A Curious Phenomenon...(sp)

[lljdma06]

Fasolt has been in my 15g since June, and he has always done well. I just finished a 25% weekly water change on Monday and here are my stats just prior to the water change.

Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
pH: 7.4
Nitrate: 0 (I have a densly planted tank, as most of you remember)
CO2: 10ppm
Kh: 6


I have been injecting CO2 for over a week now and to be safe, I just did a barage of tests today.

Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7.00
CO2: 18ppm.
Kh: 5

What is being displayed is the typical pH dip associated with the addition of CO2. The 10g experienced a similar dip last week, and the bettas in there are thriving, as things have stabilized. The fish in my 15g are doing well also, except for Fasolt. Though his color was excellent, I did notice that his eyes were protruding more than I would feel comfortable with. As a result, he has been removed from the aquarium. I am switching him with Hunding, who also displays the mellow attitude for community living. Hunding was purchased from an aquarium with multiple fish. I have removed the live plants from Hunding's bowl and Fasolt will move in there. I'm thinking the potential "pop eye" may be the result of a supersaturation of gases in the 15g, as my other water stats seem pretty good. Hopefully Fasolt will recover. I think I caught it early enough. If Hunding doesn't like the tank, I will purchase another bowl for him. If Hunding's the imbellis hybrid I suspect he is, he'll probably do great. But my priority right now is to treat Fasolt. I'm not keen on adding meds yet. I want to see if the change in environment will be sufficient. Sources say "pop eye" should be treated with antibiotics, but if Fasolt's condition is a result of gas saturation (which sources also mention as a potential cause) and not bacteria, I'm hesitant to use them if I don't have to. Right now, he'll get a little salt and daily water changes, and I'll go from there. They are both in the process of being acclimated to their new homes. It's going to take a while.

Let me know if you've got any imput. The eyes actually don't look as bad now, but I'm not taking any chances.

 

[lljdma06]

Guys, I apologize for the length of the previous post. Fasolt's in the bowl now, and his eyes are actually better, which is so wierd. Still gonna treat this like "Pop eye", however, and I will dose him with a diluted solution of Melafix. It was quite tricky measuring 1ml of Melafix and then 4ml of water, but I did it. Now I have to pour .5 ml as the dose for 7 days, as the bottle says. If you're wondering why .5ml, he's in a 1g container.

Now I have a question. I've never used this stuff before, and the bottle says to do a 25% water change after 7 days. Now for a betta in an unfiltered tank, that doesn't fly with me. Should I just do smaller daily water changes and continue to dose him for 7 days? Then do a 100% change? I haven't dosed him yet.

One more question, I have a spare airstone and pump should I run it while I treat the dude, or should I keep the water nice and calm?

He's being a little pain in the rear! I bet this is all for nothing! Well, he has a torn caudal fin (he was a royal pain to catch and wedged himself against a rock), so I guess to heal the fin, the diluted treatment wouldn't hurt. No fruit flies for him!

 

[wuvmybetta]

I think you'd be fine with just clean water, but if you're using the melafix go very gently with it.

 

[lljdma06]

I think you'd be fine with just clean water, but if you're using the melafix go very gently with it.

Yes, I diluted the melafix to the bettafix dosage, but I hate using meds, so the more I mull it over, the more I don't think I'll dose. I think I'll just do daily water changes for a week or two and add a little salt to his water. Hunding is loving the 15g. So the switcheroo wasn't a bad thing, and probably better in the long run, since Hunding is either a plakat or an imbellis splendens hybrid and can swim better than Fasolt, who is HM.

Thanks for the reply Wuv, sometimes my posts get much slower responses, and I'm not quite sure why. I guess, my stuff tends to not be an emergency, so answers are slower and less frequent, or maybe I'm just too darned wordy. But I appreciate your quick reply.

 

[wuvmybetta]

lol@ too wordy. I thought that too. I've been pondering on your stuation though and I find it interesting. I'm assuming that it has to be from the gases and lack of oxygen at night,possibly? The betta is such an odd fish- one that can live with little to no water, provided they are moist they will be fine for days, but they can't go without air for even a few minutes, air is their first necessity, water the second. I wonder if the tank was creating some sort of odd pressure on him...perhaps they're the opposite of the average fish who absorbs water through their skin, maybe the betta absorbs air as well as water and no one really took the time to stop and think about it before. I'm going to look into this further because it's quite fascinating. I may not be making sense at all with my assumptions though.

 

[lljdma06]

Your assumptions make quite a bit of sense actually. What I wonder if anyone else who's added CO2 for their plants has experienced this sort of situation with their bettas or other labarynth (sp) fish? I will continue to monitor Hunding in this tank closely.