Help newbie with a disease issue for Betta and Zebra snail

[Rakesh&FreddiesMom]

Hi

I have a male halfmoon betta in a 5.5 gl tank and had added a zebra snail 6 weeks ago to help with the algae. I didn't realize that my tank didn't have enough algae for the snail and the last few days it hasn't moved much. I have some algae wafers coming in about a hour so that should help. What I also noticed now that I can see it better is that he has 3 tiny white spots on the shell. I also carefully inspected my Betta and he has a bit of white on his tail fins. If this is ICK I have some of the API Ick cure coming as well. My question is should I take either or both out to quarrantine and treat while I treat the tank separately. I was planning on a deep clean of the tank to also rearrange things better for the snail. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Wyomingite]

Hello. Welcome to AC. First, pictures of both would help in determining what is wrong woth your fish.

The spots on the snail and the white on the fins of your betta are almost definitely not related. Snail shells are not living material, they're like hair or fingernails, and don't "catch" diseases. A shell can be damaged just like a fingernail can be damaged or it can grow incorrectly just as a fingernail can grow incorrectly due to poor health or damage. Note, hair, fingernails and snail shells are not made of the same material, but all are unliving material and therefore these comparisons make for a good example.

Also, as far as I know, invertebrates don't get ich. However, I believe the non-motile stage (called a tomont) can attach to snail shells (this isn't what you're seeing on your snail, this stage is microscopic). Anyways, what you're seeing on your snail is most likely damage of some sort. I believe API Ick Cure is safe for invertebrates, but anything copper based will kill your snail. Read the label and you may have to look up if any of the ingredients contain copper, which also may be represented by the chemical symbol Cu on a label or chemical formula of a material.

The white on the fins of your betta does not sound like ich, it sounds more like bacterial fin rot. I can't and won't say it is 100% without a good picture, though. You can look at pics of finrot on-line and determine if this seems to be what the problem is. There are medications for that. And like I said, relatively close, clear pics posted here will help us determine what may be wrong with the betta and the snail.

WYite

 

[Sprinkle]

Well, our dearest Wyomingite has covered most stuff but i gonna add my own two pence.
The white tail can also be his own colour, bettas tend to change their colours to, but still a pic is needed. Second, water parameters. What are your exact numbers for nitrite, ammonia and nitrate (in ppm)? For how long has the tank been set up?