Betta With Velvet

[squeeker]

I just looked into my divided 10 gallon and noticed that 3 of my 4 bettas (2 females, 1 male) have velvet. I'm sure it's velvet and not ich, as the spots are small like dust, and grey, not white. 1 of the females is absolutely covered, the other female is in between, and the affected male just has a light dusting. The fourth male appears perfectly fine. All fish are eating and dont' have clamped fins.

Water parameters of the tank are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate. The tank is planted and also contains a few apple snails.

The tank is unheated. However, I do have a spare 50W heater that I'll put in, as I understand it is useful for speeding up the treatment process.

I plan to move the snails to another tank (they shouldn't be able to transmit the velvet, right?) and put the plants in a bucket in order to treat.

I will be leaving for a week and a half for the christmas holidays. A friend who is knowledgable about fish will be stopping in to feed etc, so she can re-dose meds for me.

Should I use Quick Cure or Salt to treat the tank? And, can I be 100% sure that the snails will not spread the velvet to another tank?

Thanks!

 

[Durbkat]

You should remove the male that looks fine so he won't get it and here is a link to cure velvet http/www.bettatalk.com/betta_diseases.htm scroll down to you find velvet and it tells you how to treat it and everything this site is great for betta diseases.

 

[ral]

I have found medications based on Chelated Copper Sulfate to be very effective against velvet, clearing the disease in two days. Just one or two drops in one gallon.