My betta fish keeps getting sick?

[UnknownFishies]

FISH IN CYCLING:
——————————-
What you need:
-Seachem Prime
-Testing Kit
-Bucket
Process:
Add Seachem to your tank directly. It should be 2 drops per gallon.
For future reference you will want to do this step for all new water going into the tank. This makes it safe for the fish.

Test daily for ammonia. Once 2ppm of ammonia appears then you will do a 50% water change. Do this until you have no ammonia(Should take a week or two)

Once nitrites start to appear do water changes with Seachem so that it keeps the bad stuff from harming your fish, you should only do a water change every 36 hours.

After a week or two you should have nitrates appearing, nitrites almost at 0 and 0 ammonia. This means your tank is cycled.
NOTES
Do daily water changes to keep it this way.
Clean Gravel to keep levels stable.
Do not overfeed when cycling.
THIS IS STRESSFUL FOR THE FISH. Be prepared Hubert dies.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I follow the directions:
fill the test tube with 5 mL of water
put in I think ammonia is 8 drops of bottle 1, then 8 drops of bottle 2 and then shake the tube for 5 seconds. Then wait 5 minutes

Yep, that's correct...the test kit isn't expired, correct?
What is your source water? Municipal tap, well water, etc?

 

[Slaphppy7]

FISH IN CYCLING:
——————————-
What you need:
-Seachem Prime
-Testing Kit
-Bucket
Process:
Add Seachem to your tank directly. It should be 2 drops per gallon.
For future reference you will want to do this step for all new water going into the tank. This makes it safe for the fish.

Test daily for ammonia. Once 2ppm of ammonia appears then you will do a 50% water change. Do this until you have no ammonia(Should take a week or two)

Once nitrites start to appear do water changes with Seachem so that it keeps the bad stuff from harming your fish, you should only do a water change every 36 hours.

After a week or two you should have nitrates appearing, nitrites almost at 0 and 0 ammonia. This means your tank is cycled.
NOTES
Do daily water changes to keep it this way.
Clean Gravel to keep levels stable.
Do not overfeed when cycling.
THIS IS STRESSFUL FOR THE FISH. Be prepared Hubert di

Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part I

RESCUING A FISH IN CYCLE GONE WILD Part I If you are reading this it means you have tried to cycle your tank using fish and have run into problems and don’t know what to do. Before we begin to discuss the potential solutions, we would like to make it clear that we do not recommend to...

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[Hubert123]

FISH IN CYCLING:
——————————-
What you need:
-Seachem Prime
-Testing Kit
-Bucket
Process:
Add Seachem to your tank directly. It should be 2 drops per gallon.
For future reference you will want to do this step for all new water going into the tank. This makes it safe for the fish.

Test daily for ammonia. Once 2ppm of ammonia appears then you will do a 50% water change. Do this until you have no ammonia(Should take a week or two)

Once nitrites start to appear do water changes with Seachem so that it keeps the bad stuff from harming your fish, you should only do a water change every 36 hours.

After a week or two you should have nitrates appearing, nitrites almost at 0 and 0 ammonia. This means your tank is cycled.
NOTES
Do daily water changes to keep it this way.
Clean Gravel to keep levels stable.
Do not overfeed when cycling.
THIS IS STRESSFUL FOR THE FISH. Be prepared Hubert dies.

Thank you very much for taking the time to write this. I talked to Petco and am going to try to do everything I can to remedy the tank. I'm going to try to cycle it and understand if Hubert doesn't make it, but hopefully, he pulls through!

 

[Hubert123]

Yep, that's correct...the test kit isn't expired, correct?
What is your source water? Municipal tap, well water, etc?

Nope, I got the kit a couple of weeks ago, so it shouldn't be. I use the tap water from my school, but lately, I've been using filtered water, like one of the eco water filters that automatically fill up your water bottle.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Nope, I got the kit a couple of weeks ago, so it shouldn't be. I use the tap water from my school, but lately, I've been using filtered water, like one of the eco water filters that automatically fill up your water bottle.

That's why you aren't showing ammonia....start using tap water, the water you are using isn't good for fish, it lacks essential minerals and nutrients

 

[Hubert123]

That's why you aren't showing ammonia....start using tap water, the water you are using isn't good for fish, it lacks essential minerals and nutrients

I see. I will only use the tap moving forward.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I see. I will only use the tap moving forward.

Good.
I forget what size tank this is?

 

[Hubert123]

Good.
I forget what size tank this is?

Its a 10-gallon!

 

[Slaphppy7]

Its a 10-gallon!

OK.
Start doing about a 50% water change daily. If you use buckets, treat the tap water with Prime for the bucket amount (1ml per 10G, so you would need .5 ml). If you use a hose, treat the entire tank amount (1 ml).
Get yourself a medicinal syringe, they're marked in increments of ml, makes dosing of Prime easy to do, and accurate.
Be sure to match the tap temp to the tank temp.
Stop using salt/meds....use Prime only.
Do this for 1 week, and see if he improves...I'm betting he does.

Check back after a week, and let us know how he's doing.

No need for further testing, let's just get him some fresh, clean water on a daily basis...if your tap is treated with chlorine/chloramine, the Prime will take care of it.

After a week, and 24 hours after a WC, check ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte.

Good luck!

 

[Hubert123]

OK.
Start doing about a 50% water change daily. If you use buckets, treat the tap water with Prime for the bucket amount (1ml per 10G, so you would need .5 ml). If you use a hose, treat the entire tank amount (1 ml).
Get yourself a medicinal syringe, they're marked in increments of ml, makes dosing of Prime easy to do, and accurate.
Be sure to match the tap temp to the tank temp.
Stop using salt/meds....use Prime only.
Do this for 1 week, and see if he improves...I'm betting he does.

Check back after a week, and let us know how he's doing.

No need for further testing, let's just get him some fresh, clean water on a daily basis...if your tap is treated with chlorine/chloramine, the Prime will take care of it.

After a week, and 24 hours after a WC, check ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte.

Good luck!

I really appreciate the advice! I was also instructed to add bacteria to the tank to start a fish-in cycle, so I was planning on this. Not sure if I should just do this instead?

 

[Slaphppy7]

More than welcome.
Do not waste your $ on the bottled bacteria, it's not needed, that bacteria occurs naturally in our environment.
Also, since you've been using demineralized water, let's start off with 25% WC's for the first few days, then gradually build up to 50%.

 

[Colin_T]

Bettas come from soft water with a low mineral content, they are fine in filtered water.

What sort of filter do you have on the tank?
When you clean it, do you always replace the filter media?
What is in the filter media (black or white granules)?

--------------------
Fin rot is caused by poor water quality and a dirty tank. This allows harmful bacteria enter the damaged tissue and start eroding it away.
You can normally treat it with clean water, gravel cleans and a bit of salt. In extreme cases you might need to resort to chemical based fish medications.

In your case, if you are replacing the filter media/ materials, you will be removing the beneficial filter bacteria that keeps the water clean. This would cause ammonia levels to go up a bit and potentially cause this problem.

You only replace the filter media if it starts to break down. The rest of the time, you simply squeeze the media out in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn.

If you have media with a black or white granule in, you can cut along one edge and pour the granules out into the bin, then wash the media in a bucket of tank water and re-use that media.

You can buy sponges from various brands of power filter and use a pair of scissors to cut the sponge so it fits in your filter. Sponges last for years and get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water and re-used. Again, the bucket of dirty water goes on the lawn.

Normally you clean the filter every 2-4 weeks. However, you don't clean new filters until they are about 8 weeks old, or at least 2 weeks after it has finished cycling (it takes around 4-6 weeks to cycle a filter). Because you replaced the filter media, your filter will be considered new.

You don't have to do anything special to cycle your filter. Just leave it running continuously (24/7) and feed the fish. Do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two, and the fish food and waste will produce ammonia, and that will cycle the filter over a period of time.