Thinking About A Larger Tank

[eb2]

I have 1 male betta I stated in a 2.5 5 gal bowl, but his fins looked raggy and he seemed to have so I immediately switchted to the 3 gal Marineland biowheel setup, cured the velvet with quick cure and melafix the I started using coppersafe, after about a month I backed off the coppersafe. I just noticed raggy fins and possibly velvet again, this time man at LFS suggested erythromiacin and I've also resumed the coppersafe. While medicating I was changing water between every 1-3 days, then I backed off to weekly changes of 1 gal at a time (that's the size jug I use)I do test my amonia etc (and the LFS has also tested everything just in case) and it's all good. This fish eats, he swims in the current all the time, rest when the lights are out but I'm concerned about recurrent illness. I'm wondering if I should do a bigger water change, increase the frequency, get a bigger tank or if this fish is like a hothouse flower that will more prone to some diseases(I plan to soon but I've been more or less strapped for cash for a new setup) what does anyone think? about the choice of meds? also possibly my castle isn't smooth enough so I was gonna remove it and add another plant for privacy, he doesnt really use the castle anyway. It also occurs to that I might keep the tan lights off. I'm not keeping live plants because of the meds, and the tank lights seem to raise the temp maybe as much as 4 degrees from when they're off at night. what I had been doing when the light is on is lifting the lid off the tank and turning it at an angle for more air circulation with the flip lid open, my tank heater is set not to go below 78 but the temp stuff hasnt changed his demeanor but maybe it has stressed his body? My avatar is the fish mid-January avfter he got over the initial round of crud.

 

[K.J.]

Hmm, does he have any sharp plants in his tank? Sharp plastic plants can cause fin tearing. If you can afford the tank it's always better to have a bigger one. also, he has a filter in the tank? Sometimes bettas fins can get stuck in the filter intake or cause a general uneasiness, as they're usually still water fish.

 

[eb2]

only silk, and I've never seen him go near the intake thing on the filter, he's just swims in the current coming off the biowheel all day, but he does seem to want to fit into the tiny spot between the heater and the tank side, at nght when he's resting and I have thought of raising the temp but I thought that 78-80 was warm enough especially if he's right next to it. I don't want a fish fry