What The Fudge?

[Declan]

Hi all,

I was giving my community tank their weekly bloodworm this evening and one of my two bettas suddenly fell to the bottom..

I left her for 10 mins to see if she was OK, surprisingly enough she wasnt..

I have another female betta who is fine, swimming around as normal..

She is now occasionly moving her fin by her gills.

Any ideas as to whats causing it?

Few specs;

Juwel Rekord 70, approx 66-67 planted.

All live plants, some rocks, and a resin log stump.

Shares with 6 cobra guppies * they get on fine * 2 Clown Loaches * being re-homed * 2 female platies and 8 neon tetras.

Ammonia; 0, Nitrite; 0, Nitrate; 5.

Any help appreciated.

D.

 

[MaddieJ]

Could it be there was a dodgy one or two bloodworm in there and it was her who got it? Maybe even something else int here that shouldn't be, that she gulped down? I can't really think of anything else that would start a problem that fast.

 

[Declan]

Well, I took a 'managerial' decision and didnt want whatever it was killing her to get my other fish, so I put her in my Q tank..

Whilst she was in the floating cup, acclimatising, she passed away

I have moved my other betta in there just to be extra safe!

Thanks anyway MaddieJ,

D.

 

[FBTgirl2]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Declan]

The really worrying this is that now my other betta, in Q tank is displaying same signs, except staying at top..

Absolutely any help appreciated!


D.

 

[Chris5787]

When you say 66-67 do you mean temperature?

If so, i can tell you thats too low, if not ignore me.

 

[Sarette]

Really sorry to read of your loss. Hope the 2nd one pulls through x

 

[Declan]

When you say 66-67 do you mean temperature?

If so, i can tell you thats too low, if not ignore me.

Sorry, it meant to say 66-67L planted..

D.

 

[Chris5787]

Well if it was the bloodworm that caused this, i would expect the other fish to also show signs of illness, not just the bettas.

Have they been fine up until now, or have you noticed anything odd about their behaviour over the last few days/weeks?

 

[Declan]

Well if it was the bloodworm that caused this, i would expect the other fish to also show signs of illness, not just the bettas.

Have they been fine up until now, or have you noticed anything odd about their behaviour over the last few days/weeks?

They are all fine..

Well, update time..

I'm sorry to say, the other one didnt survive..

I am currently testing the water, and it appears my cycle had started without my knowing so.. and I am currently going through a nitrite spark!

I hadnt added any ammonia, or anything for that matter, so the only thing I can think of is that the filter had something left in it, as it was 'damp' when I re-installed it..

Any ideas?

D.

 

[Joshy]

I am currently testing the water, and it appears my cycle had started without my knowing so..

Is this a typo? What do you mean the cycle had started without you knowing? Was the tank cycled yet?

I hadnt added any ammonia, or anything for that matter, so the only thing I can think of is that the filter had something left in it, as it was 'damp' when I re-installed it..

Why would you need to add ammonia, the filter should be cycled already no? What do you mean the filter had something left in it?

 

[Declan]

I am currently testing the water, and it appears my cycle had started without my knowing so..

Is this a typo? What do you mean the cycle had started without you knowing? Was the tank cycled yet?

I hadnt added any ammonia, or anything for that matter, so the only thing I can think of is that the filter had something left in it, as it was 'damp' when I re-installed it..

Why would you need to add ammonia, the filter should be cycled already no? What do you mean the filter had something left in it?

OK its not a typo, what I was planning to do was let the filter get used to the water flow and everything..and no the tank was not cycled.

I would have needed to add ammonia to get the cycle started, because I was going to do a fishless cycle, but my cursed mother came home with some more guppies today, and suffice to say they didnt get on, so I moved them to my little 6UK gal tank, and then do a fish-in cycle. And what I mean is I think the filter hadnt 'dried' out, the bag it was damp with a little puddle of water at the bottom, so it cant of completely killed the bacteria..

D.

 

[Joshy]

Basically you have a tank with fish in it, that is not cycled. Case closed.
They are dying from the ammonia spikes and unstable water.

I am confused though, which tank did the bettas die in, the Juwel Rekord 70 or a '6 gallon tank'?

 

[Declan]

Basically you have a tank with fish in it, that is not cycled. Case closed.
They are dying from the ammonia spikes and unstable water.

I am confused though, which tank did the bettas die in, the Juwel Rekord 70 or a '6 gallon tank'?

Its hard to explain, so lets give it a go..

My mum came home with a few guppies this evening, and my pink betta didnt like them, the blue one wasnt too bothered. I was feeding them some bloodworm as the guy at my LFS said he hadnt fed them, and all of a sudden the blue one 'nose dived' to the bottom of the tank, so I left it 10 minutes to see if it would improve, yet it didnt. So I netted both of them and put them in some glasses (cups), and moved them to my tank in my room. Whilst acclimatising, I checked on them and the blue one was on its side so I examed it, and it was definetly dead, just to be extra sure, I shook the cup a bit, no reaction. The pink one on the other hand, was fine, in the cup. So I added a bit of my tank water to the cup, again, fine. Let her in, and she swam around for 5 minutes or so, and then hid, I checked on her about 20 minutes later, and she was on the bottom on her side, dead.

I tested the water, ( I hadnt before hand because I was going to start my fishless cycle on saturday ) and there was 1ppm of Nitrite, so, I drew the conclusion that it died of nitrite poisoning.

However, I am still stumped as to what happened with the blue one.

D.

 

[modaz]

It could easily be that the bettas choked on the bloodworm, ive seen this happen and heard of it happening before as well on numerous types of food.

When you set up a new tank and you've got an existing tank always add some filter media from your existing to the media of your new tank, simply way of avoiding the cycle.