Betta In A Bad State And Two Fish Dead

[lau]

Hi there,

I've just inherited a few fish - a male fighter, a catfish, a molly and there was also a very small cat fish and a platy however these have died in the last day.

They came in a small biorb so am going to try and find a proper tank today as this is far too small.

I have been researching what is wrong with the betta and thinking this could be fin rot? He apparently had a crown tail a few weeks back, ive picked up some disese stuff to put in the tank but im a little worried!

Thanks for your help

Laura

 

[KittyKat]

Please post your full water parameters, including ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and temperature.

Are you doing any water changes? Do you have a dechlorinator? For example one like Prime, which deals with ammonia?

Go read about the nitrogen cycle; in the biorb, the bacteria live on the rough rocks which make up the substrate.

That fish really is in a bad state, lets see if we can help it.

 

[lau]

I've been given this tank, (2 days ago) so i don't know about any of that...i don't know if the water is cycled etc. I'm no expert on fish, i do know this tank is too small though. its 15 litres...

It has a heater in that's set to 25.

Thanks

 

[Louiseness]

First thing to do is buy some dechlorinator and do a BIG water change (80-90% is ideal) with warm, dechlorinated water. It's very likely that your fish are ill because of bad water conditions so this will help.

Next thing to do is get a test kit, you can get master test kits on ebay but at the very least you'll need a kit for ammonia and nitrite, and nitrate would be useful- get liquid tests, not strips if you can. Until you get your test kit, I'd recommend doing about a 50% water change every day if you can. it should be easy enough because your tank is really small.

When you get your test kit let us know what the results for ammonia and nitrite are (and nitrate if you have that kit) and we can let you know whether you;re cycled and where to go from there.

if you get a new tank, you will DEFINITELY be uncycled, so you could either do a fishless cycle with that tank then move the fish, a fish-in cycle in the new tank (LOTS of water changing!) or you could get some mature media from someone else with a tank to get you started. But the first thing to do is get your fish some clean water!

 

[lau]

Thank you for the advice, its really appreciated! I'll get the test kit now and let you know asap, the pet shop may stock them, if not ebay it is.


Thank you again

Laura

 

[Louiseness]

Thank you for the advice, its really appreciated! I'll get the test kit now and let you know asap, the pet shop may stock them, if not ebay it is.


Thank you again

Laura

Your pet shop should stock them, I don't know where youa re but I;m in the UK and Pets at Home stocks them, so if you;re in the US I imagine Petsmart or similar should do too.

 

[lau]

Thank you for the advice, its really appreciated! I'll get the test kit now and let you know asap, the pet shop may stock them, if not ebay it is.


Thank you again

Laura

Your pet shop should stock them, I don't know where youa re but I;m in the UK and Pets at Home stocks them, so if you;re in the US I imagine Petsmart or similar should do too.

Petsathome it is, im in the UK also - Peterborough. Just had a look on their website, they have http/www.petsathome.com/shop/tropical-startup-kit-25615

Would that be the dechlorinator? I cant seem to find much else like it.

Many thanks
Laura

 

[Louiseness]

Petsathome it is, im in the UK also - Peterborough. Just had a look on their website, they have http/www.petsathome.com/shop/tropical-startup-kit-25615

Would that be the dechlorinator? I cant seem to find much else like it.

Many thanks
Laura

I just had a look at their website and it's rubbish, really hard to find what you want.

You want something that says on the bottle that is removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. Sorry, I wasn't very clear calling it 'dechlorinator', probably better known as water conditioner.

Products like these: stress coat, API tap water conditioner, aqua plus conditioner or tapsafe will all do what you want.

 

[KittyKat]

lau, it would be best if you bought Prime, or second best Stress Coat for dechlorinating the water because they "deal" with ammonia and Prime also "deals" with nitrite. API master test kit is the best value for money, I think.

Louiseness, if lau does a large water change without knowing start and end parameters, it could kill the fish if the parameters are very different.
lau, it would be safer to do the following instead of a large water change *until* you have a test kit and can see if there is any difference in tap and tank water for pH (and ideally, hardness):

1. now: 10% water change
2. in 1 hour: 15% water change
3. in 2 hours: 20% water change
4. in 3 hours: 25% water change
5. in 4 hours: 30% water change
6. in 5 hours: 35% water change
7. in 6 hours: 40% water change
8. in 7 hours: 40% water change (at this point around 7.5% of the original water will be in the tank and the parameters will be almost identical to tap water)

And from that point on, it should be safe to do 90-95% water changes every 12 or 24 hours, as needed. As Louiseness said, make sure you dechlorinate and temperature match the new water for water changes! I recommend that you use a double dose of Prime or Stress Coat, just to be on the safe side.

Ideally, your aim will be to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 ppm as possible, and never letting either reach 0.25 ppm. 0 ppm is the only "safe" number for either of the two.

 

[Louiseness]

Louiseness, if lau does a large water change without knowing start and end parameters, it could kill the fish if the parameters are very different.

Good point! I didn't think that it wasn't her own tap water.

 

[lau]

Thanks for all your help, it was really appreciated.

I managed to get all the bits and bobs and a new tank set up etc so just going to wait for that. Unfortunately the betta died last night so i was too late however the catfish and molly are looking lively so once the tanks ready i'll get them transferred over. The ph level was at 7.5.


Thank you

Laura

 

[dh058977]

Thanks for all your help, it was really appreciated.

I managed to get all the bits and bobs and a new tank set up etc so just going to wait for that. Unfortunately the betta died last night so i was too late however the catfish and molly are looking lively so once the tanks ready i'll get them transferred over. The ph level was at 7.5.


Thank you

Laura

How are you cycling your new tank? Did you test for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate in the old one yet? The pH of your tank is some what irrelevant at this stage, your fish could be suffering form Ammonia poisoning. Are you following the water change method that Kittykat suggested?

 

[lau]

Thanks for all your help, it was really appreciated.

I managed to get all the bits and bobs and a new tank set up etc so just going to wait for that. Unfortunately the betta died last night so i was too late however the catfish and molly are looking lively so once the tanks ready i'll get them transferred over. The ph level was at 7.5.


Thank you

Laura

How are you cycling your new tank? Did you test for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate in the old one yet? The pH of your tank is some what irrelevant at this stage, your fish could be suffering form Ammonia poisoning. Are you following the water change method that Kittykat suggested?

I did, it came up clear which said its a well established tank on the chart. i havent got an amonia test yet, i'll have a look for one however i did add the solutions i got that were suggested.

I will be this evening, i cant during the day, however i changed some of the water last night in a few stages.

Thank you

Laura

 

[the_lock_man]

if you get a new tank, you will DEFINITELY be uncycled, so you could either do a fishless cycle with that tank then move the fish, a fish-in cycle in the new tank (LOTS of water changing!) or you could get some mature media from someone else with a tank to get you started. But the first thing to do is get your fish some clean water!

Just wanted to say, if Lau went with a fishless cycle for a new tank, he/she would still need to be doing fish-in water changes on the biorb anyway, so, IMO, it would probably be better to put the fish in the larger tank sooner rather than later.

 

[KittyKat]

Just wanted to say, if Lau went with a fishless cycle for a new tank, he/she would still need to be doing fish-in water changes on the biorb anyway, so, IMO, it would probably be better to put the fish in the larger tank sooner rather than later.

Yes, the lock man is right: in a larger tank, the ammonia and nitrite concentrations should be lower with the same number of fish, so it would be "safer" and potentially less work for lau