Whats Going On ? :(

[home breeders]

Heya

My bettas are dyeing in front of my eyes has anyone else had this trouble ?

all the other fish are healthy. advice would be much appreciated many thanks.

 

[Curiosity101]

What tank are they in?
How many in each tank?
What filters?
What are water params? Ie. NH3, NO2, NO3 + pH
Has anything been added recently?
What tank mates if any?
What exactly is happening to them?

 

[home breeders]

What tank are they in?
Fluval Roma 240

How many in each tank?
3 female Bettas

What filters?
Fluval 305

What are water params?
Ie. NH3, NO2, NO3 + pH (All tested ok, even took water sample to local store for testing)

Has anything been added recently?
Nothing added at all - bar the bettas themselves.

What tank mates if any?
2 plecs (small), gold platys, neon tetras, tiger loaches.

What exactly is happening to them?
all three of them sitting on the bottom of the tank, hardly moving at all.

 

[Curiosity101]

Need exact values to help you here. So what are the EXACT values of Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate + pH?

Tiger Loaches...Do you mean clown loaches? How big are they? (prob not related to the betta problem, I'm just interested)

How long have you had the 3 girls?

Are there any visible signs of disease?

Loss of colour?

Do they perk up when fed?

Do they look bloated?

 

[chesterscot]

as said the exact values might help us to help you more
apart from resting on the bottom why do you think they are dieing are their fins clamped etc.... i only ask as my bettas rest in their fave places for ages at a time you never know they might just be lazy heres hopeing
regards scot

 

[home breeders]

None of them look bloated. We got all 3 of them together this time last week no loss of colour no sign of disease.
no difference when they get fed.
NO3 4MG/L
NO2 2MG/L
GH 6/D
PH 7.4
KH 6/D
Chlorene 0

Deffinetly tiger loaches approx 5-6" in length. Simular sort of shape to a red tail shark.

as said the exact values might help us to help you more
apart from resting on the bottom why do you think they are dieing are their fins clamped etc.... i only ask as my bettas rest in their fave places for ages at a time you never know they might just be lazy heres hopeing
regards scot

Would you like me to get a pic ?

 

[Curiosity101]

So they are...I've never even heard of tiger loaches before today. Not sure I'd have them in a tank with neons for fear of the neons going missing. But that's just me, and like I said, until 5 mins ago I didn't know anything about them.

Your nitrite is high by the way, 2ppm isn't very good and could easily be causing them to be quiet.

Also, am I right in thinking you are using a test strip? If so they are very in-accurate and therefore nitrite may well be higher than it is showing. Also I find it hard to believe nitrate is 4ppm unless your tank is INCREDIBLY heavily planted.

When and how was the tank cycled?

Edit: And due to using a test strip that doesn't measure ammonia you can't rule out that this isn't having a part to play.
Either ways whether it's only nitrite or a mixture of ammonia and nitrite. Those test results are pretty odd. And the water isn't 'Ok'. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not 'Ok'

 

[home breeders]

it is test strips at home which is why I took a sample to the garden centre to test (they used liquids in test tubes)

we have 16 plants in a 240L tank, and do a 25% water change every thursday and monday, (one due tonight).

here are four pics of two of the female betta's the third is hidden somewhere

 

[Curiosity101]

I guess your nitrates may be that low then. Eitherways low nitrates isn't going to be a problem to the fish.

The nitrites are a big issue though. Could you perhaps up your water change to a 50% tonight?

Also in the second picture, that's a very suspicious looking whitespot on the females gill. Is that a camera trick or is that actually on the fish? It looks like the beginnings of whitespot to me.

Oh and just to note, if you ever get your water tested by the garden center again make sure you ask for actual PPM results for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Because clearly their understanding of 'Ok' and actually being 'Ok' are two different things.

Also I can't stress how vital having a good water test kit is for a fish keeper. You really should get one, it's around £18 for an API master test-kit on somewhere like Ebay and it lasts for over a year!

 

[Rediahs]

None of them look bloated. We got all 3 of them together this time last week no loss of colour no sign of disease.
no difference when they get fed.
NO3 4MG/L
NO2 2MG/L
GH 6/D
PH 7.4
KH 6/D
Chlorene 0

That nitrite is too high and you don't have ammonia listed. Looks like your tank isn't fully cycled. You will have to do lots of water changes and wait it out.... so do a large water change now (as long as you normally do water changes - if you never do water changes please start with a small one!) to try to bring the nitrite (NO2) down...

Ammonia would be NH3 so try to get that reading?

 

[Curiosity101]

That's a point, you didn't answer this question...

When and how was the tank cycled?

 

[home breeders]

Cool, I may invest in an API kit tomorrow,

I have 12 gallons of water which I prepared yesterday, left it to climatise tonight, with conditioners etc in it, before I put it in the tank, I just checked the fish (blue one) no white spots on her at all, must of been the camera - but I see what you mean by looking at the pic.

they arent very lively at all. even though water parameters arent perfect, the other other fish are fine. Get my water change done, and see how it goes.

the strips normally bring up 0 NO3 / NO2 morning after the water change,

fingers crossed, hope they are ok.

were going to be getting rid of all our tropicals soon anyway as we want to go marine. lol

the tank finished cycling around 3 months ago, we gave it 8 weeks in total, (well introduced plants after 4 weeks)

 

[Curiosity101]

You don't need to acclimatise water. Straight from the tap with water conditioner is fine.

And that's ok then, I was worried she might have white spot, and that therefore all of them may have whitespot which could be causing the problem.

Also, something I noticed when I upgraded my tank. It went into a mini-cycle and all the fish that had come across and into the upgrade survived through the mini cycle fine. But I did add a couple of corys (I presumed as the tank had been fully cycled before the switch that it would balance itself out faster than it actually did), anyways, the new corys died within a week or so. I felt incredibly guilty as it was clearly my water, I'd checked them over at the shop and they were fine. Also I'd had all my fish from there and never had a problem.

So it's possible your older fish are battling through, but the new guys are being alot more affected by this spike in nitrites. Basically just keep it as low as you possibly can and hope to see an improvement.

 

[home breeders]

Thank you for your help

 

[chesterscot]

if you are going to go marine i would try to get as much practise keeping tropical fish first with the water testing i mean as when you do the switch you will need to be right on the ball with your water chemistry
regards scot