Rescued Walmart Betta With Severe Ich

[CathyGo]

I have made it a habit to check the bettas at WalMart every time I walk through there. Normally their water level is too high, they obiviously need a water change, or they are stacked right on top of each other so that their air holes are covered. Well yesterday I walked through and there was just a lone female on the shelf. I was about 6 feet away and I could already see that she was absolutely covered with ich. 80-90% of her body is just covered with it. The poor thing is showing stress stripes too. I complained to a manger and they let me take her for a dollar. The lady who does the fish there has said straight to my face that she doesn't care about the fish and it's just a job to her. Big mistake. I called corporate today (1-800-WALMART) and left a complaint. I have also taken pictures of the betta to document how bad the ich is. The lady on the phone that I spoke to said that me being able to cite a particular incident plus the names of the people involved helps a lot when they send a copy of my complaint to the manager. I'm friends with the daughter of the store manager so maybe I'll be able to insure that it actually gets read and acted upon. Well here's the pic's I took of the betta. I had to work with them in Photoshop a little to make some adjustments for lighting but otherwise they are unaltered.

I'm using Quick Cure but does anybody know of anything that could help her? She's in a bare 1 gallon jar in my bathroom at the moment. It's quiet and the dogs aren't allowed in there. I just gave away most of my fish stuff but had a fruit fly culture still so she's getting fed live fruit flies twice a day. She LOVES them. At first she was kind of shy but now she'll come up to grab them even when I'm standing right by the jar.

 

[Arcygenical]

Have you considered giving the poor girl a salt bath? I use aquarium salt to cure small cases of "ick". Might help you a little bit...

 

[Amunet]

Well it's great that she's eating!

I haven't had to deal with ich, but from what I've read, warm water helps get rid of them.
I'd invest in a 5 gal tank for her. Get a heater that can go into it and raise the temp to 85 degrees. From what I understand... ich are sensitive to warm water, and will detach from the fish, and when they do, the medication in the water will kill them.

Or something like that.. I'm sure people who have actually dealt with ich will be able to help you more than me.

 

[Zeoth]

Get ready: some people might not have liked your decsion. While it's great and all that you saved the fish, in the long run.....well... some people, say around here thatit's better to let the fish die at the store. This way when no body buys the fish ,Walmart will have to shut down it's fish department. Esceinially, boycot Walmart for thier fish. But hey the deed's done, and they betta has a nice home, so congrats!

I'm friends with the daughter of the store manager so maybe I'll be able to insure that it actually gets read and acted upon.

that's great! Hope some proper ethical actions are taken here.

 

[CathyGo]

I dug out one of my 10 gallons for her. She's busy exploring it at the moment. The heat apparently speeds up their life cycle so they drop off the fish and go swimming in the meds faster. Without heat it can take up to a month for all the ich to disappear according to one site. I'll turn on the heater as soon as I can find one of my thermometers. I wouldn't want to cook her. This girl seems to be doing pretty good. Her fins aren't as clamped and she's pretty active and feisty. She even flared at me earlier. Maybe I have a plakat male?

Zeoth, normally I leave the fish at the store but this one was in really bad shape. She was also the last one on the shelf and she had something I knew how to treat so it's not like I bought her just to save one. It also gave me an opportunity to get a pic of how bad she was when I got her and I plan to take an "after treatment" pic then show the manager both of them. I'll be waiting about a week and then going in with my camera to see how their new shipment of bettas look and if conditions have improved any. If they haven't I'll be making another call to corporate. And actually I'm leaving for the military in about a month and a half so this girl will be needing a new home soon. I'll make sure to find her a nice one though. Once the ich is gone she should be pretty easy to place with someone else.

 

[bettawen]

ich isnt sensitive to warm water as such it wont kill ich, the warmer the water the faster the life cycle of ich, the white spots are like cysts, when they burst it releases microscopic worms into the water (thats wen the treatments work) and also how they are passed on, if no treatment is used the worms spread or if no fish about will from like a cyst and lie dormant in the bottom of the tank for months waiting to strike again, so keep up the meds and once shes cleared to be safe remove from that tank and give it a good scrub out before reusing, prevention is better than cure, also a little addition of aquarium salt can help make the meds more effective
good luck with her

 

[hollyp0p]

treating a case of ich at the moment with salt and heat....it seems to be working a treat so far!

 

[Zeoth]

Zeoth, normally I leave the fish at the store but this one was in really bad shape. She was also the last one on the shelf and she had something I knew how to treat so it's not like I bought her just to save one.

I see. Good job, . On a side note:There arn't may people that have ties with managers of Walmarts so be sure to use that to your advantage; or I'll spam you for the rest of my life! (just kidding)

 

[cowbla1]

Well it's great that she's eating!

I haven't had to deal with ich, but from what I've read, warm water helps get rid of them.
I'd invest in a 5 gal tank for her. Get a heater that can go into it and raise the temp to 85 degrees. From what I understand... ich are sensitive to warm water, and will detach from the fish, and when they do, the medication in the water will kill them.

Or something like that.. I'm sure people who have actually dealt with ich will be able to help you more than me.

Yeah that really works I've had ich like a million times

 

[CathyGo]

On a side note:There arn't may people that have ties with managers of Walmarts so be sure to use that to your advantage; or I'll spam you for the rest of my life! (just kidding)

I would prefer to try going through the normal channels before taking advantage of a personal connection.

I just compared what the betta currently looks like and the photos from a few days ago. There is still a large "patch" of them on her head and her body still has various small patches but I would say more like 50-60% of her body is affected versus the 80-90% coverage I saw a few days ago. I'm just going to stick to Quick Cure and a little heat since that seems to be working pretty good. I think having live food helped a ton. I'll have to see if she's gotten spoiled and won't eat pellets after this.

 

[CathyGo]

Ich is completely gone except for a few on her fins. Her body is very "dull" looking at the moment. I believe it's the result of all the ich. She has almost a halfmoon tail but with only 2 rays. Her body looks like it might be PURPLE underneath the dullness. Her fins are more of a reddish. I have to admit that I've fallen in love with this fish and have seriously considered just having the fish sanctuary or my parents take care of her in the 3 months I will be at bootcamp. I took a few pictures but the lighting is giving me trouble so they aren't that great. They do show that the ich is gone though.

I received a call from an assistant manager at the WalMart that I got her from yesterday asking me to call him back. When I did he apoligized for the poor customer service. I told him that my complaint wasn't about customer service it was about the conditions that the bettas were being kept in. I gave him a general overview of how betta were supposed to be cared for based off of the PetSmart guidelines. He said theirs were very close to that and that he would talk to the people in that department and pay particular attention to how the bettas were being kept. To my surprise they have been very polite and understanding. They seem to genuinely care about the fish. Now we will see if that actually carries over and the next shipment of bettas get better care. My camera and I will be watching.

 

[CathyGo]

This will be my last post in this thread since nobody seems interested in it. I have a few pictures of her completely healed flaring at me. She's a fiesty girl. She keeps on blowing bubble nests(!) and flaring at anything in sight. No beard and I can see her egg spot so I'm sure it's a girl but I wouldn't try her in a sorority tank. She seems a little bit on the aggresive side for that. Her body is still very dark but is a bit purplish on the top of it. Her fins are almost a peach. I'm posting her on freecycle tonight to find her a new home in a community tank. I'm asking minimum 10 gallons since this girl seems to like having the space.

 

[xweeqtx]

Well done for saving the poor girl and nursing her back to health, never noticed this post till now

And a very well done for doing what you did with Walmart, lets hope it makes some impact on that particular store !

 

[TribeOfShroom]

It's a shame you're not in the UK. I would have had her off you

 

[CathyGo]

She will have a new home as a 4 year old's first fish tomorrow. I'm giving them the 10 gallon plus some of my fish supplies since they would just take up storage space I don't have. They seem committed to water changes and know that betta's don't get along with certain fish. With a ten gallon they should have a little more leeway than with a gallon jar.