Betta Tank Crisis

[Llegmore]

I have a 5 gallon tank in which I keep a rescued betta (bitten off tail that I'm trying to nurture back to long finned loveliness) called Mercury and 5 tiny green tetras for the sake of company. It's a combination that I've kept for years in the same tank previously. This is the problem as the filter seems to have finally run its course and cut out yesterday evening. Overnight, all five of the greens have died and Merc wasn't looking too well at all.

I also have a 35 gallon tank and 2 10 gallons but 1 of the 10 gallons has another betta (pluto) in it and the 35 gallon has a red-tailed shark (lenny). Both of these are actually very placid, but knowing Merc he'll harass them to death. With this in mind, I've popped him in the other 10 gallon which currently houses 4 serpae tetras. I know these are notorious for fin nipping and I'm a bit concerned about leaving him in there. It's unlikely I'll be able to sort out his 5 gallon tank before wednesday due to my exams =S. Do you think they'll all be OK?

At the moment they've all had their tea and Merc seems more intrigued by his multiple reflections (it's a hexagonal tank) than by the serpaes but I did see one nip him.

All advice is appreciated
x

 

[pablothebetta]

You could try more regular water changes in the 5 gallon for Mercury - should be fine until Wednesday anyway. I can understand what you mean by the serpaes...

 

[Llegmore]

You could try more regular water changes in the 5 gallon for Mercury - should be fine until Wednesday anyway. I can understand what you mean by the serpaes...

i'm just a little worried that scum will form overnight, making it hard for him to breathe. I really need surface disturbance in that tank. And yeah serpaes are nasty. The only reason I bought them was they were dying of fin rot in the fish shop and I wanted to save them. Lol.

Should probably have mentioned that the green tetras were weakened. They had a nasty bout of ich a couple of weeks back which Mercury managed to avoid.

Thanks for the help.

 

[lilfishie]

Whats in the other 10 gal?

 

[DJH584]

I take it that there is no way you can strip that filter down and clean it with a view to get it going again?

David

 

[pablothebetta]

i'm just a little worried that scum will form overnight, making it hard for him to breathe. I really need surface disturbance in that tank. And yeah serpaes are nasty. The only reason I bought them was they were dying of fin rot in the fish shop and I wanted to save them. Lol.

Should probably have mentioned that the green tetras were weakened. They had a nasty bout of ich a couple of weeks back which Mercury managed to avoid.

Thanks for the help.

I doubt stuff would build up just overnight - I'd imagine water changes daily or every other day should be fine. Surely if the filter cut out, your fish wouldn't be so badly harmed in the morning though? I'd imagine some of the bacteria would still be alive. If I were you, I'd put the media from the sponges just in the tank with your betta and do the w/cs. It should keep any bacteria there alive and the w/cs should keep down any ammonia (etc) that the surviving amount can't cope with. When you get your new filter, putting some cycled media from your other tanks in with the existing media might help to bring the amount of bacteria back up. Sorry for the loss of the tetras.

 

[Llegmore]

The other 10 gal has another male betta - fighting would ensue.

Normally I wouldn't be worried about leaving a tank filter-less for just a night but this tank has a habit of failing me. I've no idea why. I blame the filter - it is very old and should have been changed by now ... clearly hasn't been processing the water properly - hence the scum.

I've decided that he'll be all right with the serpaes for a few days. He doesn't have much fin to be nipped really and I'm pretty sure he can handle them anyway ... they have matching tempers. I've been watching them carefully for the last few hours and they're not bothered with each other. I'll need awhile to cycle a new filter or may even take the opportunity to upgrade his house to a 10 gal of his own (I hate keeping bettas in any less really =/)

Anyhoo. Cheers very much for all the advice. I was a little bit panicked.

 

[Llegmore]

[/quote]
Surely if the filter cut out, your fish wouldn't be so badly harmed in the morning though?
[/quote]

I think it was because they were so weak from the ich. It's the worst I've ever had and they'd only just started eating/swimming properly. It's such a small tank that the lost of filtration for even a few hours seriously affects water conditions.

As for the scum building up - it really does in that tank. I blame it on the substrate which is a rather suspicious black gravel - the 'black' coating started to peel and led to oily residue which made it almost impossible to oxygenate the water. Horrible really. I'm a little worried seeing as I've used it in all 3 of my other tanks. Sand next time!!!