I succumbed

[MaloK]

When I got him I noticed a little white spot on his head, the next day I confirmed it as ich, I promptly dosed the tank With aquari-sol, an old magic trick. No plant problems, no bio-filter problems. Kills everything else, snail, shrimps and all other crustaceans. It is only a mild medication and It will kill ich only in one of it's stages of evolution although... so I have to wait until this spot falls, and check for new one apearing. I hope his gills are not already too much infected...

After tempering a little more with the water baffle I was able to reduce even more the water movement in the tank, while keeping as much as possible gazes exchange in the baffle.

I also added a large chunk of Java Moss to give him a large area of free parking.

he's acting normally and ate a lots of shrimps today.

But I must admit he is not has vigorous as some others I had in the past.

 

[MaloK]

But he already knows he's the centre piece of the place. lolll.

Tomorrow I'll be premptively working on a way to prevent algae growing on the leaves of the Java fern in the centre, under the light. It looks too bright.

 

[MaloK]

His spot on the head is nearly gone and his fins are looking a little better. He's very active and acts comfortable.

He is hard to photograph...

 

[Lcc86]

His spot on the head is nearly gone and his fins are looking a little better. He's very active and acts comfortable.

View attachment 332616View attachment 332617View attachment 332618
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He is hard to photograph...

Your photos are great! Much better than mine lol. He's a handsome guy.

 

[MaloK]

I'm never able to catch him when he does one of his nice "Bodybuilding Poses".

 

[MaloK]

I noticed increased activity and found the heater has grown the tank temperature 4 degrees in a short period. I unplugged it immediately.

This could explain his always on the prowl behaviours and ravenous feed time this morning.

And also all his shredded wings.

Tomorrow I'm going to get an hopefully controllable one that could fit in this enclosure.

I'm starting a fish-in-cycle and with water changes, ammonia has never reached 0.25 at the moment.

He Digs himself under the java moss on top of the substrate and stays immobile for minutes, then attacks frantically something that is just not there...

While I'm yelling loudly.... STOP ITTTTTT !!!!!!!, Loll.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I noticed increased activity and found the heater has grown the tank temperature 4 degrees in a short period. I unplugged it immediately.

This could explain his always on the prowl behaviours and ravenous feed time this morning.

And also all his shredded wings.

Tomorrow I'm going to get an hopefully controllable one that could fit in this enclosure.

I'm starting a fish-in-cycle and with water changes, ammonia has never reached 0.25 at the moment.

He Digs himself under the java moss on top of the substrate and stays immobile for minutes, then attacks frantically something that is just not there...

While I'm yelling loudly.... STOP ITTTTTT !!!!!!!, Loll.

Fish get zoomies too, I reckon. One of my cats runs behind the curtains in our bedroom and attacks some ghost on the other side of it frantically - moments of stalking, then POW! attack that ghost, boy!

 

[Aqua67]

From what I understand, bettas develop their labyrinth organ as they get older as it isn’t functional when they are young. I would bet they would appreciate being able to grab extra air from the surface when they build a nest. They can stay alive out of water for a short amount of time too due to the labyrinth organ, as long as the fish itself stays moist. Of course forcing a fish to use their (hopefully developed) labyrinth organ out of water would not be ideal, I am sure that using their labyrinth organ, once developed and the fish is mature, is probably a very natural and normal thing. Forcing anything, generally speaking, isn’t good. (As I sit here trying to force black beard algae to its demise from my windelov fern.)

 

[MaloK]

I finally got a new heater that will be very snug fitting in the enclosure, the tank is now running at 81F. I will switch them during today's water change.

The tank held 77F for nearly 2 weeks and now has rose a solid 4 degrees. I've been plugging on and off for 2 days now to prevent overheating. I will slowly bring the tank back to 78F.

The ich treatment has been discontinued after 13 days, I will do a large water change and run over carbon for the next 2 days. Then re-seed the tank with nitrifying bacteria to make sure. While maintaining ammonia under 0.25ppm

It's going well. Tadpole is happy and I am too !

 

[MaloK]

Finally the new heater is installed, and seems to be holding his temperature at 80F.

His belly was looking a little full, So I fastened him a little while and fed him a piece of green pea to try to help.
But, he ate the green pea and all the snails in the aquarium... Lolll. he's not even hungry at the moment... None of the biggest ones that where "Rocking" yesterday, are to be found today, and I can still see the very little ones going well. His belly is looking the same as 2 days ago...

I never seen or found fish feces anywhere since I have him. and I have not found any empty shells or dead snails anywhere either.

I'm pretty sure If he was constipated and ate all this, he would have blown-up since.

But as a good "helicopter daddy" I got some USP Epsom salt in case he bloats too much and some Melafix if he catches fin rot. Because Mr. seems to be biting his tail.

A little surprising, water tested 0 ammonia 0 nitrite today. I feed him right in the mouth from the start with a dropper and wait until he masticates a bit and come back for more... So there's not much falling to the bottom, but the sails where still growing and also my ammonia was rising everyday until today. I tried Fluval Biological Enhancer (not much of a choice there) and it looked like it dissolved ammonia. I added 15 ml after every water changes since ammonia started rising, directly in the input of the filter. 5 days later nitrite 0... last week I started adding and did 1 water change. If it continues to test 0 this week. The tank will be already cycled... Well for the tiny amount of ammonia building at the moment. But it's awesome, the buildup already stopped.

Besides that, he's settling his little routine... He likes to crash in the filter input, upside down and hangs there from the water movement, like a dead fish... Just to see if I'm going to panic... A good part of the time he's wondering around looking for, food. And lying on his rock. Sometimes he goes swimming a while against the current from the output of the filter...

His moral is better than mine.

I wonder if my psychiatrist would make a package deal for me and the fish at the same time.

 

[MuddyWaters]

upside down and hangs there from the water movement, like a dead fish

LOL bettas are the fish version of "lounge lizards" LOL

 

[MaloK]

Well, the tank is cycled... No sign of ammonia and nitrite for 3 days... That was easy... Waiting for nitrate to show up, while keeping an eye on the rest.

Since ammonia and nitrite are maintaining a constant 0. His slightly laborious gill movement has completely vanished.

Wednesday I added a small amount of salt to the water and will maintain the level at 1 shaved tea spoon per 5 gallons in the future. It should be pretty safe for the java fern and moss and be beneficial to Mr big.

I added a good piece of almond tree bark to the tank to give it a little tannin and colour to the water, And it also looks great in the decor. The tint is starting to show a little.

I also made a coffee can hood to cover the light and while it's not "black" and looking like it was "with the kit".

It's a cheap an effective eyes strain relief... And the interior of the tank looks much better now.

Look at the difference on the substrate.

Before:


After:


He was lying on his Rock like a couch potato... As soon as I removed the hood to take pic 1 he went to the top in 2 seconds...

brandishing knife and fork !!!

 

[MuddyWaters]

Oh yeah big difference. I would get tired of seeing that bright light above the tank while watching. It looks great!

In my new tank, I have a bunch of wood and had a LOT of tannins, but amazingly after a couple of water changes it is all just about gone. Honestly, I like it better without. I liked it for awhile, but it wore on me after awhile. It is the correct look for the tank, though- so good on you for it.

btw- I read that nitrate doesn't necessarily show up much as cycling ends, so if you're not getting it I wouldn't worry about it.

I love my fish, but none of them really have personalities that I can detect lol. The embers and the green fire tetra are fun to watch when they decide it's time to run the tank, though. Most of the time they are all over the place doing whatever, but a couple of times a day, most of them will get together and run together from one end of the tank to the other- first at the back, and then after a couple of laps, at the front. Never in the middle- front or back. Neato...

 

[MaloK]

Fishes have a lot of personality... I had large gold fishes that I always hand fed and where always behaving. I sometimes was like kidding them in thinking that I was going to feed them, offering an empty hand.

They would slap water in my face as soon as they perceive my hand was empty.

Loll... Caught all the family with that.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Fishes have a lot of personality... I had large gold fishes that I always hand fed and where always behaving. I sometimes was like kidding them in thinking that I was going to feed them, offering an empty hand.

They would slap water in my face as soon as they perceive my hand was empty.

Loll... Caught all the family with that.

LOL that is awesome!!!