LaVidaBoring
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- May 31, 2010
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So, I've been keeping my betta in an unfiltered but heated 2.5 gallon tank for about the last month.
Yeah, I bought the fish first and the small tank intending to keep him in the unfiltered tank indefinitely, then started reading more about bettas online, felt guilty, went out and bought a 5 gall tank that I'm now cycling fishlessly.
But, in the meantime, the betta is still in the unfiltered tank. One of the things I bought a couple weeks after getting the fish was a freshwater test kit. I started changing all of the water in the unfiltered 2.5 gall container every 2 days after I discovered that on the second day after a water change, the ammonia levels were going up to .25 ppm.
Then, the last two times I went to change the water on the second day, including yesterday, I tested the water first for ammonia. And ONLY ammonia. It came up zero. Great, I thought, maybe I can change the water every three days now instead of every second day.
Well, this morning was the third day, and I noticed my betta was acting a bit listless and breathing at the surface more than he normally does. I tested for ammonia--came up zero again. Then, on a whim, I tested for nitrite. It came up at 1PPM! I freaked and changed the water right then, and he perked up after being put into clean water.
But how did I get nitrites in an unfiltered container? I tested my tap water and it comes up zero for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates right out of the tap. I do have two rocks that I've been putting in with the betta in the unfiltered tank, one of them being a porous sandstone. Could nitrifying bacteria have started to grow on the sandstone? How else do I explain no ammonia and yet detectable nitrites? And nitrates too, actually (5 ppm)?
Also, the betta seems to be acting just fine now, but is there any chance that being in a 1PPM nitrite concentration has permanently damaged him?
Yeah, I bought the fish first and the small tank intending to keep him in the unfiltered tank indefinitely, then started reading more about bettas online, felt guilty, went out and bought a 5 gall tank that I'm now cycling fishlessly.
But, in the meantime, the betta is still in the unfiltered tank. One of the things I bought a couple weeks after getting the fish was a freshwater test kit. I started changing all of the water in the unfiltered 2.5 gall container every 2 days after I discovered that on the second day after a water change, the ammonia levels were going up to .25 ppm.
Then, the last two times I went to change the water on the second day, including yesterday, I tested the water first for ammonia. And ONLY ammonia. It came up zero. Great, I thought, maybe I can change the water every three days now instead of every second day.
Well, this morning was the third day, and I noticed my betta was acting a bit listless and breathing at the surface more than he normally does. I tested for ammonia--came up zero again. Then, on a whim, I tested for nitrite. It came up at 1PPM! I freaked and changed the water right then, and he perked up after being put into clean water.
But how did I get nitrites in an unfiltered container? I tested my tap water and it comes up zero for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates right out of the tap. I do have two rocks that I've been putting in with the betta in the unfiltered tank, one of them being a porous sandstone. Could nitrifying bacteria have started to grow on the sandstone? How else do I explain no ammonia and yet detectable nitrites? And nitrates too, actually (5 ppm)?
Also, the betta seems to be acting just fine now, but is there any chance that being in a 1PPM nitrite concentration has permanently damaged him?