Ich question

[jazzx101]

Just a question. I noticed a white spot, not really that white, but just a single one on my betta, right near his nose. I took a picture, which isn't that great. If you look the spot is slightly above and to the right of his eye.

If this was Ich there would be more than one spot, right? How rapidly would the other spots appear? I've never had a fish get Ich before, and am not too confident on recognizing it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Cian McLiam]

Im afraid the pic is a little too blurred to make out anything that might point to disease. Ich will sometimes show up as one white spot, then a few more the next day etc etc, it depends on the temp of the tank. The higher the temp, the quicker the spots will appear. This doesnt mean its time to panic, I regularly see small spots, lumps and scratches on my fish that dissapear in time, usually a few days, if you were to jump in and start medicating the tank, you risk stressing the fish and upsetting the biological balance.
If it is Ich, it would be entirely managable at this stage, there is no real threat to the fish once you have clean water and clean gravel. When Ich breaks out in force, you can treat with higher temps, water changes and perhaps gentle medicating. Bettas will have no problems with higher temps up to 86F or 30C and this is often effective at curing a lot of illnesses and giving the fishes immune system a boost. Do some daily water changes (10% max), up the temp and watch him closely for the next week or so.

Ken

 

[Kossy]

I would wait a couple of days before starting treatment as we aren't sure that its ich..it could be (probably is) you could increase the temp for now Good luck

 

[jazzx101]

Would a betta continue to make a bubblenest if it had ich?