new to the hobby, my betta fish keep dying

[puprrgard]

Epsom salt is used for baths only, and can't go in the tank. If you need to treat with salt again get aquarium salt and use the amount listed on instructions.

i'll make sure to do that. i must have gotten a lot of wrong information online. however, i did not use tablespoons— i used teaspoons. i miss-wrote it. apologies.

 

[puprrgard]

Tetra Safe Start and Dr Tim's One & Only.

Are you on mains water or a well? If it's mains water, see if your water provider's website gives your hardness before spending money on a tester. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several units they could use)

thank you so much! we use mains water, i will have to look up our provider.

 

[puprrgard]

thank you so much! we use mains water, i will have to look up our provider.

alright, the average hardness of my water is about ~23 ppm from the tap. online it says bettas need 70-100 ppm, but obviously i have gotten a lot of wrong information online. what is the best hardness for bettas?

 

[powerdyne6]

You have soft water. Most if not all bettas will be happy in that.

There are a couple of species that I looked at that liked to be in slighty harder water

 

[puprrgard]

You have soft water. Most if not all bettas will be happy in that.

There are a couple of species that I looked at that liked to be in slighty harder water

thank you!

 

[Essjay]

That hardness is fine for bettas, it's soft water and we were concerned you might have hard water which isn't good for bettas.


Salt, ordinary salt, sodium chloride, is a mild antiseptic and when used at the right dose can help with a lot of fish ailments. If the salt you use at home contains additives such as iodine you need pure salt - aquarium salt, kosher salt etc.

Epsom salt is magnesium sulphate and this is used in a bath outside the tank for drawing fluid from a fish's body when a fish has dropsy and it's body is swollen. It doesn't usually work though as by the time the fish shows dropsy symptoms it is too late to save it.