New Vt Male Betta Owner

[resa]

i have another thread on this site where i lost two tetras i know however i'm making this new thread for my VT betta bc i'm worried......i've had him maybe 2 weeks maybe.....and i started feeding him the floating betta pellets, he wont eat those. so i then go tthe tropical flakes i dont see him eat those either....so i then got dried bloodworms (not the frozen ones) and i didnt see him eat those either!!!... he has to be eating something or he'd be dead right? well i talked to someone at petsmart last night and they told me to wait and feed him in a few days to see how it goes....bc when i was moving decor around in his tank alot of food started floating, food i've given him that he didnt eat

.....i got my betta from walmart. he was solid gray when i got him and now hes become blue and red

.....

i'd like to know if he looks sick and how old does he look if anyone knows....thanks

also look closely he has a small white spot which is brighter white outside the camera, does this mean anything? bc i noticed its on both sides in the exact same spot....its buy his what i guess is called gills which is by his eyes "blushes"

 

[Flute]

From the topic you have in the Emergency Section then my guess is that he is also being affected by the ammonia levels found in an uncycled tank. If you do large daily water changes as advised then you should see him start to pick up
Just be aware that betta are absolute little piggies, and will eat more than is good for them, so feed him small amounts to prevent him from becoming bloated or constipated

 

[resa]

when it came to te pellets the bottle suggest only 2 or 3 and i would only give him that however he didnt eat it at all.....and the flakes i put a very very small amount in and he dont eat that at all...its all sunken to the bottom of the tank......and i plan to do a 100% water change tonight and use my gravel vacuum

 

[Flute]

Does he try and go for them at all? If he does, but can't get them in his mouth, try soaking them in a little dish with some tank water first. If he's showing no interest in food at all then I would imagine it's because he's not feeling well.

I would only give him 1 pellet at a time- if he doesn't eat it then there's no point in putting more in. Remove any uneaten food straight away, as it will break down and add to the ammonia levels.

Just in case- leave enough water in the tank for him to swim upright instead of putting him in a cup or bowl whilst you clean. Betta are really good jumpers and a number of people have lost their betta whilst doing 100% water changes. The betta jump out whilst the owner is preoccupied with cleaning the tank, and don't find them until it's too late.

 

[resa]

ok i've finished the cleaning of my tank hours ago. this is my test results after having cleaned the tank (i also cleaned all decor as well) ammonia was .50-1.0 ....PH was 7.6.....PH High was 8.4-8.8......nitrite was 0.....nitrate was 0....so now what

 

[resa]

wow ok no response thanks .......WHENEVER SOMEONE DOES REPLY PLEASE INFORM ME OF WHAT IS NORMAL FOR A BETTA'S .....PH....AMMONIA LEVEL, NITRITE LEVEL, NITRATE LEVELS thnkssss

 

[pablothebetta]

Not sure what the other thread has said so appologies if I overlap. Ammonia and NitrIte levels should be 0 in a tank, NitrAte levels shouldn't be too high. The first two are particularly harmful and should be kept as low as possible and the third should be reduced by regular water changes as it is still a toxin and is unhealthy in large amounts. In order for Ammonia and NitrIte levels to be 0, a tank should be cycled. Have a read here: http/www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Bettas are fairly tolerant of pH and anywhere from 6-8 should be fine for him. You will probably find that pH shouldn't fluctate too much unless substances which affect it are added to the tank.

 

[Flute]

Resa, you have to remember that sometimes posts get missed, or you post after someone has finished on their computer or gone to bed. It wasn't done on purpose, I can assure you.

Ok, with an Ammonia reading of 0.50 ppm, you need to do another very large water change I'm afraid. You need to do it enough times that reading drops to 0ppm. This usually means multiple large water changes every single day.

Pablothebetta covered the rest well

 

[resa]

ok thank you. my mother in law did suggest i test our tap water......now on another thread on another site their suggesting I do a complete water change and to clean the filter cartridge in the water that comes our the aquarium......but the filter cartridge is only a wk old..should i do this with the filter? and i use top fin water conditioner...is it not good enough?

and if i do a complete water change again today should i remove zeek this time and do a 100% change?

 

[the_lock_man]

If you've got a reading of 0.5ppm, then you only need to do a 75% water change. You don't need to rinse out a week-old filter cartridge, quite what planet this other forum is on is beyond me.

 

[resa]

lol its bettafish.com

it was between .50 and 1.0 ppm for the ammonia and well the other test results are up there too ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

if my water conditioner isnt working for the PH, PH high, and ammonia then what do i do

 

[the_lock_man]

OK.

In simple terms, you have to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels below 0.25ppm. UNtil your filter grows its bacteria, you have to do the water changes. If you're levels are showing between 0.5 and 1ppm, then you need to do a 90% change, then test again, and if you still see either ammonia or nitrite above 0.25ppm, then do another change. You really, really need to read the article that is linked to in my signature area.

Water Conditioner (also known as dechlorinator) removes chlorine from the water. It does not remove ammonia or nitrite. Some conditioners claim to detoxify ammonia and nitrite, and they do, but only temporarily, so they both still need removing by you doing water changes.

You don't have to worry about your pH.

 

[resa]

i read the link in your siggy and pretty much to me and my understanding is to keep testing it and do water changes as needed ...thats what i've picked out that link and the water conditioner made by top fin

im going to go test my tap water right out the faucet and then test my tank again and i'll put test results up here ....gimme a few min to conduct these test... thanks everyone for your help

 

[sebn]

Do you fully understand the nitrogen cycle? You really need a good grasp of it otherwise all this testing and water changing wont mean anything. (Although water changes are definitely required)

 

[resa]

by the way my water conditioner helps against ammonia, chlorines, chloramines (not heavy metals) ?

wow ok the test for ammonia directly out of my faucet in the kitchen was berween .50 and 1.0 ......test results from the tank are.... between .50 and 1.0