hygiene

[tank212]

how often do you guys clean your betta fish tanks?

 

[yvez9]

i have 4 1 gallon bowls

I change 100% of the water every 3 to 5 days

 

[tank212]

ahh ok i was just wondering i change the water of my bowls every friday when i get home from school

 

[RandomWiktor]

All 6 are each in 5 gallon filtered tanks, so I do 25-50% weekly, unless I see the water getting cloudy or the fish is sickly.

 

[BettaMomma]

RW - do you ever do 100% water changes?

Man, that'd be nice not to have to - maybe I need to just go invest in some 5 gallon tanx anyhow...

 

[RandomWiktor]

If the fish just got over an illness, if there is a real problem with dirtiness (which doesnt happen since I feed 1 pellet at a time), and every time I need to transport them from PA to NY, there is a 100% water change. However, I otherwise just do the 25-50% and have never had a problem.

I should add that every time I do a 100% water change, I boil the silk plants and gravel to kill algae and any harmful stuffs in the tank. I realize that there is beneficial bacteria in tanks, but I've never had an ammonia problem, and since all of my fishies are rescues with chronic health problems, I'd rather be killing parasites, ich remenants, etc. and risk the good bacteria. So far its worked like a charm.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

RW, are your tanks cycled? If you are only doing 25-50% changes on an uncycled tank all you are doing is diluteing the ammonia and it builds up over time......
tank212-once a week for an unfiltered bowl isn't enough. Every 3 or 4 days is better. The best way to do it is to test the water for ammonia every day and as soon as you get a reading do a 100% change. I usually do my gallon bowls every 3 days. In my larger cycled tanks I do a weekly 30-40% change useing a gravel vac. That way I suck all the poo out of the gravel and change the water at the same time. If you have ever kept a betta in a bare bottom tank, you would be amazed at the ammount of waste that you see on the bottom after 3 days.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Mmm, I'm not really sure if they'd count as cycled or not. And when I say "water change," I do so via gravel vacuuming at the same time so that the substrate stays clean. I've had the fish for a while now and all of my ammonia/nitrite/etc is always just fine