Betta male with injured gill

[NickAu]

and only give him as much food as he can eat in 2 minutes.

A Betta can gobble up 12 plus pellets in 2 minutes. My advice is to get a high grade pellet like Atisons, New Life Spectrum, Omega one, Xtreme or even Hikari Betta pellets and feed 2 pellets per meal, 4 pellets a day max.

 

[J CZA]

Yes, the medication (Erythromycin) that you used is an anti-biotic and killed all the bacteria in the tank and in the filter.

The filter will take about 1 month to rebuild the beneficial bacteria you need to keep the water clean. It could take longer tho.

The only way to see if the filter has established is to test the water (or have a petshop test it) for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

When fish food and waste break down in the water they produce ammonia. After a couple of weeks some good bacteria will have developed in the filter and they eat the ammonia and convert it into nitrite. A couple of weeks later you get more bacteria that grow in the filter and they eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. When all these bacteria are living and working in the filter there will be no ammonia or nitrite in the water and the filter has established or cycled.

Until the filters have establishes, you should only feed the fish once every second day, and only give him as much food as he can eat in 2 minutes. Then remove any uneaten food from the tank. And you have to do the 75% water change 3-4 hours (or within 8 hours) after feeding him until the filters have established. The water changes must be done even if he eats all the food.

Anything that breaks down in the water will produce ammonia. This includes fish food, fish poop, rotting plants, anything. The water changes will keep the ammonia levels low while the filters grow the bacteria they need to keep the water clean.

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You can use the same brand of cartridge for the filter if you like but it is not a very good filter media. However, if that is all you can get then use it. If you can get some sponges then they will last longer and won't need to be replaced until they fall apart in the future. Whereas the cartridge has carbon in that needs to be replaced. And each time you replace the cartridge, you lose a lot of the good filter bacteria.

Different filter cartridges will not make any difference to how long the filter takes to establish.

I have another betta in a 10 gallon tank i have to do a waterchange on today. Can i use his filter in the tank to cycle in good bacteria? I still have Romane in a Tupperware. Hes doing better and isnt breathing heavy or gasping. I got him a few plants that arnt plastic so he can rest on them and not get injured. I really don't feel like doing a 75% wc every other day for a month... but i understand. I got the same filter as befor and a blue filter cartrage with carbon.


His head scales look a little lifted and maby a little when i look above him f i dont know. His face has four dots like ', , ' on him i dont know and from the top his gills look like they are pushed out. Im just a fish noob stressing out. I dont like this. Ever since my last fish died ive been stressed if itd happen to romane. My phone needs to charge for me to be able to post a photo...

Im going to add him tomorrow into the tank. Ill feed him every other day do i HAVE to clean 75% every day or everyother day will that not stress him out? I think that warm water and clean water will help.

 

[J CZA]

A Betta can gobble up 12 plus pellets in 2 minutes. My advice is to get a high grade pellet like Atisons, New Life Spectrum, Omega one, Xtreme or even Hikari Betta pellets and feed 2 pellets per meal, 4 pellets a day max.

Yea thats how much i feed my betta. His pellets is the tetra brand..

 

[Colin_T]

really don't feel like doing a 75% wc every other day for a month... but i understand. I got the same filter as befor and a blue filter cartrage with carbon.

If you just bought a new filter and it is the same type as the top fin silentstream 10, take it back and get an Aquaclear HOB (hang on back) filter. Then get another sponge to go in the Aquaclear. No offense to you but the top fin are not the best for long term use because you have to keep replacing the filter materials and that means you are constantly removing the good filter bacteria. And you need the good filter bacteria to keep the water clean.

If you didn't buy a new one then just use what you have. However, if you remove the filter materials from the other filter and use them in Romane's tank, then the other tank won't have the good filter bacteria.

If you can cut the filter material in half, you could leave half in the other tank and add half to Romane's tank and that would work. But the cartridge has carbon in that will need to be thrown out because it will not have anything to contain it.

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I'm going to add him tomorrow into the tank. Ill feed him every other day. Do I HAVE to clean 75% every day or every other day, will that not stress him out? I think that warm water and clean water will help.

The 75% water changes are needed to reduce the ammonia in the water. The ammonia will come from fish food and fish poop breaking down in the water.

If you do not do the water changes every couple of days, you will get a ammonia build up in the water and it could kill the fish.

If you don't want to do water changes, then that is up to you, but the fish needs water that is free of ammonia and nitrite to live.

 

[J CZA]

If you just bought a new filter and it is the same type as the top fin silentstream 10, take it back and get an Aquaclear HOB (hang on back) filter. Then get another sponge to go in the Aquaclear. No offense to you but the top fin are not the best for long term use because you have to keep replacing the filter materials and that means you are constantly removing the good filter bacteria. And you need the good filter bacteria to keep the water clean.

If you didn't buy a new one then just use what you have. However, if you remove the filter materials from the other filter and use them in Romane's tank, then the other tank won't have the good filter bacteria.

If you can cut the filter material in half, you could leave half in the other tank and add half to Romane's tank and that would work. But the cartridge has carbon in that will need to be thrown out because it will not have anything to contain it.

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The 75% water changes are needed to reduce the ammonia in the water. The ammonia will come from fish food and fish poop breaking down in the water.

If you do not do the water changes every couple of days, you will get a ammonia build up in the water and it could kill the fish.

If you don't want to do water changes, then that is up to you, but the fish needs water that is free of ammonia and nitrite to live.

Ok ill do the changes. My one question is if i have to do it every other day or every day...

 

[Colin_T]

Feed the fish once every second day (not every day), and change some water 3-4 hours after you feed him.

 

[J CZA]

Feed the fish once every second day (not every day), and change some water 3-4 hours after you feed him.

Ok. Ill do that. Thanks i had the tank filtering for a day without any fish in there i just added romane.i removed the sharp tank decor and replaced them. could i put the filter from the toher tank and replace the filter in my 10 gal and put it in romanes? The other tanks plant decor should have good bacteria. If i did that would i have to do the cycle water changes still. I had a moss ball in the tank when i medicated it if i wrinced it off will it be clean enough to go back in the tank?

The scales on his head look a little more lifted and when i went to feed him the other day he refused to eat the last pellet (he would never let that happen) and hes breathing a lil heavy and there isnt anymore air coming out of his gill I think he got an infection from the injury or somthing and im sure were thinking about the worst one.