# My fish has Ick, any tips?



## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

My poor king Betta, I'm treating him like I would my cichlid (who has no signs of ick) with a heat treatment as well as the full recommended amount of aquarium salt since I normally only use 75% of the recommended amount.

I don't want to use the Ick medication because Whenever I used it before it had no affect at all and 3 of my cichlids died because of it. that was also the first time I experienced ick that was so resilient, it just wouldn't die. After discovering aquarium salt I've never had any problems until now and I'm worried about my nightmare coming back to take my only cichlid who was able to barely fight it off as well as one of my bettas.

If anyone had any tips about treating bettas that would be awesome(especially since I'm use to cichlids) Also I know about the Epson salt bath and plan on doing that if I see no improvement by Thursday next week.
*
Housing* *
What size is your tank?* 48g
*What temperature is your tank?*80 (I started raising the temperature slowly until it got to 84 to help kill the ick, I would raise it to 86 but I don't know if a Betta can handle that for two weeks)
*Does your tank have a filter?* yes
*Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?* yes
*Is your tank heated?*yes
*What tank mates does your Betta fish live with?*South American cichlid (half red/blood parrot, half convict hybrid), 10 gallons is divided off for the Betta because he kept gorging on the cichlid food. Also this way I can keep the air stone on high without stressing out my betta.
*Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? *Tetra pellets, Betta pellets as the main diet(four in the morning, 4 in the evening), one tetra flake a day, then one freeze dried brine shrimp every other day, and 2 freeze dried blood worms a week, 
*How often do you feed your betta fish?* twice a day

*Maintenance* *
How often do you perform a water change? *25% twice a month, but since ick appeared I did a 60% water change the first day, and plan on doing a 40% on Friday and then continue with 25% twice a week for three weeks.
* What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? *around 25%*
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?* Blackwater Extract, Aquarium Salt
*Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?*

*Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH: *7.4*
Hardness:
Alkalinity: *

*Symptoms and Treatment
How has your Betta fish's appearance changed?*Ick parasite is visible*
How has your Betta fish's behavior changed? *no*
When did you start noticing the symptoms?*two days ago*
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? *Heat treatment, water changes, 
* Does your fish have any history of being ill? *None that I know of
* How old is your fish (approximately)?*less then 2


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## MelissaD (May 17, 2011)

If you don't want use medication you are doing the right thing by raising the temperature. Depending on who you ask, 84, 85, or 86 are good temperatures to SLOWLY raise it to, but like you said you don't want to raise it too much or the fish might die.


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## LeroyTheBetta (Dec 18, 2010)

From my research, heat alone of at least 86 will kill the parasite. Or, heat in the low 80s and salt will do the same. Heat and salt treatment should be for about a week to 10 days. Also, it's very important to vacuum the substrate daily in order to remove as many of the cysts before they can hatch, sending out hundreds more of the parasites.

Good luck!!


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## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

You can safely raise the temp to 86 for bettas, Thailand is a very hot place...

Otherwise, I would increase the salt treatment. Add 1 tsp/gal 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Normally you would perform daily 100% water changes to remove fallen parasites but since your tank is gigantic, just do as much as you can and make sure you vacuum the bottom thoroughly.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

Thank you so much to everyone, the info will definitely help


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## kumi (Apr 23, 2011)

Hi. I'm just checking to see how it's going. Is the ich better?

Kumi


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

kumi said:


> Hi. I'm just checking to see how it's going. Is the ich better?
> 
> Kumi



He's doing much better, I haven't seen any signs of Ick since I raised the temperature and added extra aquarium salt, as well as all the water changes. I'll keep the temp high for one more week before moving back down to normal and cross my fingers I killed it all.


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## kumi (Apr 23, 2011)

Terrific!

Kumi


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## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

copperarabian, just keep in mind that there is a time during the ich life cycle where it is immune to salt/medicine so it is possible that there will be another recurrence in a few days. If that does happen don't worry, it doesn't mean that the treatment isn't working, you just have to do it a bit longer. Good luck


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

DarkMoon17 said:


> copperarabian, just keep in mind that there is a time during the ich life cycle where it is immune to salt/medicine so it is possible that there will be another recurrence in a few days. If that does happen don't worry, it doesn't mean that the treatment isn't working, you just have to do it a bit longer. Good luck



I know, and ick sucks because of that. That's why I'm keeping the temperature high for another week to make sure it will be more effective. 

Once I turn the temp back to normal I'm going to monitor closely to make sure the ich really is gone. It will be much easier that I don't have to commute to San Fransisco everyday for school, (yay finals was last week and I'm free!) and can be home all day to monitor them.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

[/SIZE]*
Housing* *
What size is your tank?* 48g
*What temperature is your tank?*80 (I started raising the temperature slowly until it got to 84 to help kill the ick, I would raise it to 86 but I don't know if a Betta can handle that for two weeks)
*Does your tank have a filter?* yes
*Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?* yes
*Is your tank heated?*yes
*What tank mates does your Betta fish live with?*South American cichlid (half red/blood parrot, half convict hybrid), 10 gallons is divided off for the Betta because he kept gorging on the cichlid food. Also this way I can keep the air stone on high without stressing out my betta.
*Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? *Tetra pellets, Betta pellets as the main diet(four in the morning, 4 in the evening), one tetra flake a day, then one freeze dried brine shrimp every other day, and 2 freeze dried blood worms a week, 
This is way too much freeze dried food a week, I would cut it down to just one worm or shrimp a week.
*How often do you feed your betta fish?* twice a day

*Maintenance* *
How often do you perform a water change? *25% twice a month, but since ick appeared I did a 60% water change the first day, and plan on doing a 40% on Friday and then continue with 25% twice a week for three weeks.
25% twice a month is way too little, you should do at least 50% once a week regularly.
* What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? *around 25%*
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?* Blackwater Extract, Aquarium Salt
Always use water conditioner. You should not use aquarium salt regularly, it should only be used to treat disease, not prevent it. Using the aq salt regularly will increase the betta's immunity to it.
*Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?*

*Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH: *7.4*
Hardness:
Alkalinity: *

*Symptoms and Treatment
How has your Betta fish's appearance changed?*Ick parasite is visible*
How has your Betta fish's behavior changed? *no*
When did you start noticing the symptoms?*two days ago*
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? *Heat treatment, water changes, 
* Does your fish have any history of being ill? *None that I know of
* How old is your fish (approximately)?*less then 2[/QUOTE]

I would say this happened because of bad water quality. Once he is better make sure you keep up with the 50% weekly water changes.

Also, cichlids should not be kept with bettas.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

turtle10 said:


> [/size]*
> *
> This is way too much freeze dried food a week, I would cut it down to just one worm or shrimp a week.
> 
> ...



awww my poor fish, I totally feel bad now. I'll make sure to do a water change once a week from now on rather then every two weeks

I forgot to add that I started using water conditioner, I recently changed from distilled to tap water. I changed after reading on this site how distilled water is very bad for fish because it has nothing in it. and I'll definitely do 50% water changes once a week. I can't believe I never used distilled water before, it's so much easier compared to going to the store and buying a whole bunch of water and carrying it all up the stairs to my room. in the first three days I did 2 80% water changes and in between did a 30% to get any ick that might be in the aquarium still as well as the watr changes I'm still doing. Using tap is fantastic, I've been using bottled distilled since 2 grade and it's a great change.

My cichlid never bothered my Betta, and I did read about the horror storys of cichlids with bettas and was incredibly careful, now he has his own divided area though. Will he be ok in the divided area (Like will my cichlid actually make my Betta sick or something? or did you just mean the aggression that cichlids almost always have?)


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## ANHEL123 (Jul 21, 2010)

I am glad ur fish better. Just want to say something in case anyone has this problems.

If u tank too big to do daily water changes along with salt treatments u can use two cup method to treat Ich..the small containers...float him in the QT in a heated tank with 85-86*and u will using another cup with dechlorinated water in the heated tank and net the fish each day to the fresh like temp dechlorinated water in another cup.

I have print out with all instructions from Oldfishlady. I just wrote briefly recommendation. But it more with every step explanation instructions.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

OH stupid me, I thought the betta and cichlid were together! LOL, they are totally fine if they have a divider lol. And I just meant the general aggression cichlids have. That is nice they never bothered your betta, I'm sure his fins were pretty enticing lol.

But don't feel bad about the changes! I don't even want to tell you how bad I was before this site, so we all made mistakes.


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