Snails and salt?

[tttnjfttt]

I just looked at my moms betta and he is looking very stressed. I'm guessing this from a combo of high nitrAtes (Her idea of water chnages is replacing evaporated water with bottled water), high temp - 86 degreese, and high minerals.

I've finally gotten permission to begin doing some water changes, and I've seen aquarium salt work wonders on my guys before. The catch is, she thinks her tank is a snail farm, and is way too attached to these little critters. Will adding salt in harm the snails?

There is no other sign of illness besides his behavior and the fact he is pale. Haven't tested the water yet, but I can gaurentee the only prob wil be nitrAtes. I know to do the water changes slowly because of stress.....

 

[WILDER]

To be honest i don't no if salt will harm the snails, can she put them somewhere else.

 

[tttnjfttt]

At last count, she was up to almost 20 snails in a 2 gal . He's definately looking better today, but still not as good as I would like. I'm thinking for now I'm gonna begin small partial water changes to get the nitrAte down.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

 

[black angel]

all those snails will be adding to any ammonia problem there might be and they will be taking valuable oxygen from the water.

 

[tttnjfttt]

By some miracle, she does have this tank cycled. I think it was more by ignorance and dumb luck. My mom does have a UGF filter that is the type driven by an airstone (think the cheap walmart 1 gal tanks type). I have tried to convince her to do weekly water changes with my mini gravel vac, but she refuses. I have tried to convince her to just scoop out some water leaving algae alone, but no luck. I have offered her betta a spot in my divided 10 gal, but she also refused. I have told her to give all but one snail away (she can give them to the science teacher who she got them from). Trust me, I HATE how she treats this poor fish.

I did test the water today, and ammonia - 0, nitrIte - 0, nitrAte - 160. I KNOW this is bad, and since she is out of town, I am doing 5-10% water changes (~ 2 cups) hourly to bring this down. I am trying to figure out if I can add salt into his water to help reduce his stress.

 

[black angel]

its nice to see you trying to help and youre right about the nitrate levels. must be a really strong betta just keep doing those small water changes and hopefully by the time she gets back it should be at a more normal level.
salt would only help if the nitrite level was high.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I am amazed it is alive as well. She returned today, but I think i freaked her out last night when I called asking permission to try and help it. I think I have added ~1/2 a gall. He is swimming better, his color has definately improved, even from this morning. His tail still looks withered. Not fin rot, just like a wilted plant. Later I may test the nitrAte levels infront of her, just to prove my point.

It finally occured to me, search the invertibret section, and found my answer, no salt for snails.

 

[shuhu]

Do as I do, I take care of all the maintenance of my moms 2 tanks (less than 20 min each week) and she basically just feeds them (as I adviced her to ).

As for salt and snails, I've noticed that in small portions (what you would normally add to your betta) it won't harm them.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Trust me, I've offered to take care of the tank, but she insists that bettas aren't spposed to need water changes and forbids me to touch her betta. I think I am going to skip the salt. He seems to be responding to happy with the small partial water changes I've been doing every other hour.

 

[WILDER]

Show her this.
http/www.petfish.net/betta_care.htm