# Betta has white dots on body



## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

I have a female betta in a community tank. I noticed white spots on the body and she would rub against the decorations and/or plants and isolate herself. Is this a sign of ich/ick? I placed her in her own tank for now. What should I do from here?

Thanks

Flip


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

Yes. Your fish has Ich.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i agree ; she has ich..she needs to be in a tank that is heated and filtered..temp should be set at 86 F.........treat with ich meds....


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

If they look like grains of salt, it is ich. Raise the temp to 84 Fahrenheit, add some aquarium salt (as directed on the back of the box) and treat it with methylene blue. Do not use malachite green.


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## Maine_Fish (Apr 7, 2012)

Betta man said:


> If they look like grains of salt, it is ich. Raise the temp to 84 Fahrenheit, add some aquarium salt (as directed on the back of the box) and* treat it with methylene blue. Do not use malachite green*.


Betta man...I'm just curious why you recommend methylene blue rather than malachite green. To be honest, I don't know much about either.


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## MrKrabs (Sep 28, 2012)

Prob different then what your fish has. My guppy had white dots. I did a total water change and all dots went away.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Maine_Fish said:


> Betta man...I'm just curious why you recommend methylene blue rather than malachite green. To be honest, I don't know much about either.


http://www.wetwebmedia.com/malachitegreen.htm

That's why. Very helpful in my opinion. Because I breed bettas, I will not use malachite on my fish at all.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Oh, and when you do treat the fish, do not treat the main tank if it can be helped. Remove the sick fish immediately and put it in a hospital tank.


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2012)

Your fish has ich. Raise the temp to 84 to 86 degrees. Do not add any salt to your tank. You can treat with malachite green, it doesn't harm the fish. I used Rid-Ich when my halfmoon betta had ich.


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

*Action taken for Female Betta w/ Ick.*

I did a water test with my API Master Water Test Kit. The pH is a little high and Ammonia level is at 1.0 pph. Nitrite and Nitrate is at 0.

I did a 25% water change and added the following to the water change:


Aquarium Salt
pH balancer
Ick Removal
Ammonia leveler
Water Conditioner

I also raised the temperature to 86 degrees.

The Betta named Valerie started swimming around as usual but would still hide in the plants.

I hope things get better and will update tomorrow.


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## 0828Dawn (Dec 28, 2012)

In the past I've done temp increase alone to treat ich. 86F it stops reproducing and at 90F it dies. Do your temp increase SLOWLY & always increase your oxygen while treating since increased temps mean decreased oxygen.

Treat for roughly 7-10 days and do daily partials of at least 25% until the situation has been remedied...be sure to use a quality water conditioner if needed BEFORE adding clean water back to the tank (I personally favor Seachem Prime because I can simply toss it in the tank and refill right away without needing to wait).

Good Luck!


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

the only reason i don't use meds with malachite green is because it stains everything... just like methylene blue does..but malachite is far more effective against ich... i use aquari sol because it is far superior to the other meds , treats a number of maladies and doesn't stain the water..but aquari sol is no longer made...one of the major companies bought the formula and stopped making it so folks would buy their own brand of meds that are more expensive..i was fortunate to get a few pints..i have enough to treat about 30,000 gallons so it should last me awhile..
i keep a number of meds on hand...maybe 5 or 6..i don't often use them ; but keep them just in case...


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

0828Dawn said:


> In the past I've done temp increase alone to treat ich. 86F it stops reproducing and at 90F it dies. Do your temp increase SLOWLY & always increase your oxygen while treating since increased temps mean decreased oxygen.
> 
> Treat for roughly 7-10 days and do daily partials of at least 25% until the situation has been remedied...be sure to use a quality water conditioner if needed BEFORE adding clean water back to the tank (I personally favor Seachem Prime because I can simply toss it in the tank and refill right away without needing to wait).
> 
> Good Luck!


Dawn,

Do I just do the 25% Water change? Do I still have to add more of the Ick med or simply just do water change with water conditioner?

Thanks

Flip


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Adding salt is a good idea.


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## 0828Dawn (Dec 28, 2012)

you can add salt if you desire, I don't (plants)...but yes, you can simply do the daily 25% water change with the conditioner while leaving the temperature up to get rid of the problem.


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## Guest (Dec 29, 2012)

Salt does not cure ich, like once believed. It will do more harm to your fish than good. Never use salt on any freshwater fish.


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

0828Dawn said:


> you can add salt if you desire, I don't (plants)...but yes, you can simply do the daily 25% water change with the conditioner while leaving the temperature up to get rid of the problem.


I just did a 25% water change with water conditioner. I also changed the taller plants towards the back and have the middle of the tank clear for all the fish to swim around. I didn't feed the fish this evening. All of a sudden Valerie the Betta is swimming normally back and forth and not hiding into the plants. I will still do the daily water change for the next 6-7 days and see how things go.

Flip :fish:


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## 0828Dawn (Dec 28, 2012)

flip dskript said:


> I just did a 25% water change with water conditioner. I also changed the taller plants towards the back and have the middle of the tank clear for all the fish to swim around. I didn't feed the fish this evening. All of a sudden Valerie the Betta is swimming normally back and forth and not hiding into the plants. I will still do the daily water change for the next 6-7 days and see how things go.
> 
> Flip :fish:


Glad to hear things are going better!


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Angelclown said:


> Salt does not cure ich, like once believed. It will do more harm to your fish than good. Never use salt on any freshwater fish.


 Salt can be beneficial to bettas in correct dosage. Low doses of salt ARE good for bettas. I did not say it cures ich. It helps. Bettas have a decently high tolerance of salt. The idea is that the parasite will have less tolerance to the salt. I have also heard that it adds beneficial electrolytes to the water, but I cannot verify this. I am sure of my information on this subject. I have treated ich before and spoken with experienced hobbyists who have been in the hobby for upwards of 40 years like lohachata. Honestly, I trust what he says. He runs a chain store after all.....


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

salt is an electrolyte, lol. Any salt is. Something that breaks into positive and negative ions in the water. Whether it is beneficial depends on the fish and which electrolyte. Most fish do need things like Ca+2 and Mg+2, but not too much Na+ or CL-. "conductivity" is basically sticking in a leads and measuring how the water conducts electricity is a good measure of "saltiness". Some fish thrive in water with more ions in it and suffer in water with less (mollies, rift lake cichlids) other fish (some black water tetra and cories) suffer if the conductivity is high and can die from too much salt. Always research your fish before treating with salt.

The heat + salt cure is a old one and long proven to work. Salt alone may not kill ich, but may reduce attachment or be otherwise helpful. However, like any other living thing, ich evolves. There are now strains of ich immune to most of the various "cures" and if you half treat and stop, it comes back stronger and more resistant. Stores with low-dose salt and ich meds constantly in their systems don't help. It reminds me of Daffy telling Elmer to "wait til you get home" instead of "shoot me now", all the diseases are there, but don't start killing the fish until you get them home.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

That's why you do not overdose. You will end up creating a super bug that is immune to disease. I believe that's what mycro is. It is infecting petco's fish.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Fish TB. That is nasty stuff. There is a group of little bacteria (thus the mycro-prefix) that live everywhere. Related to TB is humans (which get multi-drug resistant and is hard to kill). It can infect you through a open wound exposed to fish water and require months of intravenous antibiotics to cure. The usually treatment is to kill all the fish and bleach the tank. But the stuff has been found alive in tanks after bleaching (perhaps the humans bring it back). If you want to quit fish, read some of the firsthand accounts of human cases. 

Since similar bacteria live everywhere, its hard to condemn a chain on a "positive" quick test result. But if your local store actually has this in its system, find another source.

Bacteria live in an ecosystem of competing creatures and when we reduce one sort, another will multiple to fill the niche. You really can't win. They say UV sterilizers kill 99% of harmful bacteria, but the survivors are going to have the fish to themselves.


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

I did another water change with water conditioner and did not feed the fish today, I plan to feed them every other day for the next five days. It was suggested earlier that I raise the temp to 90 degrees to kill the ick. How long do I keep the temperature up at this stage? Once I see the ick go away do I decrease the temperature, if so to what temp do I keep my tank at?

Thanks everyone for all your input.

Flip


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

Today is my weekly water change. I am slowly lowering the temperature of the tank by a couple degrees. The ick is gone from the Betta. I did a 40% water change with water conditioner and will updated tomorrow.


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## 0828Dawn (Dec 28, 2012)

sounds like you are well on your way to getting over the ich in your tank.
lower the temp 1-2 degrees per day until you get it back to where you want to keep it...that'll be less stressful on your now recovering fish.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Treat the fish for 10 days after all the spots are gone. I believe ich's life cycle is week long.


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

*20% Water Change*

I'm still on schedule with the daily water changes. No more ick on the Betta at this time and keeping the tank temp at 80 F degrees. 

Big surprise today, i seen three new Dalmation Molly fry today in the tank. I didn't expect to see any new fry this soon.

:hbd:


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## 0828Dawn (Dec 28, 2012)

if memory serves increased heat speeds up their gestation.


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## flip dskript (Dec 19, 2012)

0828Dawn said:


> if memory serves increased heat speeds up their gestation.


I read somewhere online that the mollies will breed as long as the heater is on.


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## 0828Dawn (Dec 28, 2012)

I kept them years back...pretty much you name it and I've probably had it at one point or another.

Can't say if they'd breed in unheated water...but I know that's one sure fire way them to get the shimmy's & ich.


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