# Need help with Betta Revive ASAP!



## 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


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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?


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## 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.


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## 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!


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## Draug Isilme

Myates said:


> 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 >.<


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## 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!


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## Sakura8

Draug Isilme said:


> 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.


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## fishy friend2

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


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## Draug Isilme

Sakura8 said:


> 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?


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## Myates

xXbrokencrownXx said:


> 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


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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??


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## 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?


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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!


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## 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.


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## wildflowers

No she is not clamping her fins at all or seems depressed..she is very active and maybe a little stressed and scared. She eats every 2 pellets a day I give her. She is really tiny, so I don't feed her too much. Yet, she never lets it sit in the water for a millisecond!

Oh yay! I am so happy I met you tonight! It really is a relief to know she just is pinky gold and that is ok. I will keep a look out for anything unusual. Her little gold head is something maybe that cambodians have in common. 

Should I wait a day to put her in the tank though?..I hate making her stay in that cup. I now know to get a bigger hospital tank ASAP. 

I am so grateful that you took the time to help me


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## Sakura8

You're welcome, I'm always glad to help a betta friend in need.  

I'm glad your girl doesn't have velvet. It's a hard one to treat because there's only one short part of the parasite's life cycle that they are susceptible to treatment. :/ So yay! It sounds like she is a healthy girl. If you want to make absolutely certain, you can wait one more day but if she seems really unhappy in her cup, I think you'll be fine putting her in the tank tomorrow. If she stresses out too much in the cp, her immune system could crash a bit. Just be sure you keep an eye on her for the next few days and watch for clamped fins. 

I find 1-2 gallons is a good size for hospital tanks because they can be heated. I have several 1.75g Petco Pet Keepers (I think it is the Medium or Large size) that work great and they aren't SUPER expensive.


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## wildflowers

Sounds good! I can't tell you how relieved I am. I have had her for two weeks and determined to give her a nice relaxing life...not doing such a good job of ODing her on B.R!!! 

I will wait a day, she is anxious and was very happy in her tank when I first introduced her. I have a little dilemma though..I have one heater (can only afford one of those expensive things right now) and I have her tank sitting there till room temp and then her cup sitting there till room temp. Should I wait till they are the same room temp and then put her in the tank...and then turn on her heater that adjusts the water to 78-80 degrees? Or is that too much a jump in heat?


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## Sakura8

What is room temp for you? For me in Cali right now it's around 77* If your room temp is higher than 76* I think letting the temps of both containers equalize at room temp sounds good. The heater should heat the water up slowly enough that she won't be too shocked. You could also get the tank up to 78-80 beforehand and float the cup in the tank for an hour so the temps equalize that way. Either way should work fine. 

And I totally understand about the heaters. Why are they so expensive???? But I learned the hard way not to waste money on the cheaper ones because they didn't work and I ended up spending twice as much money getting a second heater. :/


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## MaggieLynn

I was just skimming through this thread and I had the same issue with the directions for ick with the 3 every 12. so what I ended up doing was adding 2 tsp and then 12 hours later adding one more then 12 hours from that 100% change then repeat with the 2 tsp and so on. I even read somewhere that for ich you can take the concentration of salt water like ocean water which is 30ppm i think or its more like 30 tsp per gallon of salt, basically take that and put your fish in a net and just let it hang out in the salt water for a minute or 2 or until the fish rolls on its side then put it back in its tank. I just thought that was interesting, I have never had to deal with velvet and I hope I dont have to.


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## MaggieLynn

The link is all about fresh water fish parasites. I found it interesting

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/aqua/parasites.html

on the chart at the bottom it has treatment-ish for velvet, mainly what you can use to treat it.


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## wildflowers

Hello Sakura8!

Whew..I am so thankful for this site and knowledgable people like you, none of my friends own Bettas and I feel so alone with the thousands of sites online...who to trust!?

I got her in her new tank now and she seems to be doing better. I put a 1/2 teaspoon of Aq salt in her 2 gallon tank to aid in stress relief. She is still darting to the left to the right quickly, but is not scratching anything. Just swimming straight up and then zooming down...using her mouth like a little vacuum cleaner! I am not sure if this means she is stressed from the water changes or what?! 

She swims around fine for awhile and then does a quick swim around, and then stops and then looks at me. I thought Bettas were supposed to be very zen like, she is a little hyper. She is eating every two Hikari gold pellets I give her a day, (she is 1.5 inches, so I don't want to over feed her), she is not breathing abnormally and I got my water tested at Petco today before she went in and here are my levels:

nitrates: 0
nitrates: 0
ammonia: 0
hardness: 150 (from Chicago)
akaline: 20 
P.H 6.8

So I guess I have a fresh start here!

Sakura8, you have been so helpful...what should my next plan of action be?

p.s looking at her body and gills, she still has a copper penny streak on each one, however they are identical on each side, so that could be her coloring once again.


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## Sakura8

Hi wildflowers.  I'm glad she made the transition into her new tank okay. She's probably just so excited that she has some new space to explore. In my experience, females are a lot more active than males, probably because they don't have to lug those heavy tails around. 

Her darting behavior could be her just looking around or possibly, if she is doing it at the front of the tank and in one place, her "wiggle dance." Most bettas do a funny little wiggle when they see their owners and are happy. 

I would only leave the salt in the tank with her for another day. Long term exposure to the salt can reduce its effectiveness if she gets sick and needs a salt treatment later. Your water parameters look good, too. 

It sounds like your next plan of action is to watch her for a few days to make sure she settles in okay and then to just enjoy her and try not to get bit by the betta bug. Congratulations!


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## wildflowers

Thanks for the quick reply  

Ok, I will just take the wiggle dance as a happy dance and not a "I have something hanging off my butt and need to shake it off dance" ;P

ALSO...I just thought about it, but females who are ready to mate (she has a bright little oval spot on her underbelly) could they possibly be a little "frisky" or hyper?

How do you take the salt out of the tank, using a turkey baster and taking water out from the bottom?

Thank you again


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## wildflowers

Thanks for the chart Maggie! It is bookmarked now


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## Sakura8

:lol: You should see my girls wiggle dance. If they had hips, those hips would be a-swivelin' like crazy. 

Is the spot on her belly white? That would be her ovipositor, or eggspot. All girls show them but when they are ready to breed, it can stick out a little more than usual. If she's really ready to breed, she might egg up. If that's the case, she might look a little bloated for a day or two. I'm not sure how active she'd be if she's never seen a male but it's possible she's hyper because she's looking for a mate. 

The best way to take the salt out is to do a complete water change. Or, you could do half one day and half the next day. That should get the salt out.


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## wildflowers

Hahaha...that is too cute! I wonder if it could be just a girly fish thing...hmmm..

My power filter is a little too strong of a waterfall current, what do you suggest to do to make it less strong. I can't move it down further on the tank because it anchors on the side. Is there something safe enough to put over the water spout?


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## Sakura8

I shoved some filter wool over mine. You can get big sheets of uncut filter pads at pet stores and cut out a piece that fits where you need it. You can put a filter sponge or a baffle, too. I know in the Habitats section there's a sticky on how to make a baffle out of a soda bottle. I'm not sure if that would be too big for your tank though. I've never made a soda bottle baffle before. Raising the water level can also sort of make the current a little less strong.


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## wildflowers

ok, I will keep it in for only 2 days, just to make sure the protozoans are not in the tank any longer (if she had any cooties) and then do a 30% water change from the gravel. I am trying not to do as much water changes because I need some nitrates in there! 

I am just glad to see her back in the tank swimming around not ODing on Betta Revive..she is calming down as we speak. She is not doing her crazy wiggle dance right now..just floating and enjoying her new home


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## wildflowers

btw..I went out and bought a Tetra 2-10 gallon mini heater that keeps a constant of 78 (+ 2) degrees. It is a perfect fit in my hexagon tank...is this a good one?


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## Sakura8

I'm really glad to hear that.  I think she's going to be a happy and healthy girl from now on. I know you'll take great care of her.


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## wildflowers

oh and thanks for the filter idea! I will see what I can find!


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## Sakura8

You're welcome. Good luck!


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## wildflowers

I made a baffle! and it works so well!!

Whew! I was afraid to use the filter when not home watching her, so she doesn't go flying into the gravel..thanks a million


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## Sakura8

I'm so glad it worked for you! And hurray for your girl, too. Now she can swim without being blown around by the filter.


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