BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish betta w/ ick not responding

my betta has ick. i have been using cure ick for about a week, even though it says to only use it for about 3 days. i also make sure the temperature stays at 78 and i added a teaspoon of salt w/ every water change (he's in a 1 gallon tank) even though i have done all this, the ick is not getting better. it is not getting worse though. it just stays the same. i dont know what to do! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Can you get the water temp up to about 84F ? That may help alot. also, are you sure it is ick?

i am positive it is ick b/c i have done my research, and theres little white dots on the top half of his body and some on his face. i dont know if there's a betta color that includes white dots, im sure its ick. plus, ive only had him for about 3 or 4 weeks so i think maybe the stress caused it or the water change. i dont know how to raise the temperature because im low on money and keeping a lamp on the tank didnt seem to make it any hotter. (unless my thermometer is wrong or something) ive only had the thermometer for about a week or 2 so i hope its accurate!

Keeping the lamp over the tank should help to keep it warmer...try wrapping a towel around it or...something I did a while back was, I stood some cardboard up around the tank and put a hand towel over the top to keep the heat in (making sure it wasn't touching the lamp) and I left enough open at the front that I could peek in and see how the betta was doing..and also keep an eye on the water temp.

I had to watch the temperature closely as it could go up to 90 if I wasn't careful. If it starter to go up I just moved the lamp a little further away from the bowl or just made the opening in front a little bigger. It was a bit of a pain, but it worked and my fish is still swimming around and happy today! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Getting the temperature up is important when treating ick. The higher the temp the faster the life cycle of the ick and the quicker you get rid of it. I have read that 85F is a good goal tempwise. Good luck ! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />