mikkean
New Member
My 17 year old daughter bought a Betta and a 1 gal bowl about 3 months ago while I was out of town. I'm not exactly sure what kind he is, but he's a beige color with grey and brick red coloring. The Betta, "Crazy Racer" as my kids named him because he was swimming so crazily when they brought him home and got him out of his tiny cup, has been doing well until recently...more on that in a minute.
The weather has gotten chilier here in NE FL and I found this forum about a week ago when I was looking for advice on heating his bowl. After reading and learning about the adequate size of a tank and cycling, I went out and purchased a 5 gallon tank which is in the process of cycling - the tank came with a Whisper Micro Filter. We also looked at the various heating elements and had an adjustable one (25w I think), but the store employees said it was too much and to get the Aqueon 10w mini heater which seems to be keeping the temp around 80-81 in the new tank - I just wish it were adjustable. I set the tank up on Nov 12th and filled with well water (we don't use the tap water for anything other than bathing). I also purchased the API testing kit and tested the well water - pH is about 7.6 and everything else tested normal. Not knowing if it would help at all, I took a few tablespoonfuls of the gravel from his bowl and placed them into the new tank with the other new gravel. Since his bowl doesn't have a filter, didn't know if this would help kickstart anything or not. I also planted a few live plants in the new tank. The filter ran for about 36 hours before I was able to find the correct ammonia, and added the ammonia on Nov 15 so it read about 5ppm. I know it will take some time to cycle - today's reading had ammonia at 2ppm, nitrIte at 5ppm, and nitrAtes at 10ppm. I will continue with cycling it, but I'm worried that by the time it cycles, it may be too late.
When I got the API test kit, his bowl was reading very slightly over 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and about 50-60 nitrAtes (the ammonia would read between 0 and .25, but if I read it again after an hour, it would be back to reading 0 - don't know if it would always do that or I'm reading the initial reading incorrectly). There is also a small live plant in his bowl. I have done two 50% water changes over the past few days and got the nitrAtes down to 10. Even though it's well water, we still do add a few drops of conditioner.
He's become larthargic staying at the top of the bowl pretty much in one spot. I'm also seeing what I'm thinking is fin rot as there are some white fibrous strands in his fins and his fins are appearing clamped. No spots on the body that I can see. I read a suggestion on here about how to warm a bowl so I have the side of the bowl touching the warmed tank and also have two towels wrapped around the rest of the bowl - his bowl is also setting on a thick potholder so it's not directly on the cold counter. The ambient air in the house pretty much stays at 75 and at night when it drops I turn the heat on for Crazy Racer and maintain at 75 (although my husband's not too keen on heating the house for the sake of the fish). What I've noticed is that he's become like this since I got the new tank and the last few water changes. Where he stays in the bowl is where it's touching the new tank and where he can obviously see where his new home will be. Before I found this forum, my husband put a heating pad on low under the bowl and he was swimming around like crazy (this was about 10 days ago) we took it away because we didn't have a thermometer to monitor the heat.
I just bought some aquarium salt and some Bettafix today but haven't done anything with it yet. I'm a little unsure what to do. The store employee was shocked when i told her I was getting the 5 gal tank ready and pretty much said what a spoiled fish and a tank doesn't need to be cycled. She also advised against the aquarium salt and tetracycline I had and told me to get Bettafix (I still bought the salt).
Should I try the heating pad again with a thermometer? What about the fin rot?
We all just want Crazy Racer to make it until he gets to his new home.
Thanks for any feedback!
The weather has gotten chilier here in NE FL and I found this forum about a week ago when I was looking for advice on heating his bowl. After reading and learning about the adequate size of a tank and cycling, I went out and purchased a 5 gallon tank which is in the process of cycling - the tank came with a Whisper Micro Filter. We also looked at the various heating elements and had an adjustable one (25w I think), but the store employees said it was too much and to get the Aqueon 10w mini heater which seems to be keeping the temp around 80-81 in the new tank - I just wish it were adjustable. I set the tank up on Nov 12th and filled with well water (we don't use the tap water for anything other than bathing). I also purchased the API testing kit and tested the well water - pH is about 7.6 and everything else tested normal. Not knowing if it would help at all, I took a few tablespoonfuls of the gravel from his bowl and placed them into the new tank with the other new gravel. Since his bowl doesn't have a filter, didn't know if this would help kickstart anything or not. I also planted a few live plants in the new tank. The filter ran for about 36 hours before I was able to find the correct ammonia, and added the ammonia on Nov 15 so it read about 5ppm. I know it will take some time to cycle - today's reading had ammonia at 2ppm, nitrIte at 5ppm, and nitrAtes at 10ppm. I will continue with cycling it, but I'm worried that by the time it cycles, it may be too late.
When I got the API test kit, his bowl was reading very slightly over 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and about 50-60 nitrAtes (the ammonia would read between 0 and .25, but if I read it again after an hour, it would be back to reading 0 - don't know if it would always do that or I'm reading the initial reading incorrectly). There is also a small live plant in his bowl. I have done two 50% water changes over the past few days and got the nitrAtes down to 10. Even though it's well water, we still do add a few drops of conditioner.
He's become larthargic staying at the top of the bowl pretty much in one spot. I'm also seeing what I'm thinking is fin rot as there are some white fibrous strands in his fins and his fins are appearing clamped. No spots on the body that I can see. I read a suggestion on here about how to warm a bowl so I have the side of the bowl touching the warmed tank and also have two towels wrapped around the rest of the bowl - his bowl is also setting on a thick potholder so it's not directly on the cold counter. The ambient air in the house pretty much stays at 75 and at night when it drops I turn the heat on for Crazy Racer and maintain at 75 (although my husband's not too keen on heating the house for the sake of the fish). What I've noticed is that he's become like this since I got the new tank and the last few water changes. Where he stays in the bowl is where it's touching the new tank and where he can obviously see where his new home will be. Before I found this forum, my husband put a heating pad on low under the bowl and he was swimming around like crazy (this was about 10 days ago) we took it away because we didn't have a thermometer to monitor the heat.
I just bought some aquarium salt and some Bettafix today but haven't done anything with it yet. I'm a little unsure what to do. The store employee was shocked when i told her I was getting the 5 gal tank ready and pretty much said what a spoiled fish and a tank doesn't need to be cycled. She also advised against the aquarium salt and tetracycline I had and told me to get Bettafix (I still bought the salt).
Should I try the heating pad again with a thermometer? What about the fin rot?
We all just want Crazy Racer to make it until he gets to his new home.
Thanks for any feedback!
