Sigh of relief

[OrkyBetta]

Well, first off, my last two neons bit the dust. Not much of a surprise. So I drained the tank, filled it, drained it and filled it again, cleaned the sides, decos, and got the neon guts out of the filter Then I filled it and added a tad of salt to make SURE all the ich was gone. It's going to run on empty for a few days, and I put the carbon back in thr filter.

My idea was to get a harem of girls, and put dory and the small group of girls in the ten gallon. Is this a good idea? My lfs has 12 femmes right now, the 2 "uglies" left, and some rather pretty ones. How many can I keep with Dory? I definitely want to grab the two 'ugliest of the uglies.' the rest of them, I am happy to announce, managed to find homes, and I should at least believe they got good homes, for the owners to take the 'ugly' ones. So if I had the other two, how many more could I get? I don't want any agression.

Now for some good news. Whatyever ws up with Jenga is gone. It went away 3 days ago about a half hour after I treated him with the funus cure. I continued to treat him for an additional 3 days like the package said, and kept salt in his water. I put some salt in the main tank, then added Jenga into his little section. He is doing great. (going from a half gallon to 10 gallons, heated with plants and hiding spots) But is flaring at Sky. Sky, honestly couldn't care less. He's too busy hiding. I will have to pick up some more background paper to put in the dividers so we can stop that. Has anyone had success doing this?

Also, I have reason to believe my paranoia payed off. By compulsively checking my bettas with a flashlight, I must have found the Velvet on Merlin quick enough. I have been treating hi with the maracide and salt, and it was gone in two days. I'll keep treating and add him in saturday. Does anyone think the salt helped? Because currently everyone is healthy, even more so than before I put in the salt.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yep - salt is a wonderful agent for healing stuff. I use it when someone needs something soothed - like fins, lesions, etc. If you don't use it all the time it works WONDERS.

Dory is a female betta, right?
You could do up to 6 in your 10G, total.
Just get lotsa plants and hidey spots.
Female community tanks are super fun

 

[OrkyBetta]

Yep, Dory is my little 'ugly.' She is rather pretty now, with purples and blues in her fins. So now my plan is to pick up the two 'ugly' shelf dwellers that have been at the back of the LFS shelf for seriously a few months.

Do I need to cycle my tank before I add the bettas? Or should i add them slowly? I have heard controversial matter on if bettas need cycling or not. The tank has a filter, should I current kill it?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Yep, I agree, salt is great. After just one salt bath the red ends almost completely went from the new guys fins (he has septecemia).

 

[mm_simb]

I think you can cycle with the bettas but I would find it easier to do it without them so you wouldn't have to put them through the stress of cycling and so you wouldn't have to deal with diseases if they happen to get them from the cycling.
If it were me, I would current kill it once I see the bettas react to it.

 

[sandig]

I wouldn't cycle with Bettas. I have heard horror stories about this, nitrite poisoning etc. If you want an instant cycle....get Bio Spira. You put it in when you add your fish.

Sandi

 

[BettaMomma]

Well - I cycled with my girls in the tank. It was harder on ME than it was on them, I think. I was RELIGIOUS about water testing and changes - I think it took longer to cycle it that way, but it was done. If you have another tank with gravel or filter in it, I'd most DEFINITELY recommend seeding it. Every once in a great while, there'd be a really fast spike in something and I'd see that a couple of my girls were a bit pale and pretty lethargic so I did water changes immediately. Live plants help the process along, too.

Given the choice, I'd cycle before putting them in, BUT it can be done with them in it too.

I do have a small piece of filter sponge shoved in the intake tube of my filter that cuts down on the flow, but I had mostly done that so no body got stuck to the intake tube. Some of my girls LOVE to surf the current, some of them hate it. So we have a happy medium for everyone.

 

[OrkyBetta]

oh dear i worded that wrong. I meant to say it worded differently, like do you need to cycle the tank for bettas? Not cycle it WITH bettas. Oh deary me I messed up! But thanks. Does Bio Spira really work?

 

[OrkyBetta]

Also, is there ay way for me to cycle an unfiltered tank?

 

[BettaMomma]

Well - I was told you don't need to cycle it for bettas.
You don't really "need" to cycle a tank for anybody.
But it's extremely hard on fish if you don't.

So I would.

 

[OrkyBetta]

Ok. I will do so. Is it hard on them to keep them in an unfiltered, uncycled tank? I wouldnt want to hurt my boys! I figured it would be like them living in one big bowl.

 

[OrkyBetta]

bump