Please help, my betta is breathing hard after a water change what is wrong?

[PheonixKingZ]

Weather is crazy for Southeast Texas! 100% chance of snow most of the night. High 28F, low 18F. You know that most of us fools in boots can’t walk or drive in snow and ice! By the way...where is that guy named Al Gore? I have a bone to pick with him about his global warming theory.

Yeesh, that’s crazy. We are expected to get up to 5” of snow tonight. High of 35 low of 21 I believe. ?

 

[Fishiemang]

Ok. Check it.

First post. 100% water.change. Moved fish to second, 3 gallon tank. Down a few, another water change.

That's all I needed to read.

You're not.going to have ammonia OR nitrite in that water at all at 100% water change. It's new.water. If you have these in your supply, you'd best make some calls.

I also noted the experience here. However, not one single person was.pointing out the obvious. Everyone was speculating, and making suggestions of limited use to the immediate concern.

So....I jumped in.

The fish is stressed. Moving it. New water. The tank cycle with one fish in a 5.5 gallon is secondary. The processes happening needed to.cease first and foremost. One.fish ain't.gonna generate enough pollution to that volume of water, especially a betta, to create adverse conditions very fast at all.

No thanks in advance is required.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Ok. Check it.

First post. 100% water.change. Moved fish to second, 3 gallon tank. Down a few, another water change.

That's all I needed to read.

You're not.going to have ammonia OR nitrite in that water at all at 100% water change. It's new.water. If you have these in your supply, you'd best make some calls.

I also noted the experience here. However, not one single person was.pointing out the obvious. Everyone was speculating, and making suggestions of limited use to the immediate concern.

So....I jumped in.

The fish is stressed. Moving it. New water. The tank cycle with one fish in a 5.5 gallon is secondary. The processes happening needed to.cease first and foremost. One.fish ain't.gonna generate enough pollution to that volume of water, especially a betta, to create adverse conditions very fast at all.

No thanks in advance is required.

@Fishiemang First post started with the day of his issues. NOT his entire time the fish had been in tank! That is certainly Not all you need to read. You need to stop, evaluate the entire issue and determine when things went downhill. Then you process through what it could be. I almost immediately knew it was an uncycled tank. Sure enough, OP states further down that they don’t know about cycling a tank. There you go...verification of my diagnosis. You have to go step by step from when the fish was placed in the tank. Slow down, and learn to investigate a little further. You gave the OP very dangerous information. We all make mistakes. That’s how we learn and grow.

 

[Tutlehorse]

He is eating, and he comes up to see me when I go to the tank, and he is moving around like he used to. I think he is feeling a lot better, thanks for all your help! It is probably going to take a while to get him back to 100% but he is doing way better! I will definitely always add water conditioner now and keep the temperature steady during water changes. I'm going to not do full 100% water changes either, just weekly 25-50% or as needed. I can do it with him in there. I just had to put him in "timeout" for a couple of days with no stress and his light off and make sure the water was clean. Sorry I havnt responded to all these messages I didnt get an email about them. This article was very helpful, thanks @Deanasue https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
This talks about the fish less method, but where would I put him while I do this, I dont want to put him in another uncycled tank for 2 months. I really shouldn't keep him in there while I do this because his immune system is already compromised, and if something goes wrong with the ammonia levels or I mess up...I also feel really stuipid when I said the little tank was 3 gallons I wasnt actually looking at it, it is actually just one gallon I feel really stuipid, i havnt actually seen it in a while, I'm sorry. Also how exactly would you do a methylene blue bath, I havnt done it yet, because I cant find a small bottle, all I can find is a one gallon bottle for $30 what are the instructions for doing a bath with it Is kordon a good brand?

 

[Tutlehorse]

My ammonia levels read .50, that's why I added ammo lock how do I get the nitrites to build up? They will just start growing?

 

[FishGuest5123]

My ammonia levels read .50, that's why I added ammo lock how do I get the nitrites to build up? They will just start growing?

Yes, because he has been through so much, I would keep him in another container that you can do daily water changes in if needed. Use Prime as your conditioner. Don’t let nitrates get above 20 ppm. Since he’s improving, I would forget the methylene blue. You can use a small plastic tote to keep him in while cycling his tank. Any food safe plastic tote will be fine. Make sure it is at least a couple of gallons. You can place his heater and filter in their too unless that is the filter you plan to cycle. If so, then just buy a cheap sponge filter for his temporary tank. Then buy a bottle of Safe Start+ to cycle his permanent tank with. Note: you will need to use another water conditioner other than Prime for 24 hours after adding Safe Start or the Prime will destroy the good bacteria. After 24 hours, start using the Prime. Per Fishless instructions, add your ammonia to get to about 2-3 pppm. ( be sure ammonia is detergent free. You can determine this by shaking the bottle. If it foams then it has detergent. If it doesn’t then it is safe to use. You can also use fish food to grow ammonia but it is not as easy to control the amount you want. I prefer ammonia. Watch the ammonia and as it falls, add more to bring it back up to 2ppm again. Eventually you will see nitrites begin to grow. They will eat the ammonia. Continue adding ammonia until your nitrite rises and then drops. Don’t let nitrites get above 80ppm. If they do, do a partial water change to bring them around 40ppm. Continue feeding the ammonia as needed. Eventually (several weeks) you will see nitrates! This is the end result. Add ammonia one more time to bring to 2ppm. If ammonia and nitrite drop to 0 in 24 hours then all you need to do is a partial water change to bring nitrates down below 20ppm. Your tank is then cycled. Continue to test daily for a couple of weeks to be sure all is good. Try to always keep your nitrate at or below 20ppm. I try to keep mine at about 5-10 ppm. Plants help eat up nitrate too. After tank is cycled, be sure to get some live plants. Keep me posted on how it’s going. P.S. You will need a test kit. Something like this...

 

[Tutlehorse]

Yes, because he has been through so much, I would keep him in another container that you can do daily water changes in if needed. Use Prime as your conditioner. Don’t let nitrates get above 20 ppm. Since he’s improving, I would forget the methylene blue. You can use a small plastic tote to keep him in while cycling his tank. Any food safe plastic tote will be fine. Make sure it is at least a couple of gallons. You can place his heater and filter in their too unless that is the filter you plan to cycle. If so, then just buy a cheap sponge filter for his temporary tank. Then buy a bottle of Safe Start+ to cycle his permanent tank with. Note: you will need to use another water conditioner other than Prime for 24 hours after adding Safe Start or the Prime will destroy the good bacteria. After 24 hours, start using the Prime. Per Fishless instructions, add your ammonia to get to about 2-3 pppm. ( be sure ammonia is detergent free. You can determine this by shaking the bottle. If it foams then it has detergent. If it doesn’t then it is safe to use. You can also use fish food to grow ammonia but it is not as easy to control the amount you want. I prefer ammonia. Watch the ammonia and as it falls, add more to bring it back up to 2ppm again. Eventually you will see nitrites begin to grow. They will eat the ammonia. Continue adding ammonia until your nitrite rises and then drops. Don’t let nitrites get above 80ppm. If they do, do a partial water change to bring them around 40ppm. Continue feeding the ammonia as needed. Eventually (several weeks) you will see nitrates! This is the end result. Add ammonia one more time to bring to 2ppm. If ammonia and nitrite drop to 0 in 24 hours then all you need to do is a partial water change to bring nitrates down below 20ppm. Your tank is then cycled. Continue to test daily for a couple of weeks to be sure all is good. Try to always keep your nitrate at or below 20ppm. I try to keep mine at about 5-10 ppm. Plants help eat up nitrate too. After tank is cycled, be sure to get some live plants. Keep me posted on how it’s going. P.S. You will need a test kit. Something like this...

Ok thank you I will?

 

[Fishiemang]

Move from one.uncycled tank to another just to cycle the first?

Sometimes......I just don't understand the "logic" here.

The fish ain't stressed enough as it is?

You can.leave the fish in the tank. Get either the pouches or a sock and some Zeolite, and.add a.bit to the filter to soak up the extra ammonia if you're.concerned.

Sounds to me.like the fish is doing ok, even if the ammonia is .5 like you say. Keep an eye on the fish, and do a partial water change (30% maybe) to bring that down a touch if the fish starts behaving badly again. The bacteria need something to feed.on to multiply.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Move from one.uncycled tank to another just to cycle the first?

Sometimes......I just don't understand the "logic" here.

The fish ain't stressed enough as it is?

You can.leave the fish in the tank. Get either the pouches or a sock and some Zeolite, and.add a.bit to the filter to soak up the extra ammonia if you're.concerned.

Sounds to me.like the fish is doing ok, even if the ammonia is .5 like you say. Keep an eye on the fish, and do a partial water change (30% maybe) to bring that down a touch if the fish starts behaving badly again. The bacteria need something to feed.on to multiply.

The logic is that he would have to do a fish “in cycle” which the fish can’t handle after being poisoned. By putting him in another tank then he can do daily water changes if needed to protect the fish. The other tank can continue a “fishless cycle” to grow bacteria without doing water changes to slow it down. The ammonia will feed the bacteria. Do you have any experience in this at all? Sounds like you do not!

 

[Fishiemang]

Seems the fish handled it just fine. Example being it is seemingly recovering in place.

We seem to have differing opinions on how to handle this type of thing...?

It's not meant to be malicious on my end, but more, thought provoking. Remove the boxes we put ourselves in. There is more than one way to peel a potato.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Seems the fish handled it just fine. Example being it is seemingly recovering in place.

We seem to have differing opinions on how to handle this type of thing...?

It's not meant to be malicious on my end, but more, thought provoking. Remove the boxes we put ourselves in. There is more than one way to peel a potato.

The fish almost died until enough water changes were done which you were against. I think your peeled potatoes would have to be mashed in this case, my friend. ?

 

[Fishiemang]

From what I read, the fish almost dies FROM the water changes that were done. Perhaps I shall go review the thread, but when I came into the first post, I saw fish moved and weekly 100% water changes with ornaments being scrubbed clean, which was destroying any cycle that could have happened.

Still curious how after 100% water change, there is still .5ppm ammonia in a tank with a small fish.....and boiling water before addition? What's up with that?

What I saw in the images was a stressed fish. Not from ammonia, but from the crazy water changes it was forced to endure.

 

[Fishiemang]

On Wednesday my mom cleaned my bettas 5 and a half gallon tank while I was at school. When I got home from school he was breathing really hard and hiding at the bottom of the tank. Yesterday he didnt move from his hiding spot in this tree cave thing and was breathing really hard still. I didnt see him come to the surface. Today his face is red and it looks like he might have a cut but I'm not sure, I included a picture below. I fed him yesterday and the day before but he didnt zoom up to the surface like he usually does to get his food, I'm not sure if he ate any because it all sunk and he didnt pay attention to it He is still panting but not as bad as yesterday, he is barely moving around but not himself. I tested the water a little bit ago and it was mostly normal. I just dont know what to do I feel so bad! I've included a summary down below
-100%water change on Wednesday.
-my mom claimed to not have done anything differently, we've been doing this before and hes been fine
-im wondering if this might be temperature shock because my mom just puts him in this little 3 gallon tank while she is cleaning with 2 inches of water. We made sure the temperature was normal before putting him back in his normal tank, but he might have been cold in the 3 gallon one. Does temperature shock last this long?
-he is in a 5 1/2 gallon tank
-water change about every 2weeks
-nitrate (No3) 0
-nitrite (no2)
-pH 7
-KH 80
-GH 120 that's a little high how would I fix it?
-the tester strips I used dont have an ammonia test on them should I get some that have that?
-we boil our tap water and let it cool down and put it in the fish tank until it is a normal temp, is that wrong? We dont add anything to it
-tank has a heater set to 78degrees the temperature is 80 right now
-tank also has a filter, the filter was changed when the tank was cleaned
-He is panting and breathing hard at the bottom of the tank.

View attachment 128908
He is not usually that pink, but he was a little bit.
View attachment 128909View attachment 128911
I have some of this will it help him? Please help me!I need your advice

This initial post is all I needed to read to see that this fish suffered from high stress, not ammonia. That is a craaaaaazy method to use for changing water in a tank. Move the fish to a outside tank (with no mention.of water temp match at a minimum), then removal of 100% of the water, replaced by sterilized boiled water.

This will stress any fish. Even a tough betta.

The feeding without eating would explain the ammonia spike to .5ppm.

 

[FishGuest5123]

This initial post is all I needed to read to see that this fish suffered from high stress, not ammonia. That is a craaaaaazy method to use for changing water in a tank. Move the fish to a outside tank (with no mention.of water temp match at a minimum), then removal of 100% of the water, replaced by sterilized boiled water.

This will stress any fish. Even a tough betta.

The feeding without eating would explain the ammonia spike to .5ppm.

I’m not going to keep explaining to you. One more time and then convo over. He was not and I repeat, not doing frequent water changes until after fish got sick. Done. Over and out!

 

[FishGuest5123]

From what I read, the fish almost dies FROM the water changes that were done. Perhaps I shall go review the thread, but when I came into the first post, I saw fish moved and weekly 100% water changes with ornaments being scrubbed clean, which was destroying any cycle that could have happened.

Still curious how after 100% water change, there is still .5ppm ammonia in a tank with a small fish.....and boiling water before addition? What's up with that?

What I saw in the images was a stressed fish. Not from ammonia, but from the crazy water changes it was forced to endure.

@Fishiemang The water most likely contains chloramine instead of chlorine which produces ammonium. Ammonium will still test at low parameters but is not lethal like ammonia.