Table of Contents
What is Ich?
Ich, also known as ick or white spot disease, is a parasitic infection that burrows into a fish’s skin, gills, and fins and causes irritation or itchiness. The protozoan causing ich in fish is Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, which has a life cycle of 7 to 12 days. It mostly thrives in water temperatures of 78-80°F, but in colder temperatures, its life cycle can extend up to two weeks.
Symptoms of Ich in Betta Fish
The most noticeable symptom of ich in betta fish is the appearance of white spots on the entire body, resembling salt grains, which is why it is also called white spot disease.
Another typical symptom is the fish rubbing its fins against the tank walls or décor items to relieve the irritation caused by the parasite or to remove these parasites.
Betta suffering from ich may show abnormal behavior such as labored breathing, lethargy, or loss of appetite at more severe stages.
From Where Ich Comes?
In a well-maintained tank, a betta fish is less likely to get ich. However, in fish farms where parameters are not controlled for every betta, there is a high chance of the parasite flourishing, which can cause ich. Especially when fish are shipped to stores, there is a high risk that they can become stressed due to substandard packing, and the ich parasite becomes more active and proliferates due to the colder temperatures in transits.
When you buy a fish from the store, it may already have ich if it has recently been transported, even if you don’t notice white spots on its body. Professional fish store owners are aware of the ich risk and take preventive measures on their own.
Stages of Ich’s Life Cycle
Ich, the microscopic parasite, has a complex life cycle consisting of three main stages. Understanding its life cycle is essential to prevent the infection from increasing rapidly.
1. Trophont Stage
The trophont stage, or feeding stage, is the first stage of the ich protozoan when it entrenches itself in the host’s skin to feed. You can recognize this stage by the typical white spots, which are actually the shelled cysts that enclose the feeding parasite.
2. Tomont Stage
The tomont stage, or reproductive stage, begins when white spots on your fish’s skin disappear. It is because the parasites release the hatched protozoan babies from the eggs laying in the host’s body under the shelled cysts. These baby protozoans, which are non-infectious at the start, go to the bottom of the tank, where they grow and develop. This stage usually lasts 2-3 days and is the most vulnerable stage of the ich life cycle. The parasites are to be treated in this stage.
3. Theorant Stage
The theorant stage, or infectious stage, is the final stage, where the parasites search for a fish to infect, where they have to enter their new life cycle. You can’t see them with the naked eye. This is the most crucial stage, as your fish can be severely harmed by these parasites. Breaking the life cycle of parasites before this stage is a real achievement, as you succeed in saving your fish from being hunted by these harmful parasites.
When the ich parasites enter from the trophont stage into the tomont stage, the white spots disappear as the babies are released from shelled cysts. Most fish keepers misunderstand it as they have cured the ich and stop the treatment. However, the parasites continuously circulate in these cycles, so you should continue the treatment for ich for 7-8 days even after its signs disappear.
Causes of Betta Fish Ich
Understanding the life cycle of ich parasites makes it easy to know the causes of betta ich.
The most prevailing cause is poor water quality, which allows these parasites to reproduce and also leads to stress on the betta. A stressed betta fish has a weaker immune system, making it unable to fight against the parasites.
Colder water temperature is another leading cause, that provides a thriving environment for the ich protozoan to reproduce and infect fish.
Additionally, a newly introduced tank mate or live plant may carry parasites, that can lead to a disease outbreak in your community tank.
Betta Fish Ich Treatment
The ich parasite survives in both the betta’s body and tank during its different life stages. When treating ich, we have to eliminate the parasite from the betta fish as well as the tank. Therefore, treatment is necessary for the tank and its inhabitants. For your easy understanding, we break down the ich treatment process into different steps below.
1. Set up a Hospital Tank
We strongly recommend arranging a hospital tank for the ich treatment of your betta fish. The treatment involves heating the water and adding salt, which can harm live plants in your main tank. Additionally, dosing medications can kill the beneficial bacteria in the main tank. If you have purchased any smaller tank in the initial days of fish hobby, you can use it as a hospital tank.
- Choose a suitable tank and install a heater, filter, and air pump.
- Gently transfer your affected betta from the main tank to the hospital tank.
- Gradually raise the water temperature to 82-86°F and maintain it for seven days.
Importance of Warmer Water for Ich Treatment
The higher temperature forces the ich parasite to progress faster from its feeding stage (the visible white spots) to its vulnerable developing stage. By raising the temperature and speeding up the life cycle, the parasite spends less time in the feeding stage in the betta’s body, resulting in less damage to your fish.
After the disappearance of white spots, the parasites enter the tomont stage, where they can be easily eliminated. Recall that don’t stop the treatment by mistakenly believing that the disappearance of white spots means the ich is gone.
2. Salt Treatment
Salt treatment is not intended to kill or remove the ich from the tank; instead, it increases the electrolyte level of water, which improves the fish’s osmoregulation. This process enables the fish to transport oxygen more efficiently, which helps boost the betta’s immune system and fight off infections. Salt also encourages to develop a thicker slim coat around the fish’s body to prevent the ich parasites from burrowing into its skin.
API Aquarium salt (Check it on Amazon) is the best to use for your salt treatment.
To increase the oxygen level, you should also consider adding an air stone to the tank, as warmer water carries less oxygen.
3. Ich Medicine
The most effective ich medicine is Kordon Rid-Ich Plus (Check it on Amazon) which contains malachite green and formalin. These ingredients effectively control ich and kill the external parasites. You can use it in your main tank, bathtub, and hospital tank with a dosage of 10 drops per gallon of water. Follow the other administration instructions labeled on the medicine.
Continue the treatment for up to 7 days until the parasites are in a vulnerable reproducing stage when they can easily be affected by the medications.
Other Recommended Products
ICH-X by Hikari
It’s highly effective for ich treatment, and you will notice the recovery signs within two days after the treatment. It can still work when the diseases are widespread and in severe stages. For complete eradication, you should ensure the full course of treatment. Ich-X can stain silicone and decorative pieces in your aquarium, so consider its usage in a hospital tank. (Check it on Amazon).
API Liquid Super Ick
Liquid Super Ich is also an effective treatment option for your betta ich treatment, which is known for its quick response against parasites. The medication can work for variety of fish species, including angelfish, severums, guppies, mollies, and tetras.
The API Liquid Super Ick can play the role of salt by making a slime coat around the fish body to prevent the parasites from being burrowed into their skins. Because of this additional role, it is best not to carry out the salt treatment in your tank, as the surplus salts can stress your fish.
4. Water Changes
It’s also recommended to perform regular water changes of 25-30% each time after medication. It will ensure the effectiveness of the medication and will not make your betta stressed from the medicine. Water changes also minimize the parasite concentration by removing the parasites settled at the bottom.
5. Considering Copper for Ich Treatment
We have placed the copper treatment at the end of our ich treatment guide because it’s only recommended when all other treatment options do not work for your betta fish. For betta fish ich treatment, copper treatment is not considered the prioritized ideal option as it has specific concerns.
It can endanger some fish species and invertebrates, like snails and shrimps. It should be dosed and administered correctly to ensure its safe medications.
Products such as CopperSafe, Cupramine, and CopperPower are known to have copper and can be used for ich treatment. Among all of them, I prefer CopperSafe (Check it on Amazon) as it can effectively work in fresh and saltwater tanks. It is safe to use and does not alter the water color of your tank.
For its proper dosage, consider adding it to your tank after water changes. It will remain active long enough to wait for the ich parasites to enter the free-swimming stage when they can only be killed. Being so stable, you can easily remove it from your tank through partial water changes in steps once you are fully confident about your disease treatment. It’s advisable not to use the CopperSafe solution in planted tanks, as it can affect the live plants.
Prevention
Ich parasites can adapt to medicines, which enables them to resist the medications over time. We recommend not depending on medications at first; however, when their usage becomes crucial, try different medicines when one does not make an impact.
By not depending on medicines overall, your betta can develop resistance to ich, preventing it from being affected by the diseases again in the future. Another precautionary measure is to treat the main tank as well while you are treating your betta in the hospital tank, despite the fact that the parasites will eventually die off when they don’t find their hosts. The best way of treating the main tank is to raise the temperature of the main tank up to 86°F. Also, consider adding aquarium salt and ICH-X or other medication if you are dealing with a community tank.
Read our article about fin rot and its causes, symptoms, and treatment.
You can also study a detail guide about betta fish dropsy and its all related concerns.
