whitepinehokie
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- Nov 1, 2008
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I recently got back into fishkeeping after about a decade hiatus. I currently have one betta fish in a 5.5 gallon tank, with two silk plants (plan to change to live plants soon), a small cave, and about 6 marimo moss balls. I cycled my tank using Tetra SafeStart Plus (following the directions on the AquaAnswers article). My tank finished cycling in January, at which point I added my fish. I have done weekly 70% water changes since then, always adding a small amount of the SafeStart to make sure the tank stayed cycled. Every time I tested the water, I would have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates.
However, the problem started about two weeks ago when I noticed my betta seemed to have fin rot. I increased the amount of my water changes to about 85% and upped the amount of Stress Coat and his tail seemed to get better (a little). However, today I noticed a dramatic increase in his tail rot and upon checking the water, was shocked to discover 0.5 ppm ammonia! Does anyone have any ideas how this could have happened? I haven't changed my filter recently or anything (probably need to though). I just did a massive water change and added more SafeStart (double the amount recommended for water changes on the bottle). My poor betta (Magellan) looks terrible and I obviously want to get this fixed. What did I do wrong? My water readings were 0.5 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates when I just checked.
However, the problem started about two weeks ago when I noticed my betta seemed to have fin rot. I increased the amount of my water changes to about 85% and upped the amount of Stress Coat and his tail seemed to get better (a little). However, today I noticed a dramatic increase in his tail rot and upon checking the water, was shocked to discover 0.5 ppm ammonia! Does anyone have any ideas how this could have happened? I haven't changed my filter recently or anything (probably need to though). I just did a massive water change and added more SafeStart (double the amount recommended for water changes on the bottle). My poor betta (Magellan) looks terrible and I obviously want to get this fixed. What did I do wrong? My water readings were 0.5 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates when I just checked.