Do Charlie’s fins look normal?

[Charlie’s Keeper]

Hi there! I’m new to fish keeping, but I recently saw Charlie at Walmart and I couldn’t leave him there. He is now my baby and lives in a 5 gallon, heated, and filtered tank. I let the tank sit for a couple days to try and cycle and have been adding Stability from Seachem to help it, but I added Charlie recently because I didn’t want him to sit too long without a filter (he had a heater while I outback together his new home). Being a new betta mom, I’m paranoid of the bacteria and diseases they can get. Can I get your opinions on how his fins are looking now? I think he’s doing okay (a lot better since Walmart) but I’m a worrier.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

His fins are fine.

Most fish health issues are caused by poor water quality. If you do regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate, the fish should be fine. Having said that, because this is a newly set up tank I would reduce feeding to 2 times per week and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. You should also monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels in the water and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate if you get an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

The filter takes about 4-6 weeks to cycle and you need to keep feeding down to a minimum and water changes up until the filter is cycled.

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Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and preferably every 2 weeks. However, do not clean the new filter until 2 weeks after it has finished cycling (when it's about 2 months old). When you do clean a filter, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and put them back in the tank. Rinse the filter case under tap water and then reassemble everything and get it running again.

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The following link has information on what to do if your fish gets sick. It is pretty long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/#post-3804819

 

[Charlie’s Keeper]

Hi and welcome to the forum

His fins are fine.

Most fish health issues are caused by poor water quality. If you do regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate, the fish should be fine. Having said that, because this is a newly set up tank I would reduce feeding to 2 times per week and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. You should also monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels in the water and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate if you get an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

The filter takes about 4-6 weeks to cycle and you need to keep feeding down to a minimum and water changes up until the filter is cycled.

----------------------
Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and preferably every 2 weeks. However, do not clean the new filter until 2 weeks after it has finished cycling (when it's about 2 months old). When you do clean a filter, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and put them back in the tank. Rinse the filter case under tap water and then reassemble everything and get it running again.

----------------------
The following link has information on what to do if your fish gets sick. It is pretty long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/#post-3804819

Thank you so much!! I appreciate the advice. I tested the water tonight and got about:
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm
So I will be doing a 75% water change tomorrow. You suggested feeding him two times per week, which I will start. I would normally feed him three pellets in the morning (around 6am) and three hilarious pellets in the evening (7pm). Is that too much after his tank become established? I know they say their stomach is about the size of their eye.

 

[Colin_T]

You only feed a couple of times a week until the filters are established, then you can increase feeding to once or twice a day. The main reason to reduce feeding now is because the less food going into the tank, the less ammonia that will be produced.

Feeding him a couple of pellets in the morning and a couple at night (after the filters have established) will be fine. You can also get frozen fish food from pet shops and these remain in the freezer. Every couple of days you can take a bit of the frozen food and defrost it and offer it to the fish to vary his diet. But don't use frozen foods until the filters have established because they cause the ammonia levels to icnrease rapidly.

You can also get live fish foods from most pet shops or culture your own. If you have roses in the garden and they don't get sprayed with chemicals, you can collect aphids off the rose buds and feed the aphids to the fish. Small flies, mosquitoes and moths that have not been exposed to chemicals (bug sprays) can also be fed to him. pet shops sell live brineshrimp and sometime daphnia, both of which can be fed instead of giving him pellets.

Use the pellets as his main food and add other foods to supplement his diet.

 

[Charlie’s Keeper]

Thank you so much! I’ve been doing the water changes, they’re not as difficult as I thought they would be (siphons really work!). The good bacteria is still establishing but I’ve been keeping tabs on the water quality. He looks really good and is so active. I appreciate the advice!