I Was Very Stupid!

[swampiedonkey]

Ok, I know this was very wrong and irresponsible, but never the less, it happened and I need help.

I bought a crowntail betta and a new 1 gallon tank with an undergravel filter and lit hood. This is on my desk at work. I got to work today and set it up.

Now at home my tap water for whatever reason is AWESOME, I have filled 40 gal tanks 75 gal tanks and a number of others, and all of the water tested PERFECT for my fish, so I have never really had to worry about conditioners.

Well, instead of testing the water up here at work FIRST, I put him in there anyway not even thinking about it. Well sure enough he started acting funny and just sitting in one place at the top of the tank. He even started kinda floating sideways, barely moving AT ALL. Well I had to wait a little while before I was able to do anything about it since I am at work and couldnt leave, as soon as I could I ran and got some water conditioner (about 3 hours later).

He is not floating at the top any more, but he is sitting at the bottom but is moving a bit, basically just moving his fins and on a rare occasion goes to the top for air. He seems to be doing a bit better probably still stressed from the whole ordeal.

I feel absolutely horrible about this whole situation because I should have known better, I have 5 other tanks at home. I am looking for some advice on what I should do. Should I try to add some other stuff to the water, should I just wait it out, or what. I'm pretty sure that the water was just loaded with chlorine, and I don't know what damage it possibly did to him.

I apologize to everyone this may offend, I honestly had no intention on hurting the little guy. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

u need to get him out of that water and into conditioned water

it contains chlorine and chloramide, and other heavy metals, which are poisoning him

 

[swampiedonkey]

I did add some dechlorinator to it, that is when he finally started moving some more and went to the bottom, I would test it now, but I didnt grab any testing stuff. Since I have added that stuff do I still need to get him out? And BTW, again being up here at work, I dont have anything better then that to put him in other then the same type of water with more conditioner in it.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

uve probably poisoned him then

the dechlorinator should be added b4 adding him to the water

all i can suggest is keep the water clean and warm, maybe salt the water (with aquarium salt) i dunno, i have no idea when it comes to poisoning??

 

[rassy]

I am, by far, no expert. But since you got your betta a 1gallon tank, perhaps you could bring some water from home, maybe even some from your other tanks and just replace what you have him in now? It might help by at least relieving him of what might still be in the water he is in now and giving him a better chance to recover, I would think. But like I said, I'm no expert, but it's probably something I would try.

 

[swampiedonkey]

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.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

the water from ur home tanks wont make a difference if the water the betta is now in is dechlorinated

i reccoment 100% water change every other day but please use dechlorinator 1st

Just keep up with it, and it shud all be fine, i hope anyway x

 

[swampiedonkey]

I hope so too, I will do the 100% water change every day like you recomended. I'll bring a second tank up here and just swap him back and forth after the dechlorinator has already been added.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

when u add it, stir it in tho

but yeah use some aquarium salt, i use it in all my tanks, and it just helps keep background bacteria and stuff at bay, so whilst he is not well at the mo, it will stop him from getting ill from summet else

fingers crossed for u x

 

[Phoenixbaby]

ps ur not irresponsible, the other day i put the girls in my spare tank so i cud clean theres, and i forgot to add the dechlorinator, luckily it was only for like a min after i added them, we all make mistakes, so dont put urself down x

 

[swampiedonkey]

Well I thank you for that, I really didn't mean to hurt him, but I guess accidents do happen. Especially when your excited as I was that I actually got permission to have him up here.

 

[liz2]

hope he is ok.....I have to be really careful when I clean my bettas out, sometimes cant remember whether I have added water conditioner. Have been known to empty a tank and start again then add conditioner...

 

[Phoenixbaby]

lol liz im the same, he shud be ok, fingers crossed

 

[modaz]

the 3 hours in the water wouldnt have made such an impact b/c it wasnt dechlorinated,, simply adding the conditioner afterwards was the right thing to do, think about any other surroundings that could be the problem as the conditioner issue shouldnt have been the issue, since bettas breath from the surface have a check that your work building doesnt have any system airfresheners active, like the mechanical ones that are found in toilets, it could be anything down to someone sraying perfume in the same room, what im saying is that i really dont think the water is the issue and it could well be the environment. also remember that he has just gone thru mega stress by being moved to another tank and would be very stressed, this can make betta act strange and then a day later they are fine.

 

[ibbledibble]

Now at home my tap water for whatever reason is AWESOME, I have filled 40 gal tanks 75 gal tanks and a number of others, and all of the water tested PERFECT for my fish, so I have never really had to worry about conditioners.

i'm a bit confused by this, when you say your water tested perfect, what tests are you using? i didn't know you could get test kits for chlorine and chloramine. also, it seems highly unlikely to me (if you are on city water supply, not a well) that there is no chlorine or chloramine in there. different local authority/water boards use different amounts, but as far as i know they ALL use them, so unless you use well water you really should always use water conditioner. chlorine in the water (unless really really high!) is not likely to have an immediate effect on the fish but cause problems over a longer time period, so you may just not be aware of any problems.

sorry if i have the wrong end of the stick about what you are saying here.