How Much Salt Do You Put In Your Betta's Water?

[branjie]

Hi all,
Last time I did a full water change, I caught my Betta in a plastic cup to put him back in his tank, and was upset to see half of one of his crowntail tassels came off. I wanted to use some salt. Someone said to use a teaspoon for 10 Litres (2.6 gal approx), but that seems like an awful lot to me. I ended up putting in a quarter of a teaspoon. How much should I use? I used rock sea salt that I have in a grinder in the kitchen.

Also, my crowntail tassels kind of curl up at the ends and go ratty. I think the tips must fall off, as I've seen little black bits in the tank when I clean it. Do they malt, or is this a problem? He seems well. When he was in the community tank, I thought it was from the filter current, but he's been in his own unfiltered tank for weeks now, and his fins are the same.

 

[branjie]

Anybody?



'

 

[devon_charm]

Hi as far as the salt is concerned i don't think you really need alot of it to do the job. How big is the tank?

I have a CT male and his fins curl up at the end, i have had him for months now and has always been that way i think is kinda cute. However they do seem delicate and he has lost a couple during a waterchange, i just kept the water clean and added a tiny bit of Melafix (think thats how its spelt) to his water to stop infection.

 

[dmarie04]

Curled fins on a crowntail are indications of not-perfect water conditions. Crowntails have to be in perfect water in order to maintain their "crowns"! This doesn't necessarily mean the water is dirty though. Maybe your water is too hard? Or ph is too high? I have very hard water with high ph. It's hard for me to keep CTs. I have started using a lot of IAL in my CTs water to keep his tail from curling all up. I've also read that a little bit of direct sunlight each day will help uncurl a CTs tail, but I haven't tried it myself. As far as the salt goes, I use 1 teaspoon per gallon of water.

 

[devon_charm]

Curled fins on a crowntail are indications of not-perfect water conditions. Crowntails have to be in perfect water in order to maintain their "crowns"! This doesn't necessarily mean the water is dirty though. Maybe your water is too hard? Or ph is too high? I have very hard water with high ph. It's hard for me to keep CTs. I have started using a lot of IAL in my CTs water to keep his tail from curling all up. I've also read that a little bit of direct sunlight each day will help uncurl a CTs tail, but I haven't tried it myself. As far as the salt goes, I use 1 teaspoon per gallon of water.

Hmmm i'll have to move him into the sun, i live in a very soft water area but i may look into this further, i just took it to be the norm as my other CT is fine

 

[girl4God81]

what dmarie said, and also, be careful about moving him to the sunlight since it can raise the temp quickly and drop it quickly as the sun goes down. good luck!

 

[K.J.]

The reccomended dosage on the back of my salt box says a tablespoon for every 5 gallons - a quarter teaspoon of salt would do absolutely nothing. When I'm repairing fins I go ahead and add 1 tablespoon per 2.5 gallon.

 

[girl4God81]

yes but does that apply to bettas? it's usually recommended to put less for bettas.

 

[K.J.]

I believe it's for fish in general. Obviously they can't specify it for every fish, and IMO bettas are no less hardy or salt tolerant than other fish, and I don't believe it will harm their scale or body, like corydoras, to have salt added. However, it is debatable whether salt works at all, and many people only believe it works in concentrations enough to kill the fish.

Salt: Good or Bad?

 

[branjie]

devon charm my tank is 10 Litres which is about 2.6 gal.

A tablespoon of salt sounds like a LOT to me. I know I have a recipe for making pizza dough which says to use a teaspoon of salt. If I use that much, the pizza is so salty I can barely eat it. I think the salt would help to make the water cleaner. As a nurse I always used salt water to clean wounds before dressing them. Salt won't cure anything, but I think it could help provide the right (clean) conditions to allow a wound to heal. I guess there isn't any concensus on how much to use. If it's just as a preventative, with no actual visible infection, I think I would rather under do it than over do it.

The sunlight for the CT tails sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately I don't have anywhere to move mine to permanently, and the tank is too heavy to move for just part of the day.

Thanks for your responses everyone.

 

[K.J.]

It depends on the brand of salt. My API salt says 5 tablespoons per 5 gallons and my Jungle says 1/4 tsp per gallon.