It's been about 2 months since I've inherited Ruby. I'm proud to say he looks much better than when I first brought him to work, but I'm still striving to make his cubicle stay the best it can be.
Adding a heater and putting a real thermometer in the tank keeps the temp constant. I'm sure that helped a lot. Simply Betta Fungus & Bacteria cure seems to have cleared up the slight amount of fuzziness/slime on his head, body, and chin.
I'm still trying to figure out the best water change routine. I usually remove him from the bowl every monday and do a 100% change. I dump everything out into a strainer and rinse it under the tap. I can smell chlorine I think from the tap. I've got a gallon of preprepared water, and fill it the rest of the way up with tap water that I treated with genesis. In the future I'm probably going to get another gallon of preprepared water for him so I don't have to use any fresh tapwater. I don't like the idea of putting any water that's fresh out of the tap in a small tank. All those bubbles make me nervous. , I also do about 25% on thursdays.
The little guy will build a bubble nest a couple days after I change the water, which makes me think that I'm shocking him a bit. I'm wondering if I'm doing the best I can with the water, or if I should cut back the number of 100% changes some, and increase the 25% intervals to every day or so.
It takes about 3 days after doing a 100% to detect ammonia (.25ppm) in the tank 1.[67][?] gallon tank. If I do 25% each day therafter, I'm usually showing .25ppm in the morning. What's worse, .25ppm of ammonia, or moving him around every week? If I don't rinse the gravel under tap water, do you think the bacteria attached to it will keep the ammonia down more?
He doesn't put up much of a protest leaving the tank. I lift the lid. He swims to the top, and I scoop him out with the little betta cup. I do notice that sometimes he sheds a bit of slimy coating in the whole cleaning process. I dont' know if it's related to the minor fungus/bacteria I was treating or stress. He doesn't appear to be flaking off now, so I guess we'll see when I do the 100% again.
Adding a heater and putting a real thermometer in the tank keeps the temp constant. I'm sure that helped a lot. Simply Betta Fungus & Bacteria cure seems to have cleared up the slight amount of fuzziness/slime on his head, body, and chin.
I'm still trying to figure out the best water change routine. I usually remove him from the bowl every monday and do a 100% change. I dump everything out into a strainer and rinse it under the tap. I can smell chlorine I think from the tap. I've got a gallon of preprepared water, and fill it the rest of the way up with tap water that I treated with genesis. In the future I'm probably going to get another gallon of preprepared water for him so I don't have to use any fresh tapwater. I don't like the idea of putting any water that's fresh out of the tap in a small tank. All those bubbles make me nervous. , I also do about 25% on thursdays.
The little guy will build a bubble nest a couple days after I change the water, which makes me think that I'm shocking him a bit. I'm wondering if I'm doing the best I can with the water, or if I should cut back the number of 100% changes some, and increase the 25% intervals to every day or so.
It takes about 3 days after doing a 100% to detect ammonia (.25ppm) in the tank 1.[67][?] gallon tank. If I do 25% each day therafter, I'm usually showing .25ppm in the morning. What's worse, .25ppm of ammonia, or moving him around every week? If I don't rinse the gravel under tap water, do you think the bacteria attached to it will keep the ammonia down more?
He doesn't put up much of a protest leaving the tank. I lift the lid. He swims to the top, and I scoop him out with the little betta cup. I do notice that sometimes he sheds a bit of slimy coating in the whole cleaning process. I dont' know if it's related to the minor fungus/bacteria I was treating or stress. He doesn't appear to be flaking off now, so I guess we'll see when I do the 100% again.
