what does the iodine do?

Iodine can be toxic in large enough doses and it would be very, very easy to OD in such a small volume of water. Never add anything to a tank that you can't test for and remove if necessary IMO.

Besides, there's no point in risking it when safer salts are available so cheaply.

 

[mulder]

gotcha! I was just curious, I'm always full of questions

 

[mulder]

he's all ready looking better, less dots, more energy, and his colour is coming back! thanks!!

 

[Sasami]

Yay, that's great to hear .

 

[mulder]

AND he's looking WAY better today!! Thank you so much for your advice!