My betta was at deaths door from what I think is ammonia poisoning. After seeing no results with bettarevive and bifuran, I tried fungus clear and he started coming around after 12 hours. Now after 2 days he's swimming constantly and improving. My question is that the meds say to wait 4 days, do a 25% change & add more meds. The ammo a level is fine but the GH, has gone from 120 to 180, KH 120 to 240, PH 7 to 8. He is by himself in a 10 gallon 78 deg tank. Should I change his water to get the levels down? Do the levels usually go up like that?
Betta Healing From Ammonia But...
- Thread starter Colleen
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- betta ammonia ph
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Meeresstille
Fish Addict
For ammonia poisoning the best treatment is just clean warm water. To help your Betta's immune-system you could raise the temp in your tank to 80F. To help boost his immune-system you can soak his food in some garlic juice. Getting him a good quality food is also very important. I did not know this myself for a very long time, but Bettas being carnivores need special foods. The Betta pellets from New Life Spectrum are made with good ingredients. And don't feed him freeze dried blood worms, they can cause bloat, better are the frozen bloodworms. You may have to ask for them at your LFS if you can't find them, they are kept in freezers.
As to your question, I have no experience with the products you added, you might need to check what could contain anything to raise your pH. You need to be very careful getting your Betta's tank water back down to the levels of your tap water. Making daily small changes will help you there. 25% sound a little too much for me, I would rather go with 10% at each change to give your Betta time to adjust, especially after still recuperating from Ammonia poisoning and the different products that he was introduced to.
How come your Betta had ammonia poisoning to start with, did you just buy him from a store where he was ill maintained in his little cup? Is the tank he is in now a cycled tank? Is there something in the substrate that could have raised your pH?
As to your question, I have no experience with the products you added, you might need to check what could contain anything to raise your pH. You need to be very careful getting your Betta's tank water back down to the levels of your tap water. Making daily small changes will help you there. 25% sound a little too much for me, I would rather go with 10% at each change to give your Betta time to adjust, especially after still recuperating from Ammonia poisoning and the different products that he was introduced to.
How come your Betta had ammonia poisoning to start with, did you just buy him from a store where he was ill maintained in his little cup? Is the tank he is in now a cycled tank? Is there something in the substrate that could have raised your pH?
Unfortunately ammonia poisoning shortens the life span of any fish as far as I'm aware, so sure you can make his condition better now but unless I'm wrong his life span has been shortened already.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong anyway
Someone correct me if I'm wrong anyway
Meeresstille
Fish Addict
I guess that depends on how badly his organs were damaged by the ammonia. Many kind-hearted people rescue Bettas from poor conditions, where the poor fish show signs of illness. In good conditions the Bettas can still live a couple of happy years! 
Colleen, I didn't see this post of yours and gave you advice in your older thread. I am glad to hear that he is improving. I wouldn't worry too much about the hardness levels, just watch that the pH doesn't get to high or low. Beta's are usually very hard creatures and I've seen ones that are rescued from deplorable conditions.
As for his lifespan, yes ammonia toxicity can lower it, but you can still eek out many days by keeping the levels low and him healthy.
Out of curiosity, shine a light on him (phone LED's are best) and see if there are any gold flecks. It sounds like he had a fungal infection (probably from the pet store) that was allowed to bloom when the ammonia levels knocked out his slime coat. In the future add stress coat when getting a new fish in the tank (just a bit if the tank doesn't need a water change) to help them keep that up but as I said in the other thread not too much b/c of the Aloe vera in it.
@Meeresstille, I want to agree about only doing a 10% water change but I'm a bit worried that if the fungus is still present in the tank that 10% might be too little. Since most fungus that infect betas can only be killed while in the active stage the levels must be kept higher longer so that any spore stage fungus can be outlasted so to speak. If the infection wasn't present it would probably be ok to do a 10% water change in a cycled filtered tank (which colleen's is on the way to being).
On a side note I also spoke about freshwater salts in the other thread. Their fairly cheap and if you add them as per the instructions on the container it will help to prevent any latent spores from being able to colonize again. They will hatch but the salts should take care of them (along with the good bacteria colonies and the slime coat).
If you could post pictures on the progress that would be amazingly helpful and give us a good idea of how well your beta is doing.
As for his lifespan, yes ammonia toxicity can lower it, but you can still eek out many days by keeping the levels low and him healthy.
Out of curiosity, shine a light on him (phone LED's are best) and see if there are any gold flecks. It sounds like he had a fungal infection (probably from the pet store) that was allowed to bloom when the ammonia levels knocked out his slime coat. In the future add stress coat when getting a new fish in the tank (just a bit if the tank doesn't need a water change) to help them keep that up but as I said in the other thread not too much b/c of the Aloe vera in it.
@Meeresstille, I want to agree about only doing a 10% water change but I'm a bit worried that if the fungus is still present in the tank that 10% might be too little. Since most fungus that infect betas can only be killed while in the active stage the levels must be kept higher longer so that any spore stage fungus can be outlasted so to speak. If the infection wasn't present it would probably be ok to do a 10% water change in a cycled filtered tank (which colleen's is on the way to being).
On a side note I also spoke about freshwater salts in the other thread. Their fairly cheap and if you add them as per the instructions on the container it will help to prevent any latent spores from being able to colonize again. They will hatch but the salts should take care of them (along with the good bacteria colonies and the slime coat).
If you could post pictures on the progress that would be amazingly helpful and give us a good idea of how well your beta is doing.
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