Betta Fish White Spot Treatment: Dealing with the Ich Issue

If you notice some white-ish spots on your bettas, then you should learn more about betta fish white spot treatment. The white spot is known as ich or ick, whose appearance is similar to sugar granules found on the gills, fins, or body. For fish, it is an uncomfortable issue. It is actually a common problem for freshwater (aquarium) fish. If you ignore the issue, it will lead to death. You don’t want to ignore it or medicate an actual healthy fish, because the adverse consequences can be unpleasant.

Understanding Ich

The scientific name is Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis. It is generally caused by stress, poor water quality, or contagious tank mate introduction. If you see small and white dots on your bettas, be aware. If the symptom is accompanied by the fish rubbing itself against the objects within the water tank, then it is undoubtedly an ich. The way to treat it is by clean water and medicine.

Ich is super contagious. Treating it may be more complicated and difficult than having to prevent it from the first place. If you have a community tank, it is best to quarantine all the new inhabitants first. You need to quarantine the new fish for at least 2 weeks, to see whether they develop any symptom. If not, then your fish is completely healthy and it is safe for them to get into the tank.

The Common Symptoms

If you monitor your fish regularly, you should be able to see the symptoms. Be aware if you see white spots on the fish’s body, especially on the fins and gills. You may want to remove the affected fish right away to the quarantine tank. The more spots you can see, it’s highly likely that the issue has gone severe.

Some of the accompanying symptoms include your fish may refuse to eat. They may also rub themselves against any object to remove the parasites from them. Harsh rubbing may cause in torn scale or fins, which results in damage and wound. It is also common if the fish suffers from labored breathing and clamped finds.

The Treatment

The parasite can reproduce quite fast. Their lifespan lasts for 7 days, and they undergo 3 life stages in tropical freshwater tank. Understanding their life stages can help you treat the issue effectively, so your chances of success would be bigger.

The stages are:

• Trophont (feeding) stage. This is the time when the parasite would attach itself to the betta, undergo feeding time, and visible. Doing treatments would be useless at this stage.
• Tomont stage. The adult parasite would fall to the tank and being attached to any object. This is the reproduction stage where they divide themselves up to 10 times
• Theront stage. The parasites would be invisible and they can swim freely. This is the time when they are the weakest. They only have 48 hours to find a host; otherwise, they die. If you want speedy recovery, medicating and treating your fish (and the tank) would be crucial at this stage.

As long as you isolate your fish as soon as you find the symptoms and you suspect the signs, then you can administer effective Betta fish white spot treatment with higher chances of success.

You can also read about betta fish swim bladder disease here. Subscribe to our betta fish youtube channel for more info about betta fish.