Velvet on Betta

[Stella]

I have a betta sorority consisting of 9 female bettas and 1 very small bristlenose pleco in a 29 gallon tank.  I had noticed that one of the girls had some missing scales, but thought maybe she had been in a scuffle.  Today though I she looks like she has gold dust on her head, and am thinking she has velvet.  Will I need to treat the entire tank with Ich-X?  I do have some plants, and the bristlenose I'm concerned about.  Any help or advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Tank Parameters

78 degrees, Ammonia & Nitrite 0, Nitrates approx 40-80 (its hard to tell the colors apart)

[Colu]

Can you take picture of sick fish as for ick x I would treat all your fish if it's velvet I've not heard of ick x being harmful to plants or bristlenose 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Colu

[Stella]

The fish I'm concerned about is the dark blue one.  She is acting perfectly fine, eating normally, but she has the missing scales, and the gold look to her head.  I have another one in that tank that is acting unusually lethargic, and not eating, but she doesn't appear to have any outward signs of anything.  I think I'm going to take her out and put her in a hospital tank.

[Colu]

Betta will lose scale and develop tumors it very common. I don't no whether that going to be the case her it difficult to tell if it's velvet off your picture 

[Beccs410]

It is difficult to tell if that is indeed Velvet from the pictures, but I just recently fought off Velvet from my betta over the last several weeks. Mine developed that rusty look along the top of him and started flashing. Is your betta rubbing itself against things? Like it's trying to scratch an itch? That might be something to look for in your hunt to diagnose. I will say that once I did verify it was velvet on mine, I used Fritz Coppersafe. I've heard (just through my own research upon freaking out) that with Velvet, copper is the strongest and most effective treatment so I decided to hit it with everything I had. Granted, he was still in quarantine so that made using a copper-based treatment easier. I slowly ramped up the dose so I didn't shock him and tested how much of the med was in the water as too much can cause problems. Blacking out my tank completely was another thing I did. Velvet is caused by a type of photosynthesizing parasite so that will help keep it under control during treatment. That is what worked for me, but my situation with him still being in quarantine makes it a little bit different since yours is in a community tank. I have my fingers crossed that it isn't Velvet for you and good luck!!

[Stella]

I'm sorry I can't get a better picture of her.  She will not stay still for anything lol.  I haven't noticed any of them flashing or really acting abnormally other than one, and she's not showing any outward signs of anything,  She's just being more lethargic than normal.  The coloring I'm seeing on her head may be just her color.  She has changed color so much in the last few months. (she used to be blue and white)

[GameCzar]

Our betta had a run in with velvet, we heated his tank up, dosed him up with aquarium salt, and left the light off a few days and he cleared up pretty quick.
 

It was pretty easy for us to see on him because of his dark color that it was velvet, it looked like he had a dusting of pine pollen on him.

Edited June 13, 2021 by GameCzar