Forgot To Add Dechlorinator!

[Sly13Cat]

Well my little sister has a female betta in a little betta bowl (yes I know) and she did her weekly water change but forgot to add the dechlorinator. It's been about 5 hours before she realized. I added a dose of Prime but after a short bout of research added another dose and we're areating the bowl with the areator from the other 10 gal on lowest setting. The fish isn't showing any outward behavior or change of colour (Can't tell because I don't check on her fish but it's showing normal behavior for a betta). Maybe the fish's a little lethargic but again I can't really tell (But she moved pretty fast when I added the areator). Is there anything else we can do and how long do we leave the areator in? What are her odds of survival?

 

[FishFanatic04]

Did you do a full change? Luckily Bettas are hardy little guys, You would probably notice some odd behavior by now if something was wrong. Does the betta have a heater/ filter...etc? Would you consider trying to get it one? Before I knew much about Bettas, I kept them in bowls, but since I have kept them in proper tanks with heaters and filter...the change is incredible! They are more active and beautiful then ever.

 

[Sly13Cat]

Yeah I know she's only in a .5 gallon. She did a 80-90% water change (we put back in the water that we have in the cup with the betta while changing it). I know about getting a bigger bowl and am hoping she can get a 2.5 minimum.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I wasn't scolding you or lecturing, sorry if it seemed that way. Bettas are not marketed well, and I fell into the small tank Betta "trap." I got 3.5g tanks from petsmart for only $22 on sale to upgrade my bettas. You can probably help your sister find something for a very reasonable price.

If you haven't seen any signs of distress yet, you might be fine this long after the water change.

 

[Sly13Cat]

No I wasn't saying that I was being scolded just saying that to get it out of the way. So today we moved her to a 1.5 gallon Rubbermaid container. She's enjoying her new space and is exploring with this

face. Seems like the chlorine didn't even phase her. We're leaving the aerator in there and only turning it on for a few hours a day.

 

[Tolak]

Many people who do 25% or less water changes don't even bother with dechlor. I do large water changes, 50%+, due to the nature of my setup it always gets added afterward.