My girlfriend has had a beta for approx 3 years now. He is a beautiful fish. This weekend we decided to get him a larger tank. we went to the petshop, and got a 6.6gal bookshelf tank. It came with a filter. while we were there we talked to the "expert" and she told us it would be ok if we wanted to enter another fish into the tank. so we brought the tank home, and cleaned all the rocks and fake plants with tap water. then set the tank up with the filter and put water in the tank. after a while we entered the beta. he seemed happy as could be, and i wish thats where this story ended. so the next day we excitedly went back to the pet shop, and got 3 more fish. a red platy, and two tetra neons. we introduced them in with the beta, and to my surprise everyone got along. so the next day when i returned home from work, the neons were dead, and the platty had some fuzzy stuff on his tail, fins and mouth. being that the beta is very important to us, we removed the platty from the tank and put him in a smaller bowl. i ran out to the shop, and they explained that it might be fungus, also known as ick. and they gave me pimafix (pimenta racemosa), and told me to leave them seperate, but treat both tanks. so i have. today is the second day of treatment. the beta doesnt appear sick. but his behavior has changed. he has been more lethargic, and has been swimming kind of sideways. im worried that hes dying, and im hoping maybe someone might have some experience with this. also after i treated the water, it became slightly cloudy, and im wondering if maybe that is another problem. i never imagined we would have such a problem. if anyone has any input i would greatly appreciate it. thanks.
Betta Help
- Thread starter MikeAcqua
- Start date
greenscooby
Fishaholic
Did you cycle the new tank?
jacko32
looking for a hard headed woman
your betta might be lethargic because the meds you are using will be reducing the oxygen levels in the water if he looks healthy the best thing you can do is large water changes of around 70% daily or every other day if he seems fine there may be no need for the meds
no, unfortunately.. i wish i had done more research, but i let my excitement get the best of me. i didnt think anything of it, because we had changed his tank before, but this was the largest tank i had put him in, and the only one with a filter.. and although i can only blame myself, the "expert" i refured to didnt mention cycling the tank. and some things i read say i should cycle for a month before introducing fish.
greenscooby
Fishaholic
Ok lets not panic here, your 'expert' is a salesman he's there to make money not to make your life or your fishes life easier, do you still have your old tank set up and running?
Ok, first of all breathe.
Right.
Fish produce waste, just like any other animal. They poo and wee and do all the rest. In a fish tank, this waste becomes something called ammonia. This ammonia is very toxic to fish and because they are in a small tank and not a river or lake, they can't get away from it and it builds up in the tank.
In an unfiltered tank, you need to keep very few fish (so in 6.6 gallons, your betta should be the only fish) and you need to do lots and lots of water changes (maybe 4+ a week) to keep the ammonia really, really low. If the ammonia gets high, then the fish get sick.
If you hve a filter, that's great. What a filter does is provide a home for special bacteria that get rid of the ammonia for you. However, in a newly set up tank, the bacteria have not grown yet and so you need to treat it like an unfiltered tank for a couple of months. This means lots of water changes. The best thing to do is get some liquid test kits that test for ammonia and something else called nitrite. Nitrite is also a poison that you get in fish tanks and there are some special bacteria to get rid of that as well. The best way to keep the fish safe is to only have the betta (so that the ammonia doesn't build up too fast) and to test the water every day. If you get a reading for either ammonia or nitrite, do a big water change (about 50% as minimum). This will help keep the fish safe and stop them getting sick from living in their poo and wee. After a while the bacteria will start keeping the fish safe for you (you'll know when that happens because all your water tests will be zero) and then you just need to change the water once a week!
Remember, if you don't have a filter you can't grow the right bacteria and so you will always need to do lots of water changes.
Now, why did your fish get sick?
1) It could have been some ammonia or nitrite in the water
2) The betta could have killed the neons and/or bullied the platy
3) The fish could have been stressed from the change to your new tank
4) The new fish might have come with a disease
Stressed fish = unhealthy fish. They can't take a break or go and watch TV - they find a lot of things stressful because they are still wild in their minds and always watching out for predators and other things that will kill them! They are also always affected by their environment. If we live in smog and smoke we can move away or put the air conditioner on. However, if fish live in nasty water they just get stressed and sick.
Fungusy looking stuff could be fungus but could also be a bacterial condition. Some of those look a lot like a fungal infection. If fish start to produce too much slime, this can also be mistaken for a fungal infection. They produce slime to protect themselves (like a shield) but sometimes they get sick and produce too much. Pimafix is good but some people have reported it hurts bettas (Melafix is the usual culprit, but some people say Pimafix also hurts them). However, the shop was wrong when they said fungus was ick. Ick (or ich) is actually a kind of paraite that looks like grains of sand.
What you need to do now is test your water - go buy a test kit and tell us what the readings are. In the meantime, do a nicwe big water change - I recommend about 70% today and 70% tomorrow. Make sure you add water conditioner (that removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals) whenever you add tap water to the tank and make sure you roughly match the temperature of the new water to the old water with your hand.
If you keep the platy in the bowl, keep it in a warm place and alternate between changing 70% of the water one day and 100% of the water the next day. When you change 100%, slowly get him used to the new water by keeping him in some old water and adding a little bit of new water every 5 minutes or so for 20 minutes, and then move him over.
Have a read here - this is all excellent information about problems with fish and how to mantain a fish tank sucessfully!
Right.
Fish produce waste, just like any other animal. They poo and wee and do all the rest. In a fish tank, this waste becomes something called ammonia. This ammonia is very toxic to fish and because they are in a small tank and not a river or lake, they can't get away from it and it builds up in the tank.
In an unfiltered tank, you need to keep very few fish (so in 6.6 gallons, your betta should be the only fish) and you need to do lots and lots of water changes (maybe 4+ a week) to keep the ammonia really, really low. If the ammonia gets high, then the fish get sick.
If you hve a filter, that's great. What a filter does is provide a home for special bacteria that get rid of the ammonia for you. However, in a newly set up tank, the bacteria have not grown yet and so you need to treat it like an unfiltered tank for a couple of months. This means lots of water changes. The best thing to do is get some liquid test kits that test for ammonia and something else called nitrite. Nitrite is also a poison that you get in fish tanks and there are some special bacteria to get rid of that as well. The best way to keep the fish safe is to only have the betta (so that the ammonia doesn't build up too fast) and to test the water every day. If you get a reading for either ammonia or nitrite, do a big water change (about 50% as minimum). This will help keep the fish safe and stop them getting sick from living in their poo and wee. After a while the bacteria will start keeping the fish safe for you (you'll know when that happens because all your water tests will be zero) and then you just need to change the water once a week!
Remember, if you don't have a filter you can't grow the right bacteria and so you will always need to do lots of water changes.
Now, why did your fish get sick?
1) It could have been some ammonia or nitrite in the water
2) The betta could have killed the neons and/or bullied the platy
3) The fish could have been stressed from the change to your new tank
4) The new fish might have come with a disease
Stressed fish = unhealthy fish. They can't take a break or go and watch TV - they find a lot of things stressful because they are still wild in their minds and always watching out for predators and other things that will kill them! They are also always affected by their environment. If we live in smog and smoke we can move away or put the air conditioner on. However, if fish live in nasty water they just get stressed and sick.
Fungusy looking stuff could be fungus but could also be a bacterial condition. Some of those look a lot like a fungal infection. If fish start to produce too much slime, this can also be mistaken for a fungal infection. They produce slime to protect themselves (like a shield) but sometimes they get sick and produce too much. Pimafix is good but some people have reported it hurts bettas (Melafix is the usual culprit, but some people say Pimafix also hurts them). However, the shop was wrong when they said fungus was ick. Ick (or ich) is actually a kind of paraite that looks like grains of sand.
What you need to do now is test your water - go buy a test kit and tell us what the readings are. In the meantime, do a nicwe big water change - I recommend about 70% today and 70% tomorrow. Make sure you add water conditioner (that removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals) whenever you add tap water to the tank and make sure you roughly match the temperature of the new water to the old water with your hand.
If you keep the platy in the bowl, keep it in a warm place and alternate between changing 70% of the water one day and 100% of the water the next day. When you change 100%, slowly get him used to the new water by keeping him in some old water and adding a little bit of new water every 5 minutes or so for 20 minutes, and then move him over.
Have a read here - this is all excellent information about problems with fish and how to mantain a fish tank sucessfully!
greenscooby
Fishaholic
OK, your best bet is to post this in the Betta section as well, but my advice now is you are in a fish in cycle, this means a 50% - 75% water change once maybe twice a day to keep your water paramiters (spelling) correct and to mature your filter, check out the beginners section as to cycling, but please post your problem in the Betta section and get some expert advice,
Mark,
Just read Assaye comments, totally agree.
Mark,
Just read Assaye comments, totally agree.
i totally appreciate your help guys. now that ive read it, it makes total sense. i just did a 70% change. the bettas looking pretty bad. i feel terrible for moving him without doing the proper research. im going to post this in the betta section, and again i really do appreciate your advice.
greenscooby
Fishaholic
Thats what we are all here for, to learn, and to help others, never be afraid to ask, i still do
Mark.
Mark.
jacko32
looking for a hard headed woman
you need to do the 70% water changes everyday the meds have made the betta lethargic because when you use meds it lowers the oxygen level in the water sorry theres no overnight cure
my betta seems to be much better. hes not floating sideways, and he seems to be getting better. but he is very lethargic. hes been sitting in the top corner of my tank for the last day or so. i havent been feeding him, and ive been doing a 50-70% change daily. im just wondering if his inactivity is a sign of his recovery.
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