Betta Fish Care

32Bit_Fish

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jan 28, 2016
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Hi All,

I have two 2.5 g tank and there is a betta fish in each tank. I do 80% w/c once a week. New water is prepared by tap water with prime powder added.

Both betta have rot fins/tails. One of them seems to have bigger eyes with tail almost gone and white patches. I think there was a week or two I got lazy and did not do water change. Both betta are eating pellets and I believe those pellets are not very nutritious. I have ordered the Alison's betta pellets from Amazon and it should be good.

I am thinking about PP bath for both betta. What do you guys think? Is a 80% weekly w/c good enough for them?

It's ironic that I have no issue keep other fish in a big tank. But these mini tanks seems to hard to play with.

In terms of food, what other food can I feed them besides pellets? I see betta fish eat mosquito lavas in the wild. But that food is not available to me. I can only get frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. Are they any good?
 
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Deadliestviper7

The Necromancer
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Aug 6, 2016
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Get a couple 20 gallons,fill each halfway with water and add a filter.

As far as foods:bloodworms,small ants,brine shrimp,mysis shrimp ,mosquito larvae (just put a couple buckets of water in your yard and collect mosquito larvae)
 

32Bit_Fish

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jan 28, 2016
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I measured the betta tank and it is 12"x6"x6" and it only holds 1.8 gallon of water. I've always thought I bought a 2.5g tank. I would have to do more frequent water changes per week when a bigger tank is not an option.

Yes, it is SeaChem Safe. Thanks

When can the fish completely recover from a serious tail/fin rot? I am going to step up the water change. If that doesn't heal the fin rot, then I will have to treat it with PP
 
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magpie

Potamotrygon
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Jun 4, 2016
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What are your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

How often and how much do you feed?

I have kept a 2.5 gallon tank up with 50% water changes 1x/week and it's been OK. But I only feed once per day and I also have live plants. Can you add some live plants, even if just floating plants? They can help with water quality.

Smaller tanks are harder!

Also - is there a chance that your filter intake or any decorations could be ripping the tails instead of true fin rot? I do think 80% weekly should be OK unless you're really overfeeding or if you have snails in there or something to add to water deterioration? (But again my experience could be skewed because I have the help of live plants)
 

xraycer

Arapaima
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Sep 5, 2013
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Yes, it is SeaChem Safe.
Are you diluting the Safe correctly, or are you just adding the powder right to the tank?

Perhaps it could be a case of a toxic over dose
 

32Bit_Fish

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jan 28, 2016
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Thanks for all the replies guys. Let me clarify my set up and feeding and water change routines on my betta fish tanks.

First of all, I have been in this hobby over 20 years, but new to betta. I had both salt water and fresh water aquarium in the past. So I'm not completely new to this hobby. However, I have never had success keeping betta fish.

Currently I have a 75G tank with Oscar. and two 1.8g tank with betta in it.
I have been using Safe powder on all my tanks for the past three years including for water changes on Discus tank in the past and no issues.

I add very tiny little bit of safe powder into a 5 gallon bucket filled with water and mix it up and add the water into the tank.

There is no filtration nor a heater on my 1.8g tank because I do 80% wc twice a week. The water temperature always between 72F to 80F. I only feed 2-3 pellets to them twice a day. I used to feed them Hikari Bio Betta pellet. Now I feed them Tetra Betta pellets. And I just bought Atison Betta pellet yesterday and will be feeding them that as well. I tried to feed them frozen brine shrimp and BW in the past. But the food seems a little too big for them take. So I switched them onto pellets only.

There are java moss and moss ball in the tank. The lights used to be on 8 hours a day. One of those T8 lights that comes with the 10g tank set and it is old. But the plants were growing fast and furious.

Now I moved to a new home and haven't had a chance to set up a timer for the lighting on the betta tanks. So now the photo time is only 2 hours a day. I've also ditched most of the java moss as they were taking over the tank, the fish had no space to swim.

The fin rot started happening when I was behind water changes. I recall there were time when no water changes for two weeks. So the fin rot issue deteriorated.

I did a 80% water change on Sunday and tested water on Tuesday. There is no Ammonia detected. The PH is at 7.2 from the tap. I don't test water for other parameters since a 1.8g tank will never cycled. I just have to keep up with the water change.

I hope I have provided all the info you guys need.
 

magpie

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2016
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OK, well since you asked a question I am just offering my opinion, not trying to insult your fish keeping skills. Sorry if it came across that way.

I run a filter on my 2.5 and 5 gallon betta tanks. I also run small heaters, but our house does not stay 77-80 where the Bettas like it (below 76, esp. below 74 is a bit cool for them). But it sounds like those are the only things I really do differently. If you are getting fin rot and that happened when you got behind on water changes, you might consider a filter and you can get a small micro heater for cheap.

My betta will eat frozen bloodworms but they're not all that nutritious so I typically stick to pellets and flake with a bloodworm or two here or there for a treat. I agree that brine shrimp are also a bit big. You could try daphnia but the fozen stuff could add to muddled water without a filter.

Good luck!
 
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