Ich??

Question
Chris...
Hi! I emailed you the other day about my new betta who was being super lethargic 90% of the time and not eating and stuff.

Well we bought her a much larger tank, got her new food (bloodworms) which she actually ate this morning. Well...she's still pretty lethargic, but now when she freaks out...she's darting around super fast, throwing herself up against the sides of the tank, and then looks like she "goes to sleep" underneath her plant. She does this around 40 times a day. I was bored today so I counted! :)It's almost like she's having a fish "seizure."

Anyways...my fiance and I just noticed that she has this strange white crud all over her. Nothing terrible...yet...but it's like little white dots that we've not noticed before. I was reading on one of those websites that you gave me about "Ich." What is that? And is it possible that Zoe has this? She's lethargic, barely eating, rapid darting, white dots...

If so, how do we fix this? Ahh!!! I don't want to lose my new fish!

Let me know what you think! You've been very helpful!

-Courtenay  

Answer
Hi Courtenay;

It sounds like she does have ich. The local fish store should have a remedy for it. I like "Quick Cure" personally. Use it for a full 10 days though. Ignore the instructions that say it cures ich in 3 days. It just doesn't work and you end up with another case of it.

However, if you raise the temperature of the tank to 85 degrees and add a 1/2 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon it will kill it too, even without medication. Ich hates salt and heat. Bettas really should have a heater anyway. It keeps the temperature at a constant level instead of fluctuations based on room temp. If your tank is less than 5 gallons a heater won't work though. They just don't make them small enough to be safe in little tanks.

Hope she feels better soon....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins