I Was Very Stupid!

[Phoenixbaby]

my understanding of it was, the chemicals in the water wud have poisoned, regardless of whether he was breathing from the surface

it may have done some damage, or as u sed he was stressed

but by no means am i saying ur wrong daz, just incase u think thats what im tryna say lol

 

[swampiedonkey]

Well the main tests that I run on my water are, I have have the test tube things that I test for ammonia, which of course is not really a problem in tap water. Then I have some litmus stuff that tests pH, hardness and a number of other things, I know the litmus isnt the best to use because its not REAL accurate, but my fish at home never even seem to stress when I do water changes, or even recently when I had to do an emergency tank move into a new tank that wasnt setup at all because of a 75 gal springing a leak.

What I have found is that if the chlorine level is high, the pH tends to be pretty high, so I just assume that the chlorine level is good since my pH level out of the tap ends up being at around 7.2.

This tank I have up here at work has a lid that covers all but a tiny hole of the top for feeding, and there are no air fresheners anywhere near me, nor people with perfume, (thank god im allergic to most perfumes) But that is a real good suggestion though, as far as chemicals getting into tanks, we just recently put an air freshener near one of my tanks at home, I'm gonna move it when I get there now. Thanks.

The betta seems to be feeling at least a little better now, hes not sitting actually ON the bottom any more, he is kinda hovering over it. I think he is gonna be alright, but will continue to monitor and do constant water changes until he starts perking up and swimming around.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i know this is probably of no use, but i wasnt using declorinator for 6 months, the only way i realised was to actually read the bottle last week, and found it was filter boosting thingy and not the declorinator that i thought it was..but i was told that the cholomine was the important thing to get out of the water as were the heavy metals, so i use it now religously

shelagh xxx

 

[mart99]

u ppl should,t be keeping fish if u cant provide them with the basics like correct water!  i hav breed oscars 4 ten years. get sick of ppl ringing me saying hi i brought that oscar off u last week just wondering wot size tank and wot water conditions it needs.
find out first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[swampiedonkey]

I'm sorry to offend you mart, but I do know the water conditions that I need, as I mentioned before I have 5 other tanks that I have never had any problems with including two bettas. But in my excitement, I was a bit negligent and didn't do it properly, I know that I should have but the fact is that I didn't and I came here looking for advice on how to proceed. Which I received and am greatful for.

 

[mart99]

sorry m8 bit harsh, bad day. my advice dont do 100% changes the stress will kill him. take him out start again wiv water conditioners, pop him bak in, feed once a day change 25% every fourth day. u,ll be fine the effects of the bad water might hav burnt
his gills n body, but once in right conditions should be fine. gud luk

sorry m8 bit harsh, bad day. my advice dont do 100% changes the stress will kill him. take him out start again wiv water conditioners, pop him bak in, feed once a day change 25% every fourth day. u,ll be fine the effects of the bad water might hav burnt
his gills n body, but once in right conditions should be fine. gud luk

 

[swampiedonkey]

No problem man, been there, thanks for the advice.

 

[modaz]

the dechlorinator is there for one reason, to remove chlorines and such from the tank water, its the chlorines / chloramines that attack the filter bacteria and kill it and not the fish, its the lack of bacteria that then gets the fish sometimes but in a newly setup tank with no filter , what does that say? little bacteria b/c no filter and new setup hence the need for large water changes in un-filtered tanks.

 

[ibbledibble]

Well the main tests that I run on my water are, I have have the test tube things that I test for ammonia, which of course is not really a problem in tap water. Then I have some litmus stuff that tests pH, hardness and a number of other things, I know the litmus isnt the best to use because its not REAL accurate, but my fish at home never even seem to stress when I do water changes, or even recently when I had to do an emergency tank move into a new tank that wasnt setup at all because of a 75 gal springing a leak.

What I have found is that if the chlorine level is high, the pH tends to be pretty high, so I just assume that the chlorine level is good since my pH level out of the tap ends up being at around 7.2.

This tank I have up here at work has a lid that covers all but a tiny hole of the top for feeding, and there are no air fresheners anywhere near me, nor people with perfume, (thank god im allergic to most perfumes) But that is a real good suggestion though, as far as chemicals getting into tanks, we just recently put an air freshener near one of my tanks at home, I'm gonna move it when I get there now. Thanks.

The betta seems to be feeling at least a little better now, hes not sitting actually ON the bottom any more, he is kinda hovering over it. I think he is gonna be alright, but will continue to monitor and do constant water changes until he starts perking up and swimming around.

sorry m8 bit harsh, bad day. my advice dont do 100% changes the stress will kill him. take him out start again wiv water conditioners, pop him bak in, feed once a day change 25% every fourth day. u,ll be fine the effects of the bad water might hav burnt
his gills n body, but once in right conditions should be fine. gud luk

Not being funny but 25% every 4 days is not enough for a 1 gal tank.
bettas are fine with 100% water changes,

also, i really would recommend using the water conditioner. although the ph may give you some indication, different areas have different ph anyway and so its not really an accurate way to tell. also water companys often change the amount of chlorine and chloramine they add without any notice(they don't need to tell you if either if these are present). also as i said, if its not well water it WILL have chlorine at the very least! if the water only has chlorine in it, then it will dissipate over time, but chloramine will never break down on its own, and needs the water conditioner to do so, otherwise it will end up harming your fish

 

[modaz]

sorry m8 bit harsh, bad day. my advice dont do 100% changes the stress will kill him. take him out start again wiv water conditioners, pop him bak in, feed once a day change 25% every fourth day. u,ll be fine the effects of the bad water might hav burnt
his gills n body, but once in right conditions should be fine. gud luk

sorry m8 bit harsh, bad day. my advice dont do 100% changes the stress will kill him. take him out start again wiv water conditioners, pop him bak in, feed once a day change 25% every fourth day. u,ll be fine the effects of the bad water might hav burnt
his gills n body, but once in right conditions should be fine. gud luk

he's in an unfiltered tank!!!!!!!! he needs the large water changes. 100% will not kill him, it will do him more good than anything

 

[newfishy]

100% water changes will not hurt your betta as long as you make sure the water is a very similar temp and the ph isnt radicaly different, also if you are going to have two 1 gallon set ups, fill and dechlore the clean tank, and gently use a cup to move your betta from tank to tank, one of my bettas gets super stressed and freaked out if I catch him in a net rather then a cup. my sister actualy puts her hands in the tank, her girls swim into her hands and gently scoops them out and into the new tank.

 

[three-fingers]

Yeah, I think I will try bringing some water from home, I will probably grab some salt too, but its gonna have to wait till 4pm CT, thats when I get off. For future reference and advice, if anyone else is gonna have one at work, I recommend coming in on a day off and setting it up. This waiting is killing me.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Here's my advice, don't add salt, if you have a weak or ill fish at the moment, adding salt is the last thing you want to do, especially for fish like bettas that like soft acidic water. The packet recommends silly low doses that haven't been proven to do anything, so it wouldn't kill the betta, but I've found NO evidence to suggest it would help at all either, and really if you look at the facts it could easily harm the fish over the long-term.

At best it's a debated issue, but I have yet to see any evidence that supports aquarium salt helps stress (closest 'evidence is 'i think it helps' or 'it says so on the pack), but lot's of proper facts against using it.

It's useful when used as a salt bath to treat parasites or fungus or the like, but only in much higher concentrations, and even then you'd be best to save money and buy cheaper rock salt or something than overpriced 'aquarium salt' .


Good luck with the fish .

 

[shelaghfishface]

u ppl should,t be keeping fish if u cant provide them with the basics like correct water!  i hav breed oscars 4 ten years. get sick of ppl ringing me saying hi i brought that oscar off u last week just wondering wot size tank and wot water conditions it needs.
find out first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh your not one of "those" that thinks u have NEVER made a mistake in all that time are u
but i can tell you that you have... exactly how many oscars have you let go to people with no idea?? hmm pot and black kettel come to mind!

 

[Netty]

u ppl should,t be keeping fish if u cant provide them with the basics like correct water!  i hav breed oscars 4 ten years. get sick of ppl ringing me saying hi i brought that oscar off u last week just wondering wot size tank and wot water conditions it needs.
find out first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or maybe as an experienced breeder you should make sure that the people you sell to know what their requirements are. Even Pets@home fill in a sheet asking you what your set up is before selling you any fish.

 

[bronzecat]

u ppl should,t be keeping fish if u cant provide them with the basics like correct water!  i hav breed oscars 4 ten years. get sick of ppl ringing me saying hi i brought that oscar off u last week just wondering wot size tank and wot water conditions it needs.
find out first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeh, from the breeder

I think the OP was right to ask the questions he did, he realised his mistake and wanted to do something about it