Getting ready to throw in the towel and give up...

Hello again, my fish enthusiasts and friends,

After a brief hiatus (and minimal tank problems) I am back yet again, with a heavy heart and broken spirit. In a matter of 12 hours, I have had a complete tank meltdown. I cannot pin point where the problems are coming from and I am at a complete loss as to what direction to head in. I don't want to admit defeat, but I believe it is time to do so. I'm pretty much ready to give up the hobby entirely, but figured I'd give one last push to try and set things right before I throw away all I've worked so hard for over the past year and say goodbye to Grosso (although just a betta, he has a special place in my heart).

I awoke this morning to find the a large amount of the scales on Grosso's right side to be rotting off. (The pictures below don't do him justice, its worse than it looks.) He has a light reflective film hear his gills (that's the best way to describe it). He was not like this last night before bed. A small white spec (doesn't look like ich) had been on his left side for a few days and I have just been watching closely to see what happened with him and what it could be. (Didn't want to jump the gun on treatment. Came about after a water change, wasn't sure if he hurt himself or if it was more malicious. I see my mistake was waiting and watching.)

As far as water parameters go, I have no idea what happened. I only use store bought UV sterilized, soft/PH balanced freshwater (with added electrolytes, etc. necessary for fish function) and my parameters are all over the place. PH is on the low scale, being very acidic, hardness is through the roof, small amount of nitrates, but no nitrites or ammonia. I tested the store bought water this morning and it was all normal, but the tank is horrendous. There's been an explosion of white, stringy algae and a thick biofilm on the spider wood (I know it rots over time, but I usually scrub with a clean toothbrush and it was boiled prior to placement in the tank). I tested the water after his last change last week (25% change, took out some of the sand substrate and added some new sand in its place, and added some fresh fertilizer for the plants) and it was all in great condition at the time. During the water change I also rinsed filter media with betta water and popped it back into the filter, and added some filter floss as a last step to really crisp up the filtration and catch any particles from the new sand that may not have rinsed out. (Every time I change water I vacuum the substrate to remove any waste/plant rot. Plants are doing great, though.)

I can only guess that my issues at this point are filtration. I have a cannister filter designed for a 10 gallon (which is what I have) and I set it up by watching the video provided by the company. It was primed properly prior to start up, and was running fine. It started making a noise last night (which I had never heard) like there was air in the filter (not sure how it could have gotten in, no leaks going on) but output is normal. Checked to see if input was clogged, but nothing was impeding water flow. I even made my own air stone out of lava rock to give him a more natural feel (because I forgot to buy a new one at the store when I was picking up water) and that's been functioning great. The cannister filter has a sponge, carbon and bio stones, and filter floss.

I use almond leaf extract, stress coat (after a change because Grosso gets very stressed during, but I always remove him from the tank when changing water since he will freak out if he's in there with the gravel vacuum) , a shrimp safe liquid fertilizer for the plants that I put in weekly (just 1-2 pumps as an added boost) and always put a small amount of beneficial tank bacteria after a water change. I decreased his light time to 6 hours and he is on a timer. Water is heated and maintaining appropriate temp.

I don't know where to go from here. I'm tired and upset, I don't want to rip this entire tank apart and completely start over with cycling and brand new substrate/wood. I also don't want to replace this cannister filter (again). I can't tell if there is a malfunction going on with the filter and am not mechanically inclined enough to pull it apart and put it back together. I don't want this fish to suffer any more than he already has. He looks horrible, and I feel horrible for letting him get to this condition once again. Simply put, I feel like a failure.

Any last ditch efforts, recommendations, or changes I can make to attempt to save this tank and fish before I give it up completely and toss it all in the trash?

I would let someone more experienced weigh in, but I feel like you may have disturbed something nasty when you changed the substrate. The stringy algae tends to appear when some residue in the substrate surfaces, not to mention poisonous gasses. You may have at the same time triggered a mini cycle.

Perhaps @EllRog or @Colin_T can assess what is wrong with Grosso, but he may be experiencing a bit of poisoning.

On the canister filter: are the lines tight enough around the connectors? If they even bend a little and the nuts are not tight enough air will get in and cause the gurgling sound. I usually put food grade silicone grease on the o-rings every time I do a clean (old diver habits never die )

Don't give up. Take a deep breath and slowly try to get the tank back to good

Do you have a spare 5 gallon? If so I would transfer him to that if there is something poisoning your betta. Other than that I don’t know what to do. Best thing we can do is wait for Ellrog or Colin to get on.

Not entirely sure what's going on, but the sliminess you're seeing on him is likely excess mucus, fish produce excess mucus to try to sooth irritation on their scales/skin, so that's the sliminess you're seeing on him. There does seem to be a white bump near his gills in that photo.

Pull the spiderwood, I don't like the sound of what's coming from it, and you never know if it's introduced some contaminant.

When you say you rinsed his filter in betta water, what is betta water? Is that RO water you're buying from a store?

I wouldn't throw in the towel, despite knowing the urge well when things are going wrong! Because it sounds as though you put a lot of money, time, thought and effort into giving him the best life possible

Hi. Sorry your having some struggles.
I think you have a fungal issue, with white spot and fins look kinda melted, possibly fin rot. I would consider treating that in a separate hospital tank setup.
I've found it difficult and taking longer to cycle tanks with pH under 7. So maybe your in the early stages of being fully cycled?
Also you remove fish when doing maintenance? Using nets and transferring fish to and fro can be very stressful too, as well as disturb their slime coat. I would avoid doing that.

Hope that helps. Bettas are not my wheelhouse, but I have some general experience.

I’ve nothing to add but “best of luck, I know how you feel”.


I know it’s soul destroying. Im going through something similar.

It's just excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish.

The fact it happened straight after a water change would suggest there was either something in the new water or something on your hands, fish buckets, etc that contaminated the fish's tank.

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I don't know what the electrolytes are that get added to the shop water but Bettas come from water that is very soft and doesn't have much mineral content. GH below 100ppm and pH below 7.0.

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Treatment is usually to do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If it's reverse osmosis (R/O) water, it should be free of chlorine and hopefully chloramine.

You can add a bit of aquarium salt if you like. Use 1 heaped tablespoon of salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep the salt in there for a week or two.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.

Make sure you don't have anything on your hands when you clean the tank. No moisturising cream, soap, perfume, residue from anti-bacterial soaps or wipes, no grease, or anything else.

Make sure any containers used for the fish tank, including the container used to transport the R/O water, are free of chemicals and only used for the fish tank.

Oh no!
Don't give up.
Betta are pretty sturdy from my experience.
One thought...is the lava rock sharp?
Could he have scratched on it?
Also. May not be just one thing...I think it is normal to look for "the" problem.
Take the advice of the experts...hang in there and don't toss the towel just yet.
Best ♡

Hey, everything okay?