Problems, Need Help

[GuppyDude]

Hey, after being away from their community tank for a few days, iv put them back in, its cleaner, and has been rearranged but the jars i had them in for that few days was rely nasty and i underestimated how fats it would get crapped up. my big female seems to be the worst, her mouth is open and she swims a little bit werid, she comes up for air alot and cant seem to take the current from the filter which is not speed adjustable the others are pretty spunky, a little stressed out, iv got meds in there because i juts know their going to tear each other apart tonight any ideas about whats wrong with my 1 female?

 

[Chino]

You probably already found out the reason; the current, it stresses them out alot since their fins act sort of like a sail.

 

[GuppyDude]

the betta was sick before i added her thogh, it can be stress from the filter she was only in there for 5 minuts, iv got her in a 1g bowl now so the other females wont tear her up, but shes alredy been nibbled on

 

[Chino]

Uh oh, maybe she needs a new tank with a few more "girl friends" to make her happy?

 

[Sorrell]

Sounds like water quality, how often were you changing the jars?

 

[AlexsDaddy]

I came up with a great way to reduce the current produced by an over the back type filter. It can be done with either plexiglass or a piece of 1 inch pvc, though the plexi glass I think is better cause it's not as obvious because you can see right through it. I made a trough out of plexiglass 1 1/2 inches wide, and one inch tall. I made it a half inch shorter than the length of the tank, and drilled holes in the bottom of it till the water stopped overflowing the edges. I attached this in the tank with the bottom just under the water line by drilling holes in each end and suction cups with hooks on them, but after a couple days the hooks started rusting, so I took those out, put them on the outside and drilled a hole in each side near the end on each end, and hung the trough in the tank by means of fishing line. I put pictures of this on a post in here. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[gale]

I came up with a great way to reduce the current produced by an over the back type filter. It can be done with either plexiglass or a piece of 1 inch pvc, though the plexi glass I think is better cause it's not as obvious because you can see right through it. I made a trough out of plexiglass 1 1/2 inches wide, and one inch tall. I made it a half inch shorter than the length of the tank, and drilled holes in the bottom of it till the water stopped overflowing the edges. I attached this in the tank with the bottom just under the water line by drilling holes in each end and suction cups with hooks on them, but after a couple days the hooks started rusting, so I took those out, put them on the outside and drilled a hole in each side near the end on each end, and hung the trough in the tank by means of fishing line. I put pictures of this on a post in here. Let me see if I can find it.

There was an even easier way posted here (it was a posted link). Take a 20 oz pop bottle and cut off the top and bottom, saving the center. Take off the label and rinse it well. Cut a slit across and put part below and part above the filter to redirect the flow. I'll see if I can find the actual link.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

Here it is. This is before I hung it by fishing line. There is hardly any current and almost no surface movement at all useing this. I keep meaning to put it in the DIY section, but have been a little lazy on that. I figure between all the surface agitation in the filter, and in the trough, the water gets plenty of oxygenation for the benificial bacteria in the substrate, decorations, etc..., because I have had no ammonia spikes useing this. Either that or the filter media just has a good enough colony to handle it all. One of the two.... For the PVC idea, you will need a length of 1" pvc, and 2 end caps for it. Cut the pvc 1 inch shorter than the length of the tank to allow for the space the end caps will take up. Put the end caps on first with aquarium sealent, then cut out a section, half of the diameter of the pipe,(this can be done pretty easy with a dremmel tool and a cutting wheel if you have one) at one end just long enough to make a catch basin for the filter out put. Save the piece you cut out and cut that in half lengthwise. Put these pieces on each side of the catch basin with aquarium sealent to make a good wide opening for the catch basin. Fill in the ends of the gaps with sealent so you get a good catch basin going on. Then start drilling holes in the bottom till it doesn't overflow anymore. The size drill bit I used was 3/16" and it seems to work pretty good. To hang it in the tank, drill small holes (1/16" holes worked pretty good for me) on each side, near each end, and string fishing line through it (luckly my wife does some cross stitching so I stole one of her needles for this). Then stick a suction cup with a hook on it on each end of the tank on the outside and tie the fishing line to it. Works like I charm. I don't have any pictures of this one, but I will see if I can get a couple in the next couple days. I guess you don't really have to drill holes for the fishing line though. You can just cradle it with the fishing line, but then you run the risk of it tipping over on you, and you would be right back to the stong current. Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps!

 

[gale]

Couldn't find the thread but I found the link in my history:

DIY filter flow thingie

 

[AlexsDaddy]

That does look like a good idea, but from the looks of it there would still be a lot of current produced but now it's just split in 2 different directions. They way I made mine, the only time the betta hits a current is if she swims directly under one of the holes in the bottom of the trough. Even then it is not much of one cause it is spread out over the whole length of the tank. That idea is cheaper, but I think mine is more effective.

 

[gale]

That does look like a good idea, but from the looks of it there would still be a lot of current produced but now it's just split in 2 different directions. They way I made mine, the only time the betta hits a current is if she swims directly under one of the holes in the bottom of the trough. Even then it is not much of one cause it is spread out over the whole length of the tank. That idea is cheaper, but I think mine is more effective.

Yeah yours is much better, no doubt. But that pop bottle one would do in a pinch until he could get the materials.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

Yeah yours is much better, no doubt. But that pop bottle one would do in a pinch until he could get the materials.

Good point. B) Plexiglass can be kinda pricy....... I used the stuff I had laying around from a tree frog habitat project that I never finished cause it looked smaller in my head and on paper than what it turned out to be. It was going to be 2' by 2' by 1.5' tall. I guess my eyes were bigger than my apartment.......

 

[f250fisherman]

The betta that is sick could have ammonia poisoning in her gills. If the water quality got real bad, thats a good place to start.

 

[GuppyDude]

great news guys she is as good as new now, happy as a clam, i still feal bad that she got sick that was kind of irresponsible of me to let that stuff go, i was changeing the water daily but it still got nasty, i shoulda cleaned it more thanx for the help, im going to work on my filter, it really is a pain for the fish