What To Feed Betta When Live Food Is Unavailable

[nortonmad213]

If it is velvet what would the best medicine be? Is it melacite?

 

[nortonmad213]

All my lfs has is king British velvet control is this any good?

 

[Chad]

I'm in America so we don't have that. I'm not sure what the best UK medication would be.

 

[nortonmad213]

He is extremely clamped so he is def not feeling well.  Temperature is good and that is the first thing I check when I see a clamped fish.  One of the most common betta issues is velvet.  A condition that is caused by an organism similar to ICH.  Treatment is basically the same as ICH except with an added total blackout of the tank.  Turn off all the lights and take a flash light and shine it across your betta.  If you see anything that looks like dust(some people describe it as gold but it could easily be grayish) then you are most likely dealing with velvet. To find more info on velvet (as well as pics) google the name : 
Oodinium pilularis
 
 Other issues could be internal parasites or a bacterial infection.  Have you seen him poop recently? If so was it white or stringy?  
 
I wouldn't turn off the filter but if you have an extra airstone/bubbler in that tank I would remove it as bettas really don't care for such things.  

wb by blackout do you mean towel over the tank? or just keep the light off? thanks. i looked at him for ten mins with flashlight and i can see the goldy dust that you spoke of. the only med as i said above was king british. was unsure on how quick velvet kills so went ahead and got that

 

[Wildbetta]

I would do complete blackout of the tank meaning lights off and every side covered so no light gets in.  Turn up the heat to about 86F and add at least 1 TBSP of salt per 5 gallons of water.  A copper based medication that is supposed to treat velvet or ICH should work.  It is vitally important that you treat for no less than 2 weeks since velvet is harder to kill and more resilient than ICH.  Velvet is also airborne so be very careful with your other tanks.  Make sure you do not share equipment between tanks and wash your hands/arms after everytime you get into the affected tank.  Hard to say how quickly it can kill.  It all depends on the individual fish and how well its immune system is.  Sometimes it can kill quickly but normally it will be a drawn out process like ICH is although normally by the time you see symptoms of velvet it is pretty well developed.

 

[nortonmad213]

It says on the bottle that the only active ingredient is copper sulphate. Have dosed the amount and covered will up heat now. With the salt do I pre dissolve it or just dump it in?

 

[Wildbetta]

Pre dissolve the salt otherwise the crystals could burn your fish.

 

[nortonmad213]

Add that on top of the copper med?

 

[nortonmad213]

is it just general kitchen salt?

 

[Wildbetta]

I use aquarium salt but I believe that you can easily use table salt.  Yes use it in addition to the copper medication.

 

[nortonmad213]

ok i'll add in morning as its bedtime for me lol

 

[Chad]

It is a little different than table salt as it's not iodized like most table salts are. I'm pretty sure that's the difference but don't quote me on that. The only salt I use is in my marine tank.  

 

[nortonmad213]

ok i held off from putting in table salt as im getting mixed reviews on it. if my lfs is still open when i finish work then i'll get some aquarium salt
he was swimming a little bit more i noticed with the morning feed but then the towel went back over and i'll check again tonight

 

[nortonmad213]

will the complete blackout have any negative effect on my plants at all or will they survive?

 

[Wildbetta]

It could have a bit of negative effect but most plants will survive and come back.