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TLDR: Female betta with visible ich for 4 days, now breathing fast and less active - could it be a secondary disease?

We're trying to set up a sorority betta tank, but it's been a struggle getting the tank fully cycled, and our fish are suffering. We currently have 11 female bettas and 2 cory catfish in the tank.

We've had our fair share of losses over the past 3 months, and it's been tough. We started with a 3-tank betta falls aquarium, then upgraded to a 6-gallon round aquarium, and finally moved to our current 75-gallon aquarium. We also have a 10-gallon hospital aquarium that's been a disaster so far.

Our main tank is a 75-gallon display aquarium with a reverse under-gravel filter using 4 feed tubes from the canister filter. We have 3/4 inch river rock substrate and an Aqueon Quietflow 400 canister filter with a single intake through a small pore size sponge filter. The canister filter has a large pore sponge filter, followed by a thin layer of Matrix media, and a floss filter in the first tray. The second tray is filled with Matrix media, and the third tray has more Matrix media and another layer of floss filter. The canister filter outlet feeds through 6 pipes, 4 to the under-gravel filter and 2 to the water polishing units.

We've added amazon swords and anubias to the aquarium, and I've been treating the water with API stress coat during water exchanges. I also added Fritz Aquatics 80223 FritzZyme 7 Nitrifying Bacteria to jumpstart the aquarium cycling on day one.

We gave the aquarium 2-1/2 weeks to cycle before moving the 11 female bettas from the hospital aquarium. We did daily 1-gallon water changes the first week, but then slacked off and did a 50% water change the second week. No ammonia built up in the hospital aquarium.

Everything was fine for 2 weeks after moving the bettas to the main tank, but now we're at 5 weeks into the new cycling process. We do 20% water changes weekly, and I test the water every other day with API test strips and daily with the API freshwater kit.

Our water quality is mostly stable, with a pH of 7.4-7.6, temperature at 86F, and ammonia and nitrite levels close to 0. We have 0 nitrates, 25-50 mg/L hardness, and 20-40 mg/L carbonate root.

We noticed ich on some of the fish 4 days ago, and I decided to try a different treatment approach without medication. I increased the temperature in 3F increments per 12 hours and have been giving them 15-minute salt baths daily. We've also been doing weekly water changes to maintain stable salinity levels.

The ich seems to be going away, but one of our female bettas is now breathing fast and has lowered activity. She had about 4 ich spots 4 days ago and has 1 today. Otherwise, she appears healthy except for the rapid breathing and moderate gill movement. She's still eating and somewhat active, but she's spending more time hiding than she used to.

Could this be a secondary disease? Has anyone experienced something similar? Any advice on maintaining this aquarium or making the hospital aquarium more valuable would be appreciated.

Our hospital aquarium is an Aqueon LED 10 Gallon Aquarium Kit with standard cheap white gravel and a petco Half Tube with Coco and Plant (Bolbitis Sp.).

If you're dealing with a tropical fish that has white spot, I've found that raising the water temperature to 86F can be an effective treatment. Typically, you'd want to keep the water at this temperature for at least 2 weeks, or for 1 week after all the spots have cleared up.

When raising the temperature, it's essential to increase aeration and surface turbulence, as warm water holds less oxygen than cool water. I've also found that doing an 80-90% water change before raising the temperature can help remove a lot of the parasites from the water and substrate. Make sure any new water you add is free of chlorine and chloramine.

Cleaning the filter is also crucial. I recommend washing the filter materials and media in a bucket of tank water and reusing them. This will help reduce the amount of gunk and pathogens in the water. However, be careful not to replace the filter media, as this can disrupt the good bacteria and lead to water quality problems.

To help retain heat, you can insulate the base and sides of the tank with 1-inch thick polystyrene foam sheets. I've found that taping them to the outside of the tank is a simple and effective solution. A cover glass on top of the tank can also help trap heat and make it easier on the heater. I recommend using 4, 5, or 6mm thick glass to avoid chipping and cracking.

If you're unable to raise the water temperature to 86F, you can consider using a white spot medication that contains Malachite green or copper. Copper is generally safer, but it's essential to note that it can harm shrimp and snails. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and avoid overdosing with medications. Also, remember to remove carbon from the filter before using any medications.

Thanks for the information, it's really helpful. I've seen a lot of online advice suggesting salt baths for ich treatment, so it's interesting to hear that it's not necessary. We can stop doing those salt baths now.

A big water change is definitely in order, but with 60 gallons to change, it's going to be a major undertaking. We'll probably need to remove the fish while we're doing it, as trying to do it by buckets would be impractical and might cause too much stress for the fish. We'll also need to be careful about the pH and carbonate levels, as the water change could cause a significant shift. I might need to add some baking soda again to stabilize the pH.

The plan is to pull the fish out, clean the gravel while draining the water, clean the filter and media, and then put everything back together. We'll add some water conditioner to the new water, fill the tank with 86-degree tap water, and restart the bubbles and filter. After an hour or so, once we're sure the temperature is stable and the water conditioner has done its job, we can add the fish back in. If the pH is still too low, we can add some baking soda to adjust it.

Our heater is powerful enough to maintain the temperature, so that's not a concern. We're already three days into the treatment, and we've only done one 20% water change so far. Most of the ich spots have disappeared, and some of the fish are already spot-free.

My main concern right now is Sol, the fish I made a video of with the heavy breathing. I'm worried that she might have a secondary disease that needs more treatment. Is there any additional information I can provide that would help diagnose her condition?

You don't remove the fish when doing a water change, just leave them in the tank and they can swim around in shallow water for a few minutes while you refill the tank. It's quite simple really.

If you only have 11 Bettas and 2 Corydoras, you could probably move them into the 10 gallon to treat. Then just drain and refill the big tank and heat it to 30C (86F). Reduce the heat after 2 weeks. This seems like a more manageable solution than trying to treat them in the large tank.

If you do regular water changes, there shouldn't be any major difference in the tap water vs the aquarium water, and you can usually do a huge water change without any noticeable change in water chemistry (pH, GH & KH). I've found this to be true in my own experience.

If you don't do regular water changes, then there might be a change in water chemistry. This is just common sense, really.

The white spot parasite has 3 stages to its life cycle.
1) the white dots on the fish.
2) the white dots drop off the fish and sit in the gravel. The parasite inside the white dot divides and reproduces.
3) the white dots in the gravel rupture open and release hundreds of new parasite that re-infect the fish. This is the only time you can kill the parasites, when they are swimming around the water looking for a new host. Once they attach themselves to a fish, and while they are in the substrate dividing, they cannot be killed.

Your tank is at stage 2 of their life cycle. I've done some research on this and it seems to be a common issue.

The fish that is breathing heavily may have had white spot on the Sprig. The parasite chews a small hole in the fish and drinks its blood for a few days before dropping off the fish and falling to the substrate where it divides. Meanwhile, the fish produces a scab over the sore and it eventually heals up but leaves a small scar.

If the Sprig had a lot of white spot parasites on them, the scar tissue reduces the fish's ability to breath, and they can suffocate. However, Bettas are labyrinth fishes and these fish have an organ in their head that lets them take air from the atmosphere and the labyrinth organs removes oxygen from the air and put it into the body. this allows Bettas and gouramis to survive in water with very low oxygen levels.

The heavy breathing is probably from the white spot but could be gill flukes, fungus or bacteria. I've tried to address any minor bacterial or fungal infections and possibly even gill flukes.

A big water change and gravel clean might help with the breathing, especially if there is lots of gunk in the gravel. Cleaning the filter might help for the same reason. Increasing aeration/ surface turbulence can help by increasing the oxygen levels in the water.

We've made some changes based on the advice given. We stopped the salt baths and raised the temperature to 86 degrees. The ich has largely gone away, which is great news for most of our bettas.

However, our sick female betta, Sol, continued to decline. We moved her to the hospital tank and treated her with Maracyn Oxy. Unfortunately, she developed dropsy and popeye, so we've been treating her with API E.M. Erythromycin and Maracyn Oxy. Thankfully, her scales have started to close back up, and her eyes are looking normal again.

She had lost her appetite for about 5 days, but it's great to see her eating again. Her scales aren't fully closed yet, though. We're unsure how long to continue treating her for dropsy. Should we keep treating her until her scales are fully closed, or should we stop the medication to reduce stress and let her body heal?