So Many Problems! Really Need Help!

[janragan]

Well, here goes! Grab a comfy chair...it's gonna be a long ride!

I do have many questions but will do a short history of (hopefully) how I got to where I am.

1) Mom had a 5 gallon tank set-up and one big goldfish who evevtually died. She gave me her tank which I promptly put in the garage and forgot about.

2) I was at the local discount store and bought a beautiful fish bowl... no fish mind you...just a bowl! In my defense...it is very cool!

3) We were at Petsmart and decided to get Bettas! Mom wanted one to put in a vase with the green plant atop and I decided I wanted one for the fishbowl. I spend a lot of time on the computer and thought he'd be some company on my desk. Began immediatelt needling Mom about the vase set up! It took about a month but she bought one of those little 1 gallon plexi tanks with filter and light and all. Her Betta loves it!

4) Finley, my Betta, who by now I am totally in love with, did beautifully in the bowl with daily or every other day water changes. This went on for about a month until I decided to drag out the 5 gallon to give Finley more room. Little did I know these guys are jumpers! Fortunately, Finley never did because I had him in an open bowl!

5) Washed out the tank with scalding water, as well as the filter (Aqua-Tech 5-15), hood/light combo, then started on the gravel. Got a huge pot and began rinsing a colander full at a time, boiling it 6-7 minutes and dumping it in the tank. Got all that finished, put it in place filled it with water and a few plastic plants and plastic rock formations that came with the tank. Added a tsp of aquarium salt and StressCoat. The water was really muddy looking so I decided to let it run awhile and clear up before putting Finley in. I'm thinking "He's going to be soooo happy when he gets in there with all that room to swim, right?" Well it took about a week to clear up so put Finley in a baggy with bowl water and did the acclamation thing. Finley did really start to blossom! He is such a happy little boy with personality plus! Now starts the trouble!

6) After a month or so I notice Finley has a piece of tail missing so I removed an imitation coral piece that had sharp edged thinking he had probably torn his tail on that. NOPE! His tail starts really coming apart so I get on the net to see what's going on. Crap! Fin & tail rot Never heard of it but figure this must be it! Off to Wallyworld for some medicine and get some Jungle brand Fungus Clear and some Tetra EasyBalance and added the correct dose of each. Gave Finley the full 5 day treatment but saw absolutely no change. Decided to go a second 5 day round...still no change. His tail is still coming apart and getting shorter.

7) Begin in earnest studying everything I can find on Bettas, aquariums, (whoa) and Tail rot! Cycling??? I didn't "cycle" the tank! We had aquariums growing up and never cycled them! Mom kept black Mollies and Tetras and Angel Fish and the like and I don't remember ever losing them until we'd had them forever. They would eventually die off but I am talking several years here with FULL tank cleaning about every 6 months or so! How did we do that??? But anyway...seems this tank needs to cycle, plus I am reading that Finley should be in a smaller "hospital" bowl so I can more easily medicate him. Back in the fishbowl he goes! I read that I need to raise the water temp for the meds to work better so set his bowl over another bowl, put a nightlight (7 watt bulb) on an extension cord, place that in the bowl under his bowl and insulate the whole thing with kitchen towels. Great! Water temp is at 78 degrees and holding steady... Off to Petco for more meds! I had read that Mardel Maracyn should work and that Tetracycline should be used for stubborn cases so I get them both. Start and complete a 5 day cycle with both, still changing the water each day or so. No change in the Tail Rot so I think "maybe the meds should accumulate over the 5 day period and I am changing his water...maybe I need to do the 5 day course without the water changes". NOPE! Still no luck! Since we are about 35-40 miles from a Petco or Petsmart I decide to buy more meds from a guy on eBay. Got Maracyn II and Trisulfa! Did a 5 day run of both those...crap... this is some evil stuff! Still no luck! O.K! He has been treated with about everything... so I do the Maracyn II by itself. No luck! Next the Trisulfa and now start to see some improvement in his tail except now is is splitting lengthwise! Through all this he is still the happiest little bugger you ever saw! Still eating like a pig, swimming and showing off when you get anywhere near him and folliwing my finger turning somersaults! He is soooo cute! Should be...by now I have a fortune in meds and a $3 fish! Don't ya love it??? Right now I am giving him a weeks break and will do one more course of the trisulfa since it seemed to work best. If anyone knows something else I should try???

8) Lets get to the empty tank now. Finley has been in the bowl for weeks now and the tank has surely cycled! Wrong! I buy a test kit and heater and install it in preparation to put Finley back in his tank, decide I really HATE that large natural brown gravel and not absolutely sure it is not causing all my problems so I find some gorgeous white sand in 5lb bags that the seller (eBay) assures me is "inert" and safe to use in a freshwater tank. Dip out all the water and put it in big containers to be put back after the gravel change. Start taking it out and there is more silt and mud in that stuff! Finally get the tank and filter cleaned and put in the sand, saved water, some rocks from the LFS that they tell me are Slate, one of the little "deserted castles" and WOW! This tank is beautiful!!!! And most likely deadly! I got out the TetraTest Laborette kit and tested the water as soon as I had the tank finished. Here are the readings:

PH ... 9.0
GH ... 10 (6-16 norm)
KH ... 6 (3-10 norm)
NO2 ... <.03
NH3/NH4 ... 3.0
C02 ... 0.2

I have kept doing weekly water changes with the tank. However...I have now read that you should never use tap water without putting the conditioner in as chlorine can kill your beneficial bacteria!!! I have painted the turret tops on the castle gold with a waterbased non-toxic craft paint. I am now wondering if the gold has some metallic properties that are not doing what they should (be inert).
I have changed the filter out several times??? I have removed the "slate" rock to see if the PH will go back down...so far no luck.
Yesterday I called the fish store to ask what kind of rock I'd bought and talked to the woman there about them. They have a horrible smell when wet. I sanded all the edges smooth and washed them good before putting them in the tank. That is when I noticed the smell and you can smell it in the tank water! I paid almost $10 for 3 rocks at the fish store to be SURE they were O.K. and now read they may not be. "Don't trust the LFS" seems to be the general rule! The woman told me yesterday that "after 4 or 5 days all your beneficial bacteria dies without fish in the tank." She says I need to come buy a couple of Zebra Danios and let them cycle the tank and they will take them bank when I don't need then anymore. HOW CRUEL CAN YOU BE??? She has obviously never heard of "fishless cycling"!!! I have messed with this for months now and am wondering should I just start over? I wouldn't dare put my Betta in there now! Our water has a PH of 7 straight out of the tank and he does great in that but ... 9? I don't so! And why is the ammonia at 3.0???
I really need someone to tell me what do do next! Here's a few questions... Thanks for reading all this!

1) Is there anyway to tell if the sand is inert or to test for salt? The bag reads "Spectrastone Decorative Gravel" and then "beach sand". The seller swore to me it was "inert" sand!
2) Could the "CraftBarrel" paint be causing any problem?
3) How do I lower the PH without adding chemicals?
4) Have I killed off all the bacteria? Is there any way to tell?
5) Should I empty the tank and start over? I really HATE to do that...but...If I should???
6) Should I return the rock to the fish store and try something else?
7) What is causing the Betta's tail to split like it is? I am seeing some regrowth along the bottom edge!

Thanks again!

 

[nmonks]

I can't comment on specific betta problems, and I suggest you post those questions in the Betta forum.

As for the more general questions --

1. The only way to test if sand is inert is to add a little acid (e.g. vinegar) and see if there is any fizzing; if there is, the sand contains calcareous minerals ("lime") that will harden the water and raise the pH. If you aren't installing live plants, then you need only enough sand or gravel to cover the base of the tank and stop reflections. A depth of 1 cm or less will be fine. Personally, I like silica sand (a.k.a. silver sand), which you can pick up at a garden centre very cheaply. Again, ask the retailer if it is lime-free; most are, and it should say so on the package.

2. You should never, ever use paint or varnish on any object placed in aquarium. Some are toxic, and you simply cannot predict which ones.

3. A pH of 9.0 is way too high. This is effectively bleaching your fish to death! First, check the pH of the water out of your mains supply (tap/faucet). A pH of 7.5 is about the tops for a betta. If your water is more alkaline that this, then you probably should use rainwater to soften the water. Collecting rainwater is easy, stick a barrel under one of your gutter downpipes, and there you go!

4. Bacteria can die off for all sorts of reasons, but they usually come back quickly. If they are dying, you will see the nitrites and ammonium levels rise.

5. Sometimes re-starting the tank is the way to go, just as sometimes reformatting the hard drive is quicker that messing about with disk repair utilities.

6. I buy rocks from garden centres. It's easy to find safe ones -- they're lime-free and don't have metal seams in them. Opt for things like granite and slate and flint, as these are invariably safe to use. Avoid sandstones and limestones. Definitely avoid coral, sea shells, etc. as these make water hard and more alkaline.

7. Assuming your fish is otherwise healthy, fins grow back rapidly. Finrot isn't especially difficult to treat, but bear in mind it is usually a symptom of a bigger problem than the actual problem itself.

Others will probably add that a 5 g tank is really very small, it's a bucket really, and your life will be massively simplified if you scale up to a 10 or 20 gallon tank at the very least. The bigger the tank, the easier it is to look after, and that saves time, money, and fish lives.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[dwarfgourami]

Others will probably add that a 5 g tank is really very small, it's a bucket really, and your life will be massively simplified if you scale up to a 10 or 20 gallon tank at the very least. The bigger the tank, the easier it is to look after, and that saves time, money, and fish lives.

Cheers,

Neale

I would think 20 gallons a bit excessive for one betta- and most bettas are not community fish. Also, they don't all like big tanks. 5 gallons sounds ideal to me.

There are two ways of keeping bettas- either you keep them in a small bowl with very frequent water changes, or in a slightly larger tank (5 gallons is fine) which then has to be cycled= have a filter full of bacteria and able to cope with less frequent water changes. For cycling the tank- what did you actually do? I would advise cleaning the 5 gallon out and then cycling it using the fishless method (using ammonia=pinned topic) and keeping Finley in his bowl until the process is completed (2-3 weeks). Once he is in a cycled tank with a good filter you should only need to do a weekly water change.

 

[Captain Retardo]

Looks like you are having a case of what I like to call: bad luck

Another way to lower pH is to use peat as a filter media, or put peat moss in your tank

 

[nmonks]

Seriously, are you saying that if you put a betta in 10 gallon tank with lots of plants and places to hide and swim, it wouldn't be happier?

Newbie aquarists should keep the largest tanks they can. A bigger tank is easier to look after than a small one; it's that simple. A larger tank also lets them add other fishes, which they will: everyone at the start of the hobby wants to keep a few of those, a couple of these, one of them...

Bettas can be kept in community tanks just fine... it just depends on what you mix them with. Cardinal tetras, dwarf corydoras, kuhli loaches, gobies, and other slow-moving, peaceful fish would all make fine companions.

Cheers,

Neale

I would think 20 gallons a bit excessive for one betta- and most bettas are not community fish. Also, they don't all like big tanks. 5 gallons sounds ideal to me.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Seriously, are you saying that if you put a betta in 10 gallon tank with lots of plants and places to hide and swim, it wouldn't be happier?
[quote

No, I didn't say a 10, I said a 20. There are frequent posts in the betta forum from experienced betta owners who have moved bettas into their larger tanks, and then moved them back because they appeared stressed, despite not being harrassed by other fish.

[quote Bettas can be kept in community tanks just fine... it just depends on what you mix them with. Cardinal tetras, dwarf corydoras, kuhli loaches, gobies, and other slow-moving, peaceful fish would all make fine companions.[quote

True, though again there are not infrequent posts about people who have trouble with cardinal and neons nipping the bettas.

 

[nmonks]

Oh, sorry, missed that. I know I suggested 10 to 20 gallons, so reacted to that.

I don't really understand how a fish could "appear stressed" from being in too much water. Yes, they don't like vast, empty spaces, and I can imagine a betta placed in an unplanted tank or one with a few plastic plants on the bottom would be unhappy. But that's not the water volume, but the environment.

Any betta kept in even a 200 gallon tank chock-full of plants and bogwood and such would surely feel very at home?

I haven't kept bettas for something like fifteen years, but when I did, I always kept a male and two females in mixed communities. Lots of plants, especially at the top. This seemed to work out fine.

Cheers,

Neale

No, I didn't say a 10, I said a 20. There are frequent posts in the betta forum from experienced betta owners who have moved bettas into their larger tanks, and then moved them back because they appeared stressed, despite not being harrassed by other fish.