Sos Please

[Honeythorn]

I'd say it looks tumourous also, there isn't much you can do for them. DO NOT add sea salt. It is highly unsuitable for use in aquaria. Unless you meant aquarium salt, which won't do much either if it's a tumour.

You really need to get a much clearer sharper picture if you are able, as that will really help to pin point what this actually is.

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

yeah I meant aquarium salt... The consensus seems to be tumor, so not much I can do at this point, but i'll give it a shot anyway....

 

[woodstock]

Well I know I'm not entirely sure it's a tumour. It's just my best guess (emphasis on guess). And I wouldn't imagine aquarium salt would help, although I use it anyways in my tank. Tell us how things are going.

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

following is my post in the emergency forum (wilder has been very helpful)

I just got back from PetSmart, the water stats don't look good unfortunately:

aquarium:
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 3.0
Hardness 300
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity 180
pH 8.4
ammonia 0

tap water:
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Hardness 300
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity 180
pH 7.2
ammonia 0


bottle water:
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 25
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity 180
pH 6.2
ammonia 0



I bought a mini tube to clean the waste at the bottom, which is apparently increasing the nitrite to dangerous levels. I also got a testing kit, and aquarium salt. It surprises me though that pH level is higher than tap and bottle water as these two are the only water source I use to fill the tank....

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

I just changed cleared the bottom with the mini tube, and started the filter again. I thought bettas didn't need and like constant current due to their long fins (harder to swim and damaging). Wilder said all fish need filter, bettas are good with low power filter, so i'm using a 20gph filter in my 10g tank.

I ran another water test after the cleaning out the bottom and replacing the water with bottle water, nitrite is down to 1.0, alkalnity down to 120, pH down to 7.2.

I will add the aquarium salt next.

 

[woodstock]

Oh, wow, water rquality would definitely affect your betta in one way or another. How often do you do water changes? And how do you siphon out your water? Do you move your gravel around? If you move it around, you shouldn't do that. That would probably move stationed bacteria under your gravel to lift up. However, all I actually know is that moving around your gravel could land you in a minicycle, and probably bring out more nitrates. Water change!

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC6BhvjUWts&feature=related

Are you doing it like this? This is how I do it (I know some people who do it "incorrectly"). The gravel IS being moved around, but none of the dirt is, which is pretty important too.

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

I used to just do a complete water change every two weeks in the past... Couple weeks ago, I read that complete water changes can stress out the fish, so i started removing the top 25% of the water and replacing it with conditioned tap water once a week, but i guess that wasn't good enough to remove the waste at the bottom.

I removed the gravel along with plastic flowers couple weeks ago, when his bumps got worse, and just left his cave in the aquarium. Today I bought a mini tube to start cleaning out the waste at the bottom, and i plan on doing this once a week going forward, and replacing 25% of the aquarium with bottle water.

 

[woodstock]

You should do this much more often, as you're aware of your current water quality. Do this every other day, take it back to Petsmart, and see how that goes. Try buying plenty of plants as well.

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

You should do this much more often, as you're aware of your current water quality. Do this every other day, take it back to Petsmart, and see how that goes. Try buying plenty of plants as well.

how do the plants help? do i need gravel to plant them? i feel like i can't even handle a betta in a cave, and i'm afraid the plants can complicate things...

 

[woodstock]

Betta's aren't fond of huge wide open space. It could cause stress to them, and therefore more prone to more illnesses (and therefore make healing more difficult). You probably don't have to have gravel to actually plant them. Just make sure you don't get the type of plants that need gravel to stay down. Try getting THICK plants, to.

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

Also, the pH of tap water 7.2 and bottle water is 6.2, the only two sources I use to change the water in the tank. How can the pH level of the aquarium be 8.4? Can my betta change the pH level of the water?

 

[woodstock]

I think Ph can steadily change as it ages. Not sure if it goes up or down, but if you hadn't done one in a while, that would probably be why.

 

[mybettasgotbumps]

Betta's aren't fond of huge wide open space. It could cause stress to them, and therefore more prone to more illnesses (and therefore make healing more difficult). You probably don't have to have gravel to actually plant them. Just make sure you don't get the type of plants that need gravel to stay down. Try getting THICK plants, to.

which kinds of plants can I get that would go well with a betta in a 10gallon tank? Is it ok to just stick them in?

 

[woodstock]

Just stay away from plastic, and the rest should be okay. If you are able to get real plants, then go for it. I personally can't, so I keep with silk plants. You should be able to just stick it in there, AFTER WASHING in dechlorinated water, but when you put it in just watch that you don't hurt your betta.

 

[loraxchick]

looks like lymphsystis. google it and lemme know what you think. your pics are a little blurry/unclear(but are helpful). does it look like cauliflower?
no treatment for lymphocystis. will NOT harm your betta. but lemme know about if it has a cauliflower appearance.
for now, every other day,30% waterchange. i can not say enough about how important clean water is to fish who are ill/acting off.
cheers.