My Poor Sato

[Skizzy]

I don't understand. I just got my betta, Sato, around Easter. I even upgraded his 1 gallon to a 2.5 gallon, got him a heater and a filter, and bought more food for variety.

But I just noticed last night he was coming down with Ick - white spots, darting around, rubbing against decorations, all that. So I started on changing his water a few minutes ago and transferred him to a different container while I did it. When I was done I went to look at him and he was dead.

I don't know much about ick, can it kill them that quickly? Or was it too much stress from being moved around/water temperature change? I don't get it, my last betta survived in the 1 gallon with no heat or filtration for several months and the only reason he passed on was my fault for overfeeding.

What happened to Sato?

 

[Phoenixbaby]

hey sorry to hear about sato, rip little matey

it seems alot of people here have problems with their betta health wise, when they are in smaller tanks, how bizarre

maybe it was the stress, ive never heard of ich killing that quick ( if ever it does kill)

again im sorry to hear about ur loss xx

 

[xxgabi]

Oh, wow, and he was gorgeous! I'm so sorry... *sympathy hug*

I don't know what happened, though... I've been lucky enough that my two bettas have never caught anything...

 

[Skizzy]

Thanks, guys. He may not have been unusual looking, but he was definitely still a looker if you ask me.

Yeah, this was my first encounter with ick. I had some medication ready to go and everything.

 

[Yuki_of_the_Stars]

Sorry about your fishie... We've all been through it before.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

do u use gravel in ur tank he was in?

did u test ur water b4 u did a water change?

Ich can kill in very severe cases, but not that early on, well not that i know of

maybe he just got so stressed he died, happened to my male ram last yr, the female died, and altho he hardly had any ich on hi, he died the day after, i think he got stressed and a little heartbroken, who knows

dnt matter if he wasnt unusual honey, he was ur fish, and he ment somit to u xx

 

[Skizzy]

Yeah I used gravel. Not the healthiest substrate, I know. I haven't tested the water - no test kit. But I think it was probably stress combined with being sick that got him.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

ok so heres my advice, from my experience, and opinion

get some sand, as u may be aware ich lives in every tank, its only when fish get stressed or ill that it will infest itself upon a fish

gravel allows this parasit to live under it, where as sand doesnt, its anearobic (spelling) so no oxygen under the sand for it to sit and harbour, plus sand imo looks more natural

get some nice natural plants as they take alot of nasty stuff out the water, and ur fishy will love laying on them

invest in some Indian almond leaf, just snap a whole one in half and chuck it in ur tank, it will sink after a few days, but it has some health promoting properties to it

did you cycle your tank b4 u put ur betta in?

 

[Skizzy]

I'm still pretty new to keeping bettas as a hobby, and I've seen a lot about cycling on here but I'm still pretty unclear how to do it properly. So, no I haven't cycled the tank. I most likely will before I get a new betta, once I learn how to go about it.

I'll have a look at some sand, I always did like the way it looked. I'll have a look at some live plants too, I know the LFS has lots. He liked sitting on the plastic ones anyhow.

Also, are there any ick medications anyone here recommends highly? I have some stuff called Ick Clear but I have no idea if it works (got it from boyfriend's mom). I know adding salt helps with ick but I've never done it.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

ich treatment, i used protozin, which was fantastic

ok cycling ur filter, basically leave ur filter running in ur tank for approx a month, no fish in it, this is to allow beneficial bacteria to establish within your filter, which aids the break down of the harmfull chemicals (nitrite, nitrate and ammonia)

add stuff to the water like filter aid, filter start etc, also a product called cycle, this will help with the growth of the bacteria, over here in the Uk we have these little round balls in ammonia called baktinettes, which lfs sells, they are also pretty good to add to the filter to promote bacteria growth

basically if u put a fish in a tank whilst the filter is cycling ur subjecting your fish to unhealthy levels on nitrate, nitrite and ammonia, which can and most likely will kill whilst cycling

my advice to u is, change over to sand, get some real plants, and let ur filter cycle for approx 4weeks b4 adding a fish, also buy a liquid test kit, so u can check ur water stats b4 adding a fish

good luck

 

[Skizzy]

Okay that's pretty much what I figured cycling was.

So sometime this week I'll do a thorough cleaning of my tank, go have a look at some sand and live plants, and then let it run for a few weeks. I'll have to keep myself from looking at the bettas until then 'cause if not I'll want to buy them right away.

Also, it would be a good idea to acclimate a new fish to the tank right?

Oh, and about sand... it's going to be a pain to clean isn't it?

 

[Phoenixbaby]

well in a small tank the sand wont be too hard to look after, a turkey baster is good to use to suck up the rubbish off the sand

also what i didnt mention, its a good idea to add some liquid ammonia to the tank, as this is what the bacteria feeds on, so it well get the bacteria growing a treat, from what i have read and have been told, once ur nitrite readings reach 0ppm, then ur tank is fully cycled

some people do things diff, my filter in my 4gallon, i used media from my other filter which is very well established, and added it to my new filter, it helped cycle the tank quicker, but each to their own

 

[Skizzy]

I have some Bacteria Supplement from Top Fin. That should help, right?

Also, I have a sponge filter, but I think the bubbles still disturb the surface a bit too much no matter which way I point it. Not sure what I can do to fix that.

 

[ibbledibble]

ich treatment, i used protozin, which was fantastic

ok cycling ur filter, basically leave ur filter running in ur tank for approx a month, no fish in it, this is to allow beneficial bacteria to establish within your filter, which aids the break down of the harmfull chemicals (nitrite, nitrate and ammonia)

add stuff to the water like filter aid, filter start etc, also a product called cycle, this will help with the growth of the bacteria, over here in the Uk we have these little round balls in ammonia called baktinettes, which lfs sells, they are also pretty good to add to the filter to promote bacteria growth

basically if u put a fish in a tank whilst the filter is cycling ur subjecting your fish to unhealthy levels on nitrate, nitrite and ammonia, which can and most likely will kill whilst cycling

my advice to u is, change over to sand, get some real plants, and let ur filter cycle for approx 4weeks b4 adding a fish, also buy a liquid test kit, so u can check ur water stats b4 adding a fish

good luck

Uhh This is rubbish, running your tank for a month on its own will do nothing! you need to add ammonia to the tank otherwise the bacteria will not start to grow until you add your fish, you can use ordinary household ammonia as long as it is only ammonia and water.

you need to add enough ammonia to your tank to produce a reading of 5ppm of ammonia on a test kit. check the ammonia every day until it drops to zero, then add more (5ppm again) keep checking every day and adding more. Once the ammonia reading drops, you also need to start checking for nitrIte. when both ammonia and nitrIte are showing readings of zero 12 hours after adding the ammonia, then your tank is cycled.

what is cycle? is it supposed to add bacteria to the tank? as the only ones which work are bactinettes in the uk or biospira in the usa. they must be kept refrigerated until use. bactinettes also only contain the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrIte, not the ones which convert nitrIte to nitrAte, so the cycle still takes some time when using this.

don't just "let your filter cycle for 4 weeks" as sometimes it can take longer than this, always keep going until the ammonia and nitrIte are gone within 12 hours, thats the only way to be sure.

 

[Amunet]

Sorry, but don't buy any of that on the counter crap to cycle your tank.
Most if not all of it is absolute crap and is nothing but a money sink.

If you can get some, you could try Bio-Spira. It's kept refrigerated so it keeps the bacteria alive. You add that to the filter, then add the fish right after.


If you can't get that though, or if you can't get some mature filter media from someone with a healthy tank, then your best bet would be to get some pure ammonia.
Make sure it's nothing but ammonia, no coloring, no artificial scent, no detergent. I got my bottle at a Ace Hardware. I think others have gotten some from Wal-mart before in the cleaning section, but I couldn't find any pure ammonia there.
You could also try Dollar stores. They might have some in their cleaning section as well.

Also get yourself a medicine dropper and if you don't have one already, get yourself a liquid test kit so you can test your waters ammonia, ph, nitrite, and nitrate.

Here's the fishless cycling thread that explains 2 different ways you can do it using pure ammonia. I personally used the add & wait method and it worked like a charm.
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/[/URL]





Anywho.... I'm so sorry to hear about your little betta