I'm addicted to bettas, what can I say. However, it seems that whenever I get them, they succomb to tail rot. Is it just two major pet stores that shall remain nameless? I have a 2 gallon tank and I treat the water and everything, but I lose them. Any tips? I have sanitized the tank according to the way mentioned on bettatalk.com....but does anyone have any luck with bettas from major pet chains?
Betta question
- Thread starter billsdixie
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What exactly is your typical water change schedual like? What food are you feeding them? When you clean your tanks what do you do? What do you add to your change water?
I do a 50% water change once a week. The water is filtered water which is then treated with "Splenda Betta water conditioner", but we also have Aqua-safe (I think that's it's name). The food I currently have it Tetramin Betta food and we also put in bloodworms a few times a week.
I sanitized the tank and tank decorations with a little bleach in the water (mind you, the betta was loong gone when I did this) and then soaked the tank and decorations in water and LOTS of aquarium salt to draw the bleach out. Am I missing anything? Or am I just getting "bad" bettas?
I sanitized the tank and tank decorations with a little bleach in the water (mind you, the betta was loong gone when I did this) and then soaked the tank and decorations in water and LOTS of aquarium salt to draw the bleach out. Am I missing anything? Or am I just getting "bad" bettas?
After bleaching the tenk decorations you should rince them and treat them with 20X as much de-chorinator as is needed. That will remove the chorine, I don't know if salt does.
It could be just the fact that the bettas are bad.
Some places I have hardly any luck with their bettas, others I have a bit of luck.
I've found that my own betta fry are the best, just because I know how they were handled and cared for their whole lives, as opposed to buying them from stores, where you have no idea how good or poor they were treated.
Some places I have hardly any luck with their bettas, others I have a bit of luck.
I've found that my own betta fry are the best, just because I know how they were handled and cared for their whole lives, as opposed to buying them from stores, where you have no idea how good or poor they were treated.
The filtered water, do you mean britta? If I were you I wouldbe using straight tap water treated for chlorine and if the tank isn't filtered then I would suggest more frequent water changes. Adding live plants can often help.
Perhaps as soon as you buy them you could run them through a salt treatment for a couple of weeks to make sure all the bad things are killed off. Read Dave's Ich article in the Article section of the forum and follow the ich treatment. It is also a good way to kill fungus's which may be causing the fin rot. Otherwise try running all new betta's through a course of Melafix.
Perhaps as soon as you buy them you could run them through a salt treatment for a couple of weeks to make sure all the bad things are killed off. Read Dave's Ich article in the Article section of the forum and follow the ich treatment. It is also a good way to kill fungus's which may be causing the fin rot. Otherwise try running all new betta's through a course of Melafix.
It's not a britta, but I guess it's something similar...
How much salt for a salt treatment? Don't want to overwhelm the poor guy...
Thanks!
How much salt for a salt treatment? Don't want to overwhelm the poor guy...
Thanks!
Dissolve 1 tsp of salt per gallon of tank water or 1 tbsp per 5 gallons. Dissolve it first then add it slowly to the tank to acclimate the betta. Add new salt only when you change water, which in the beginning will be fairly often to avoid ammonia and nitrite buildup. After a couple of weeks don't add any more salt to the change water and eventually the salt will work its way out of the system slowly with future water changes.
Any NaCl source will do fine. Table salt is okay. Plus it has the added benifit of helping the fish survive any possible nitrite spikes caused from starting the cycle process.
Any NaCl source will do fine. Table salt is okay. Plus it has the added benifit of helping the fish survive any possible nitrite spikes caused from starting the cycle process.