Help With A Rescued Betta

[Yo-Yo]

could you give me a crash course on how to rehabilitate a rescue betta? Its been a long time since ive kept betta fish and im not sure where to start.
For some quick background.

• friends of mine were trying to get rid of a small betta they've had for 10 months
• I have general knowledge of some basics in terms of care, diet, appropriate water parameters ect, ive been off and on fish keepinng since 2010, so I felt I could do enough to give him a decent home
• I haven't had a betta since 2016 and that one died within 3 days I still don't know why.
• The tank/equipment they gave me is a sorry excuse for the fish they have, they didn't even have a heater I stole one from my 5 gallon and plunked it in there. Photos below. he constantly sits by the filter. and his water was changed with "half tap, half distilled left out overnight to kill the chlorine" which was changed every two weeks.
• former owners claimed that "chemical dechlorination" killed their last betta?? do I need a special dechlorinator?

Water parameters:
Ammonia: .75 ppm
PH: 6.7 ppm
Nitrites: 0
nitrates: between 40-80 ppm.
Temperature: 71 and rising
any advice you could offer about how to keep him alive would be fantastic. Thanks so much

 

[On_a_dishy]

Hello - I'm new to fishkeeping, but thought I'd mention that my betta also likes to lay across my filters. I think he likes the way it feels!
Have you got something to dechlorinate the water? It will definitely need dechlorinating. However, a lot of the dechlorinators I have come across need a tiny, tiny amount - but the instructions are pretty clear. Half tap half distilled wouldn't have killed the chlorine in the half tap half!
It's so good that you're wanting to help the betta - good luck.

 

[Essjay]

Do you know if your water provider uses chlorine or chloramine? If it's chloramine, that does not gas off no matter how long it is left to stand so a dechlorinator is necessary.

Dechlorinators should not kill a fish unless is is grossly overdosed. As long as the correct dosage for the volume of new water is used, it doesn't matter which dechlorinator - and in your case, it should be the dose rate for the amount of tap water as the distilled half should not contain any chlorine/chloramine.

 

[Fish4dawin]

could you give me a crash course on how to rehabilitate a rescue betta? Its been a long time since ive kept betta fish and im not sure where to start.
For some quick background.

• friends of mine were trying to get rid of a small betta they've had for 10 months
• I have general knowledge of some basics in terms of care, diet, appropriate water parameters ect, ive been off and on fish keepinng since 2010, so I felt I could do enough to give him a decent home
• I haven't had a betta since 2016 and that one died within 3 days I still don't know why.
• The tank/equipment they gave me is a sorry excuse for the fish they have, they didn't even have a heater I stole one from my 5 gallon and plunked it in there. Photos below. he constantly sits by the filter. and his water was changed with "half tap, half distilled left out overnight to kill the chlorine" which was changed every two weeks.
• former owners claimed that "chemical dechlorination" killed their last betta?? do I need a special dechlorinator?

View attachment 125856View attachment 125857
Water parameters:
Ammonia: .75 ppm
PH: 6.7 ppm
Nitrites: 0
nitrates: between 40-80 ppm.
Temperature: 71 and rising
any advice you could offer about how to keep him alive would be fantastic. Thanks so much

Could you also tell us the GH? Also his tank does look small; what are the dimensions? Your nitrates seem a bit high too.

 

[Kyle E.]

Why has no one commented on the .75ppm ammonia? That fish is dying of ammonia poisoning right now. Do several water changes until it gets down to zero. These will be necessary for a while until the tank cycles. Do you know about cycling a tank? Add some floating plants like frogbit to help use up the ammonia as well. Yes the nitrates are too high as well, and they need to be under 20 ideally but the ammonia is your biggest concern.

Test your tap water for nitrates. Some people have high nitrates out of their tap. This is probably the case since it seems like your tank is not cycled, so is not producing nitrates.

 

[Yo-Yo]

Why has no one commented on the .75ppm ammonia? That fish is dying of ammonia poisoning right now. Do several water changes until it gets down to zero. These will be necessary for a while until the tank cycles. Do you know about cycling a tank? Add some floating plants like frogbit to help use up the ammonia as well. Yes the nitrates are too high as well, and they need to be under 20 ideally but the ammonia is your biggest concern.

Test your tap water for nitrates. Some people have high nitrates out of their tap. This is probably the case since it seems like your tank is not cycled, so is not producing nitrates.

that was my first concern after the temperature. how often would you suggest I change and how much? I'm afraid of shocking him with all this new water.

 

[Kyle E.]

The new water will be a million times better for him as long as there is no chlorine in it. You need to do water changes whenever the ammonia gets above 0ppm. Ammonia is extremely toxic to fish, so he willike as much new water as you can give him. What size is the tank?

 

[Yo-Yo]

The new water will be a million times better for him as long as there is no chlorine in it. You need to do water changes whenever the ammonia gets above 0ppm. Ammonia is extremely toxic to fish, so he willike as much new water as you can give him. What size is the tank?

It's a 6.5-inch cube on all sides, so I imagine it's roughly under a gallon. Still a little concerned about the previous ownera claim to "dechlorinator killing the last fish" would spring be safe? I have loads of that. Normally I would introduce new water all day slowly but the volume is so small on this tank...

 

[Kyle E.]

Hmm bettas should have at least 5 gallons... think about getting a bigger tank. With such a small tank the ammonia will go up FAST. Dechlorinator does not kill fish unless you use like 5 times the dose rate. Yes spring water does work, but you then have to add things back into it. I forget what those chemicals are called, you can look it up.

It would be best to just use dechlorinator.

 

[Yo-Yo]

Hmm bettas should have at least 5 gallons... think about getting a bigger tank. With such a small tank the ammonia will go up FAST. Dechlorinator does not kill fish unless you use like 5 times the dose rate. Yes spring water does work, but you then have to add things back into it. I forget what those chemicals are called, you can look it up.

It would be best to just use dechlorinator.

I have a 5 that's still hasn't cycled sitting there trying to grow a mini amazon sword. I think ill start him off with a 50% water change and see if he makes it through the night. Ideally id like to move him to the five as soon as I can

 

[Kyle E.]

If you can get some floating plants they are GREAT at using up ammonia. Any fast growing plant will, really.

 

[Yo-Yo]

If you can get some floating plants they are GREAT at using up ammonia. Any fast growing plant will, really.

Great, thank you so much. Last thing- would you recommend using any chemical cycle starters for the 5 to get things moving?

 

[Essjay]

Do you mean bacterial starter? If so, yes - either Dr Tim's One & Only or Tetra Safe Start. But neither of these will cycle a tank instantly, it will still take a couple of weeks.
The best advice is what Kyle E. said - get live plants especially floating plants.
Last time I set up my quarantine tank (25 litres/6.6 gallons) I used just plants. 2 large water sprite plants from my main tank and 2 bunches of anacharis were plenty to use all the ammonia made by 12 kuhli loaches. Bettas do appreciate floating plants; in 5 gallons something like Amazon frogbit would suit - that's what I have on my 6 gallon shrimp tank. Anacharis either left floating or planted would also use a lot of ammonia.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

As previously noted, he is probably very sick from ammonia poisoning. Ammonia should be 0. Nitrates should be below 20. Keep testing daily and doing water changes to keep ammonia at 0.

You did a good thing putting a heater in there. He needs to be about 80 degrees.

Between the cold temp and the ammonia, that probably explains his behavior. Hoping with your good care and attention he will recover. Keep us posted!

 

[Essjay]

We don't need to panic too much about the ammonia level.

The data given in the first post are
pH 6.7
Ammonia 0.75
Temp 71 deg F and rising


Because of the pH, the ammonia isn't as bad as it first seems. That 0.75 ppm is total ammonia. Total ammonia is toxic ammonia (NH3) and less toxic ammonium (NH4) added together. The amount in each form depends on the temperature and pH of the water.

At 71 deg F, the amount of free ammonia is 0.0017. If the temperature rises to 80 deg F, free ammonia is 0.0025.
Free ammonia at 0.02 is safe for a few days - but the reading in the first post has a free ammonia level of one tenth of 0.02.

This doesn't mean that the total ammonia level - the reading from the test kit - can be allowed to increase much more than the current level; certainly no higher than 2.0. And only for a few days, no longer than that.
This is from the fish-in cycling method on here

Remember, NH4 can still cause ammonia burns. This writer’s normal cutoff for total ammonia for more than a few days or so is 2 ppm. As a rule of thumb, you can run at 2 ppm of total ammonia with the NH3 being well under .05 for some short amount time. The lower it is under .05, the better. At under .02 ppm of NH3 many fish can be in up to 2 ppm for a number of days and still be OK. The best sign of how long is how the fish behave. If they act distressed, then that is high and/or long enough. Some fish can manage in higher levels, others can’t. This is why you must also watch the fish as well as the test levels.

But that total ammonia will be turned into nitrite and there is no less toxic form of nitrite. It is all toxic. Nitrite must be kept at zero.