Why are my bettas dying??

[PhaiFan]

Hello everyone

I have lost several betta fish for reasons I can't identify. I am not a newbie. I've had various types of fish and aquariums for most of my life.

Some of my bettas have lived well over a year, but I seem to be losing some after only a few months. All of them are kept in 1.5 gallon tanks with a heater and filter. Water temp is 78 consistently. I change 1/3 to 1/2 of the water weekly, and clean the entire thing every couple of weeks. Twice a week I use test strips to check PH, nitrites, nitrates, hardness, etc. If any adjustments are needed, I take care of them right away.

I feed my fish small amounts twice a day. Their diet is varied...frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried blood worms, and high quality pelleted food.

On the ones I have lost, it happens suddenly. I just lost one today. He was fine when I left for work this morning, but when I came home, he looked like this (see attached pictures). He died a few hours later. This has been the same thing that happened to the others I've lost. I can't imagine what I'm doing wrong. Since they are all kept in the same conditions, it doesn't make sense that the others are doing fine. (I have 7 of them)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Rbishop]

Common filtration for the tanks? I'd suggest a liquid test kit and give us exact readings. What kind of adjustments are you doing and what are you using?

 

[PhaiFan]

Common filtration for the tanks? I'd suggest a liquid test kit and give us exact readings. What kind of adjustments are you doing and what are you using?

No common filtration. They're not all in the same room. The only time I really have to adjust anything is occasionally the water gets too acidic. I can tell sometimes because they look uncomfortable. Usually nip it in the bud before that happens. I use a tiny pinch of baking soda, then recheck the next day. That's usually all that's needed. If nitrite/nitrates creep up a bit, I use Prime in very small doses. That rarely happens. I'm stumped as to what the problem is.

 

[Rbishop]

What does your tap water read? Do you share tools between tanks?

 

[PhaiFan]

Straight from the tap, PH is 8.0. General hardness 120, carbonate hardness 80.

I suppose the only thing I share between tanks is when I give them a full cleaning every couple of weeks. I use the same net to catch them. That's it, I think. As for the one that just died, it was about a week after I did a full cleaning. He was the last one I cleaned, but everyone else is fine. I try so hard to take good care of my fish, and I have a couple I'm quite fond of, and I don't like watching the poor things die!!

 

[Rbishop]

Is that pH test with a liquid test kit and on a sample in a shallow dish that set out over night to gas off? Liquid test readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate on tanks and tap?

Not sure why you need a net to clean a tank.

As for the picture above, that's a lot of damage for 12 hours....

 

[OrionGirl]

What filtration is running on the tanks? It's strange to have nitrite show up in a cycled aquarium. What do you mean by 'too acidic'? Bettas are tolerant of extremely low pH water, as in 5.0 -6.0, so I can't imagine what would happen that you'd need to buffer it.

 

[PhaiFan]

Is that pH test with a liquid test kit and on a sample in a shallow dish that set out over night to gas off? Liquid test readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate on tanks and tap?

Not sure why you need a net to clean a tank.

As for the picture above, that's a lot of damage for 12 hours....

Is that pH test with a liquid test kit and on a sample in a shallow dish that set out over night to gas off? Liquid test readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate on tanks and tap?

Not sure why you need a net to clean a tank.

As for the picture above, that's a lot of damage for 12 hours....

I will buy a liquid test kit this weekend (I've been using API test strips).

As for the net, when I do a thorough cleaning every couple of weeks, I net the fish out so I can clean the gravel. I try to be careful to acclimate them when I put them back in their tanks, because the temperature and PH could be slightly different in the new water.

And yes....that's a lot of damage from the time I left for work until the time I got home. That's one thing that's so puzzling. And no, no one is doing anything to the tanks while I'm at work, unless my dogs have learned how to do something like that.

I'll get that test kit and get more accurate readings on everything.

 

[Tifftastic]

When you say you do a thorough cleaning are you indicating that you are removing all the water and rinsing the gravel? Or are you removing the fish while you gravel vacuum?

Also, how are you cleaning the filters?

 

[PhaiFan]

When you say you do a thorough cleaning are you indicating that you are removing all the water and rinsing the gravel? Or are you removing the fish while you gravel vacuum?

Also, how are you cleaning the filters?

The filters are Whisper filters. I change the filter cartridge and that's it, unless they don't seem to be flowing as efficiently, in which case I'll take the filter apart and clean the impeller, etc. Rarely have to do that.

My bettas are in 1.5 gallon cubes. Every couple of weeks I rinse the gravel completely, though I do retain some of the water for the beneficial bacteria in it. I add that water back in and fill the rest with new water. As stated earlier, I check the PH and temp before adding the fish back in, and I do acclimate them if temp or PH are different. In doing so, however, I do use the same net and the same small container that they are in while I'm cleaning their little tank. I never thought about that, but I'll start sterilizing the net between tanks.