Ick(ich)

[Blue]

Hi!
My little bettas has ick and I want to treat with tank buddies for ick,my question is,will this harm my african dwarf frog? he lives with my betta and it says 1 tab for 10 gallons of water,so should I use a 1/4 tab for 2 gallons of water? thanks ;)

[OrionGirl]

I would be leary of treating with the frog in there. Frogs have no way to prevent the absorption of dissolved chemicals. I would remove the frog and treat the tank. Find him a temporary home until the betta has cleared the infection.

In terms of treatment, I prefer using 1 tsp/5 gallons of salt and elevated temps (up to about 82 for a betta). Frequent water changes with good substrate cleaning will help a lot, and keep the water parameters in good shape. Much better than dumping in unknown chemicals. Removing the frog is still your best bet with this method as well.

[Blue]

Thanks for your fast response ! unfortunetly,I have nowhere to put the frog :( I am in the process of getting a q tank,but have not saved enough $$$ for all I need.Thank you :)

[OrionGirl]

Normally, I wouldn't recommend this, but if you can't find another home for the frog temporarily, use a large tupperware or jar and move the fish. Bettas will be fine in a lower oxygen environment, and you can safely treat the fish elsewhere. If you do daily water changes to remove the cysts as they drop off, you'll be refreshing the water often enough to avoid ammonia/nitrite toxicity. Leave him out of the main tank for 2 weeks and any cysts that have already dropped off will be safely gone (and I don't think this parasite can infect frogs, since they don't have the same gill structure. I may be wrong, so I would watch the frog closely). Treating with the frog in there may kill it.

[wetmanNY]

Excellent suggestion! Why not get two big Tupperware containers. Each day gently net the betta from one and put him into the other. You need to pretreat the water and keep the salt content up around a tablespoon per gallon.

Then run the first container through the dishwasher, or scrub it with salty brine and let the brine dry overnight and then rinse it all off.

Keep the Tupperware containers in the warmest place in the house: a high shelf for example. The betta will be fine at temps up in the high 80s.

Keep up the treatment three days after he's totally cured of any Ich spots.

Go for the salt bath.

[125gJoe]

You should also do a 50% or so water change on your main tank.

I'm not exacly sure of the life-cycle of Ich parasites....

Water changes on a regular basis are necessary for a healthy tank..:) (keep your water change temps the same, or very close..)