Is My Betta Sick?

[sweetp544]

We just got our first betta, and now we are noticing little spots on him. Im not sure if they are fungus or ich. They are very tiny and white. None of our other fish are sick or have ever been sick. If it is ich or fungus, do you treat the betta the same way as you would other fish, or are they more sensitive?? Also i have read that you could put salt in the water to cure some of those, will that work with a betta too??? The rest of the fish in the tank with him are pretty hardy fish. Please help if anyone knows about bettas. Thanks!!

 

[WILDER]

Whitespot looks like they have been sprinkled in salt.

Like this

Other signs of whitespot are flicking and rubbing on objects, and sometimes laboured breathing.

 

[sweetp544]

The spots do kind of look a bit like that, but there are only a few here and there, mainly on the fins. Is whitespot clear looking spots like actual salt looks clear??

 

[WILDER]

No the spots are white, but if your look like tiny bubbles that the beginning of whitespot too.

 

[sweetp544]

Ok well that must be what he has. Is that the same as ich?? And how do i treat him for it. Can I use salt instead of those expensive medications?? Also will my other fish catch it???

 

[WILDER]

You will need a med don't know your location, turn temp up to 30, increase aeration as the meds and high temp will reduce 02 in the water.
You can add salt to the tank if you have no scaless fish in the tank, one tablespoon to 5gal.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=128879

 

[sweetp544]

I live in the United States, in Michigan. So should i use medication and the salt together or would the salt alone possibly take care of the problem?


Thanks for all of your help

Jennifer

 

[starrynightxxi]

use medication and salt (aquarium, not table or marine), with the water temp raised. the salt won't kill the ich, really, it'll just help the fish handle the stress of the medication. the heat, also won't kill the ich, it speeds up the development because you can only kill the free swimming parasite. make sure you use the medication for the specified amount of time, even if it looks like the ich has gone away. There are a lot of ich medications, and so far as I know, most of them work, but I've been most pleased with the results I've had with maracide.

here's a pinned article on ich/whitespot http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=128879

 

[sweetp544]

Ok im getting confused on the salt thing now. The link you posted had steps to take to get rid of the ich on my betta. I asked on the other forum how often and how much salt i needed to put in the water while i was treating. I got the reply that i couldnt use any salt at all with the betta. So should i use a little salt or not?? what is your experience with bettas, i see you have a picture of one i assumed maybe you knew.

 

[starrynightxxi]

i always put a little salt in with my bettas whether their sick or no and haven't had any bad reactions. And so do many other people on this forum, so yours should be fine. Every fish is different of course, and if you would rather not risk it, the salt isn't necessary as it isn't what kills the ich.

if you have a box of aquarium salt (doc wellfish is the most common I see, and what i use) it should have directions on how much to add when treating an illness. It should only be added as you do water changes, though, because i don't believe it will evaporate with the water.

 

[sweetp544]

I would prefer to add the salt as my mollies prefer it. I do have that brand. I never quite understood add salt though. Now if i add the amount for my whole tank to start, then whenever i do water changes i only add the amount to the new water not the amount for the whole tank? Is that how that works??

Jenn

 

[starrynightxxi]

well, that's how i've always done it, but it requires that you keep track of how much water you've taken out so you know how much to replace.

 

[sweetp544]

Thanks for all your help, i really appreciate it. I usually do keep track of the water i take out, just by habit. Thanks again!!!


Jenn

 

[starrynightxxi]

no problem, but just so you know, nmonks was right about your fish stocking. tiger barbs need to be in shoals, and don't play well with bettas. i would suggest either returning the barb, or buying him friends and moving the betta. considering your 25 molly fry, though, you would probably be better off returning the barb than buying anymore.

 

[sweetp544]

They seem to be getting along fine for now, the betta was kind of an unexpected add. We are in the process of getting another tank together just for the betta. So soon he will have his own tank. Our tiger seems to be pretty mellow though and doesnt even seem to bother any of the fish. As soon as we get the betta set somewhere else we were thinking of getting the tiger another of his kind.

One last thing i forgot to say about the fry, is we do not keep any of them we raise them for our local fish store, thats how we aquired the betta which we knew nothing about at the time and seems to be a pain in the you know what. We primarly keep livebearing fish.