Water....

[betta_101]

well right now i dont have any fish.. but i got all my stuff ready. and well i wanted to get it out.. and well i was bored and just put water in the tank and turned on the filter.. lol.. well the next day i noticed that the water was really cloudy. and i remember when i bred bettas before the water would be like that too.. and it drove me crazy...
how do you get it clear again.. i think i saw stuff you can put in the tank to make the water clear at the petstore. is there a certain thing i should get. and why does it do that. i didnt have any fish in it so it didnt get dirty b/c i put anything in it.
i know this sound dumb but... it seems when i had my fry the water was very cloudy and i would change water but it would always be the same. they all died i dont know why.. but if you could help me in this it would be great.

Chris

 

[mommyof2bettas]

I think it's all the bacteria building up. Do you add anything to your tanks before putting fish in? Like water dechlor or conditioner? All the stuff in my lfs for clearing water is for established aquariums, so make sure you look for that before, I don't know why they put that but there has to be a reason so if you see that don't buy it.
Also, if you do not add anything, it's probably the bacteria and that's probably why your fish were dying. Sorry to sound rude, but why spawn your bettas if the tank was cloudy anyways? I wouldn't do that if it were me.

 

[betta_101]

I think it's all the bacteria building up. Do you add anything to your tanks before putting fish in? Like water dechlor or conditioner? All the stuff in my lfs for clearing water is for established aquariums, so make sure you look for that before, I don't know why they put that but there has to be a reason so if you see that don't buy it.
Also, if you do not add anything, it's probably the bacteria and that's probably why your fish were dying. Sorry to sound rude, but why spawn your bettas if the tank was cloudy anyways? I wouldn't do that if it were me.

well i didnt put anything in there b/c i didnt have any fish in there. but when i did have them i always put the dechlorinator in there. well it was two years ago when i did it but i remember that i had clean water when i bred them, it was when i got fry it seemed to got a lot dirtier. i dont know if it was the BBS.. or what. but i didnt spawn them with dirty water, i had clear water when i bred them.
i just wanted to know if anyone has this problem also and what to treat the water with?

 

[starrynightxxi]

cloudy water can be a number of things. when you were breeding fry, it could have been the BBS causing a bacteria or algae bloom, I hear you have to be pretty meticulous about the water in fry tanks. But, out of curiousity, had you cycled the tank that the babies were in? Cycling tanks often appear cloudy and betta fry would almost certainly not survive toxin levels that would be in the water at this time.

As for the cloudy water in your tank without fish, this is fairly common with new tanks. I'm not sure exactly what the cause is, but I know that every time I start a new tank, this same thing happens. It should clear up on its own in a short time.

 

[betta_101]

cloudy water can be a number of things. when you were breeding fry, it could have been the BBS causing a bacteria or algae bloom, I hear you have to be pretty meticulous about the water in fry tanks. But, out of curiousity, had you cycled the tank that the babies were in? Cycling tanks often appear cloudy and betta fry would almost certainly not survive toxin levels that would be in the water at this time.

As for the cloudy water in your tank without fish, this is fairly common with new tanks. I'm not sure exactly what the cause is, but I know that every time I start a new tank, this same thing happens. It should clear up on its own in a short time.

i have heard of cycling tanks before but dont know what it really means.... is it adding chemicals to the tank?

i know i had a filter in the tank, a sponge filter with the fry. it didnt clear up anything just cleaned out all the dirty stuff. i dont really remember a lot of what i did. but i dont know if i put too much BBS in their tank or what.. it was two years ago and i cant remember feeding them.. lol..

Chris

 

[starrynightxxi]

i am on my way to bed so do not want to take the time to give the long explanation, but i will give you the short version

fish waste and rotting food turns into ammonia in the water, and ammonia is deadly to fish. luckily there is bacteria that eats ammonia and converts it to nitrIte. Nitrite is also toxic to fish, though less so than ammonia, but there is also another bacteria that will eat the nitrite and turn it into nitrAte. Nitrate has a low toxicity level and can be kept under control by weekly water changes of 25% in the average fish tank. When you've reached a point where water tests say you have 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrIte, and 10ppm (average amount) nitrAte, your tank has cycled, meaning that the appropriate bacteria colonies have built up in your filter media and keep these measurements constant.

For more in depth info, there is the cycling resource center. If you have any other questions regarding it, you can visit the "new to the hobby" forum.

Hope this helps, and sorry i can't take more time, but i must go to sleep or i will never get up for work

just remembered, to give your cycle a jump start, you can add media from an already established tank. We have a pinned topic of people willing to donate so you may like to look at that as well List Of Members Willing To Donate Mature Filter Media To Newbies

 

[betta_101]

is it necessary to cyle a tank? it seems confusing.. so you just add things to the tank to kill of amammonia..
and test it ...
seems kinda confusing..

 

[starrynightxxi]

if you have a betta and do 100% water changes to the tank every week, it is not necessary to cycle it, but otherwise it is necessary. If you add fish, the tank will begin to cycle and if the fish you put in that cycling tank are sensitive to water quality (as mny fish are), they will die. You don't need to add anything to get rid of ammonia, it happens on its own.

It really is not confusing at all. I've never done a fishless cycle so I don't know exactly how that's done, but to cycle the tank WITH fish, all you do is add a few hardy fish (danios are often used) and let nature take its course. The tank will cycle itself in about a month as long as you don't overfeed or keep adding more fish.

As for testing the water, there are test kits that you can buy from any pet shop you go to and they have very simple directions.

 

[-germ-]

well right now i dont have any fish.. but i got all my stuff ready. and well i wanted to get it out.. and well i was bored and just put water in the tank and turned on the filter.. lol.. well the next day i noticed that the water was really cloudy. and i remember when i bred bettas before the water would be like that too.. and it drove me crazy...

Did you clean your gravel???

 

[Maxsmom]

My first piece of advice is to really read up on spawning and breeding bettas... it really is a HUGE undertaking. If the tank you were trying to breed in wasn't cycled - then it was trying and the fry was being exposed to ammonia (probably didn't even make it to see nitrite as the ammonia would've killed them first.) You need to breed in a minimum 5 gallon, CYCLED tank and be meticulous with the water parameters.... and fry, from what I hear, create a lot of waste (both with their food and excretions) so I think you need to do partial water changes daily while they're growing in order to keep the water pristine for them to grow and thrive.

Also, a mating can produce anywhere from 20 to over a 100 bettas. Are you prepared to house that many?? You will need that many individual containers/cups when they become free-swimming. You need appropriate food... water testing kits... As I said, it's all a big undertaking. I haven't attempted it yet... b/c of that... this is all from what I've read about it on the internet.

You can read up on cycling too... but the explanation given is pretty much that in a nutshell. Cycling can take about 4-6 weeks with fish (hearty-fish - perhaps not bettas, although some have managed through... but I personally wouldn't risk it), or fishless using 100% pure ammonia. A quicker way to cycle a tank is by getting some bacteria from an established/disease free tank (either some of the filter media or even some gravel)... There are also some cycling products you can buy, but IMO they don't work... they're basically dead bacteria... except for one product called BioSpira (made by Marineland)... this is a refrigerated product that contains live bacteria... and it has worked for me.

 

[betta_101]

i do not use gravel.. i dont like it. and i think one of you put that you dont have to do it.. if you clean the tank out weekly.. which i would do b/c it would be easier for me..