Betta help

[mnccnm]

I am having trouble keeping Betta fish alive. I have 7 other aquariums running with a very wide variety of fish, they are all thriving. The last two Bettas I've had die within a couple months. The tank is a 5 gallon, and I have had a couple small suckers in with them. The water test results are as follows: pH=7.6 to 7.8., Amonia and Nitrite=0, Nitrate=5, Gh=75, Kh=80. I've tried "Betta water" as well, although I have a feeling that is more snake oil than anything. Any suggestions?

 

[Colin_T]

What are you feeding them?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What symptoms do they have when they die?

 

[Slaphppy7]

What kind of test kit are you using? What do you mean by "suckers"?

Where do you buy the bettas?

 

[Colin_T]

sucker fish like algae eating catfish

 

[Slaphppy7]

sucker fish like algae eating catfish

Otos?....some people refer to plecos as "sucker" fish as well...then there's CAEs and SAEs...

 

[Naughts]

'Betta water' does sound like snake oil. Especially as your water is soft and the test results show good conditions. You could try adding Indian Almond leaves (cattapa leaves) to take the edge off the pH. What temperature do you have the tank?
Betta get fin damage and lethargic when conditions are less than pristine.

 

[GaryE]

I've noticed that Bettas from the pet shop either live for a few weeks, or years, even for experienced keepers. It seems the adjustment period to aquarist conditions takes a toll - I have heard (with zero proof) that they are raised in antibiotics to accelerate growth and protect the fins, and if true, the period of growing a normal gut flora might explain how they tend to die off after arrival. Then again, they may come in with run of the mill fishfarm diseases as well.

But that's a guess. What isn't is that your experience isn't uncommon. I've seen them live for years, but that first few months is dodgy.

Betta water seems to be 100% water...

 

[mnccnm]

What are you feeding them?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What symptoms do they have when they die?

 

[mnccnm]

What are you feeding them? Aqueon Pro Betta formula
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change? Once a month, or so.
How often and how do you clean the filter? Once every couple months, or so.
What symptoms do they have when they die? Listlessness, just lay there.

 

[mnccnm]

What kind of test kit are you using? What do you mean by "suckers"?

Where do you buy the bettas?

What kind of test kit are you using? API, same kit I use on my other 7 tanks. What do you mean by "suckers"? Bristlenose Plecos.

Where do you buy the bettas? Local pet stores, one was aprivatley owned store and one was Petsmart.

 

[Colin_T]

I would feed more variety, do water changes more frequently and clean the filter once a month.

Get some frozen fish foods (marine mix, prawn, brineshrimp, daphnia, bloodworms, etc) and keep them in the freezer. Feed a bit of dry food first and then give the fish some frozen food. Try to feed different foods each day. You can also give them live foods like aphids, mozzie larvae small flies and moths that have been caught without bug spray. You can buy live brineshrimp and daphnia from most pet shops and feed these once a week.

Do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every week. If you can't do it every week, then do it every 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

If any more fish look unwell, post pictures and a 1 minute video of them asap.

 

[Ladykelly]

Usually bettas are very hardy fish but I don't trust suckered fish though. They can be aggressive and like to eat the slime off fish... that might be the issue. Try removing the suckered fish see if that helps. Also depending on the bettas if the fins are long you should give them something to Lay on like a plant live or fake. They do tend to get fin rot easy. I just bought a 3 month kio galaxy beta from Big Al's. Been a while since I had one. I bred better in the past. They are amazing fish. I will post my aquarium with my new baby in it soon. Hopefully this helps.

 

[Ladykelly]

Ok here is my new betta send its tank set up. He doing well and feisty only tank mate he have is 2 ram snails that's it.

 

[Ladykelly]

If you can do something similar it may help you. The tank is also 5 gallon it has live plants Java fern, Java moss and 2 others I can't remember the name. And a smalk drift wood.