Ick Question

[fishn00b]

If you suspect a fish has Ick, is it better to treat immediatly or wait to be sure? I have a betta few a few white specs on him, looks sorta like glitter. I never noticed it before but he didnt touch his food today, I have Ick treatment handy, should I go ahead and use it or wait to see if it goes away?

[rich311k]

Does it look like grains of salt on him?

[fishn00b]

yes, like extra small grains

[rich311k]

I would treat right now.

[fishn00b]

I would treat right now.

I took your advice. Hopefully it clears up quickly.

It seems like every time I feed with freeze dried blood worms something goes wrong a day or two later. Do they expire? Do they carry parasites? Maybe it's coincidence.

[lass31]

Ick is highly contagious, therefore if your betta is in a community tank, remove and isolate him.
Do you have a heater? this will make treatment easier and faster - warmer temperatures will cause the cysts to fall off faster. A temp between 80- 84 degrees is recommended and this treatment will increase the speed at which the fish will be cured.

[dbosman]

I took your advice. Hopefully it clears up quickly.

It seems like every time I feed with freeze dried blood worms something goes wrong a day or two later. Do they expire? Do they carry parasites? Maybe it's coincidence.

Blood worms can be problematic. Depending on the source, they may still be harvested "wild" from areas that have pathogens in the environment.
Even cultured worms can have things carried in by the wind or birds that make it into the facilities.

Some people develop violent allergies to them, by the way. If you ever find yourself with a rash or severe itch after handling blood or black worms, stop. Move on to something else. Freeze dried seems to be a worse offender than frozen. Perhaps from the dust. ?

[vegas2k]

What if you were to only use increase in temperature as a first more conservative treatment, and if that doesn't cure the fish, then use the medication? has that been done with much success?