Is this white mark on her cheek normal?

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello do you know what the gh of your water is? A pH of 8 is very high which indicates to me that you have hard water, and unfortunately isn't suitable for Bettas. They need very soft water

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

To be fair, I see her ovipositor...I never bred my Bettas so I don't know for sure if its just that she wants to breed... @GaryE, got any insight here?

 

[Fishies4Ever]

Thank you, me too, just got a really bad feeling about it when I'm looking at her

Yeah I’ve defiantly had that with some of my fish.

 

[Graciee]

Hi I'll check now, that's on one of the stick tests I think. Yea the water is very hard here I'm in London UK. It's always 7.5 or 8. Apparently because of where I live the bettas here are more used to the pH here as opposed to wild bettas? That's what I was told anyway, please correct if I'm wrong though. I did buy some api ph down but I never added it because I was told that and I thought maybe adding a chemical to lower ph wasn't the ideal. I'm very new at this sorry.

 

[Graciee]

Yea that's been there the whole time I've had her, is it not normal to see it?

 

[Graciee]

Yea she's still in the same spot as yesterday, hasn't moved

 

[Graciee]

And now she's dead

Thanks everyone for commenting, I really appreciate it. I wish I knew what I'd done wrong

Her fin rot had just healed as well

 

[Colin_T]

She was breathing heavily in the video and the scales around her belly sort of looked like they were sticking out a bit but not a lot, however it could have been the angle of the picture.

She might have had an internal infection, which would cause bloating, heavy breathing and lethargy.

Flush the tank out and start again.

 

[Graciee]

Yea maybe

Sorry what does flush the tank out and start again mean? I've got 8 amano shrimp in there and there's still salt in the water.

 

[GaryE]

If I have to flush out a tank, I do a series of 50% water changes, spaced out at least a few hours apart. Dechlorinate each time. After 5 or 6 over 3 days or so, you should be good. I wouldn't have advised salt for this issue (we have this debate often - put 3 aquarists in a room and you have 7 mostly grounded opinions) because it is hard to get out of the water. But you can do it.

For the future, my last test kit expired in 1992, 3 houses back. I haven't missed it. My not using one has nothing to to do with experience. By the time you pull the thing out, do all the tests etc, you could have done a water change. If you do 25 to 30% regularly, at least once a week, you avoid most problems. If you do the test and don't like the results, you do a water change anyway, right?

The tests are an unnecessary step if you maintain the tank. Some people have the misfortune of living in agricultural areas where their tapwater nitrate readings show it to be polluted and dangerous for fish, and for them, API type kits are needed as they have to deal with the bad water. Somehow, their extreme situation has been projected as normal by test kit marketing. The last time I was in London it didn't look like North Dakota...

London water is hard, and it might lead to Bettas living 3 or 4 years instead of five. But most store bettas have shortened lives from how they are raised anyway. It sounds cold to say it, but it's reality. If your fish went from fin rot to a bacterial infection, then I'll hazard a guess you bought it with problems brewing.

I'm sorry this one died. You have a sharp eye for problems and gave her a good home.

 

[Graciee]

That's for the info, I can absolutely do that today, but will it be okay for my shrimp? Not sure I can face anyone else dying today

I do regular water changes but as I'm still learning I really like the test kit haha I use the strips twice a day to make sure, then I use the test tube kit to get more info because the strips have a large range. I'm probably a bit ott I just really didn't want to murder anyone.

Is the pH down by api worth using? Or something like that. I have my male betta and some other fish in a different tank and his tanks ph level is always 8 too. I'm a bit worried now.

I really feel like I let her down but nothing I can do about that now. She was sick when I got her and had a lot of stress which probably didn't help either, but she was so active and happy after I got the male out. Real shame

 

[GaryE]

pH is secondary, and what matters is water hardness. You can pour pH down acids in water, but depending on the minerals in the water, the chemical treatments will be neutralized. All you do is stress the fish and inverts with them.

All water is different in different regions. In my old house, I experimented by pouring acids into water (no life in the container - don't worry!!!) and crashing it from pH 7.4 to around 5. Minutes later, it bounced to 7.4 and stayed there. Playing with your water can kill your fish.

If I did that experiment where I am now, with soft tap drawn from a blackwater lake, it would crash any life in it, as it would stay at 5-ish.

A pH of 8 wouldn't worry me with fancy Bettas.

 

[Graciee]

That's encouraging thanks!

For flushing the tank, will the shrimp be okay with such a dramatic change in the water? As there's salt in there currently.

 

[Colin_T]

If you still have shrimp, do small daily water changes and gravel cleans for a week or two to remove the salt, then do a 75-80% water change and gravel clean every day for a week. that should remove anything bad that might be left over from the fish.

 

[Graciee]

If you still have shrimp, do small daily water changes and gravel cleans for a week or two to remove the salt, then do a 75-80% water change and gravel clean every day for a week. that should remove anything bad that might be left over from the fish.

Brilliant I'll do that thanks