Betta_Lover19 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Hi im new to this forum but i thought it would be good for me to join so i can get help from people who know how to look after betta's properly. Ok i take it this is an Australian site yeah? About 2 months ago i bought a blue and red betta he is full of personality and hates things looking different in his tank. I have no idea what type he is so ill put a pic in for you guys to have a look and let me know. Recently his tail started to look ratty and yuk and i think that i have caught the fin and tail rot quickly as thats what i believe he has. How long will it take for him to get better? In his home is a plant (not real) gravel a heater and a tyre for him to hide in (one made for fish) does he need a filter? And i have tank water (which i use for him) and bore water, which is best to use? I have a little schedule for him LOL that i have made up for what to feed and when to clean. I feed him 2 times a day on betta food and bloodworms but i only feed him the bloodworms 3 times a week once a day. The rest of the time is betta food. And i clean his tank every 4-5 days. is this right what im doing? Any advice would be helpful thank you. P.s i dont no how to put pic in so ill describe him..... blue with red head and little bit of red on fins has a whole tail (well did till the tail rot) does this make any sence? and i dont know how to change that<<<<<<< but no i dont breed bettas i only have one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 firstly welcome to the site and yes we're mostly australian but we do have members from all over the place where are you from? a few questions. how big is the tank? is the plant plastic or silk (are the leaves spiky or nice and smooth)? you need to be careful that you have nice smooth fake plants, preferably silk, some fake plants can have sharp edges and a betta can easilly tear his fins on them, which of course can lead to infection. to post pics you just have to have an online photo album (Photobucket is prolly the best) then you can just copy the link to the picture and paste it here. there's a little icon just above where you type that when you hover over says "insert image" just click that and paste the link to your pic there to change your personal info up the top right click "my controls" you should be able to edit your profile etc from there without too much trouble It sounds like you're doing a great job so far just something to remember a Betta's stomach is about the same size as his eye... so bear that in mind when you're feeding him so that you don't OVER feed lol I'm sure someone else will come along and offer some more advice until then jsut wander around the site and you'll start to pick up things, look in the fishy showroom for pics of different tail types :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Hi there Betta_Lover19. I think Stace has pretty much answered all your questions. Welcome to AAQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Lover19 Posted October 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Hey thanks guys! I had a look at pics too to see what sort he is and his a veiltail (a mutt as it was called) lol but i still love him. Just a question. it says on the fungus ade to:Use 2 drops per 5 litres.Remove activated carbon during treatment, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Do not use more than once every four days. So when do i stop treating him for the fin/tail rot??? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jusdeb Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Hi Betta lover , activated carbon is the black rock looking stuff that goes inside your filter , it absorbs all manner of nasty stuff from the water so if you use medication while you have carbon in your tank then it will remove the medicine too . Since you dont have a fliter you dont need to worry about that one...In regards to treating the fin rot Ill let someone else with more experience answer that one for you..Cheers.. ps I have a mutt too as well as 2 fancy buggers and the mutt is every bit as delightful as the others..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Lover19 Posted October 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Ah ok thanks. Um by the way someone.....i have saxa brand sea salt crystals from the supermarket can i put that, fungus ade and conditioner into water age it for a couple of days then do a 50% water change with it and it will help my boy or will it do more harm than good? Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeni Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Ah ok thanks. Um by the way someone.....i have saxa brand sea salt crystals from the supermarket can i put that, fungus ade and conditioner into water age it for a couple of days then do a 50% water change with it and it will help my boy or will it do more harm than good? Ta Just a few things entered my mind as I read your post.. When you say you clean his tank.. you are just doing a water change? Yes? Not scrubbing the tank? The reason I ask is this.. it is better to leave the good bacteria in your tank stable, do a 1/2 water change perhaps every 3 -4 days.. I do this by sucking the bottom with a vacume, and it cleans all the debris off the bottom, and takes half the water to do that... I use half rain water and half tap water, but a lot of that depends on your water quality.. I have a small sponge filter in all my Beta tanks.. this also (along with gravel)gives the good bacteria somewhere to grow...it is important to have this bacteria in your tank to kill ammonia etc. An ammonia spike will kill your fish , and burns gills etc quickly.. All of this is called having a cycled tank.. so if you read about people cycling tanks.. thats what it is all about.. There should be directions on the bottle of the fin rot cure.. Use only aquarium salt.(s0meone else may know differently).up the temp to at least 28..while treating fishy, do a half water change daily, and add more meds.. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 with salt use you have to use NON IODISED salt and make sure there are NO other additives (Anti-Caking Agents etc.) Most of us salt users use a good quality Pure rock salt/Pure sea salt as it is much cheaper than "aquarium salt"...just make sure you check the labels very carefully... from a vague memory Saxa does tend to have some kind of additives so it's probably best to leave that one alone... anthough you said sea salt... just check the label VERY carefully. Jeni is very right in what she said about water changing and sponge filters. also re: the finrot you might like to check this thread: http://ausaqua.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=55 it might have some helpful hints :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Lover19 Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Ok so what you are saying is that i need to "clean" out his tank with out washing the walls? Just get rid of the yuk water and replace it with new water with all the ingrediants required? I think i am way over my head having this fish, especially now he has fin rot!! With the vaccumes, I dont know much about them so could someone help me out on that and how much they cost. Tomorrow im going to pet stock to get him a silk plant as i had a plastic one that i thought was fine but i took it out just in case.is there anything else i should get while there? In his tank as we speak is still his real plant thats ok but im not happy its in there. Black gravel. A fishy tyre for him to swin through and hide in (he loves it) A heater set to 28*C and a themometer. And of course him. In his water is Fungus-Ade (which none of you has said that its ok to use?) Should i be useing something else? Water conditioner/chlorine neurtalizer. Everyone has different oppinions on how to look afer,water changes ect and im so confused as to which one is right!! Where he is in my room i only have 2 wall power thingys which in one is the goldies and there filter (have the other side of it free but betta on other side of room) In the one with the betta is his heater, a tv and a stereo, so i already have 2 extension cords and one double addapter which i think is way to much. and i dont really want to get him a filter because of this. The goldies have a sponge filter. So im a little pushed for room and i cant really put them any where else as they are mine dont have anywhere else to put them and i have two cats so its easy just to shut my door when im not home to protect them from getting eaten. HELP!!!!! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 yes don't clean the walls (or maybe just the one at the front so you can see him!) you don't NEED a filter as long as you do a partial water change every 3-4 days... Don't do 100% change just take out half the water and add the new water in. Most of us have some kind of container that we store water in to *Age* it. meaning we fill a container with water then add our dechlorinater/water ager, salt and whatever else we put in. then we leave it to *Age* for a few days (minimum 3) then we use it to change our water. real plants are great because they feed off any nasty things in the water, just make sure the plant looks healthy, if it looks healthy it's fine, if it's starting to go all borwn and look half dead take it out as then it will become a problem in it's own right. on the Fungus-ade note I'm pretty sure that finrot is a bacterial infection meaning that fungus ade won't be helping the finrot recovery... you need to change to something like Triple Sulfa or Myaxin. You can also use Melafix & Pimafix (or Bettafix) - Did you check out that link I posted earlier to the finrot thread? Yes everyone has their own way of doing it, none are really right and none are really wrong, it basically comes down to what is manageable for each person. Personally I've got 2 tanks with a small sponge filter, I just add water to them when they evaporate...the rest are just barracks and they're not filtered at all. I just do a water change when I remember to (or have time) and with the exception of a couple if illnesses once in a while it seems to work I've also got zeolite in most of my tanks now. Zeolite absorbs nasty things in the water (probably similar to the activated carbon someone mentionned earlier - so you need to take it out if you're medicating for an illness) Hope that helps a bit. otherwise it sounds like you're doing a great job.... don't worry we all felt like we were in over our heads to begin with :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jusdeb Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 :lol: OK , first take a deep breath , Im no expert but I think you should be OK without a filter so dont worry about that part. With your water changes they dont need to be 100% it is reccommended you do only 30% to 50% this way you dont lose your beneficial bacteria . The gravel vacuum is a hose with a cylinder on one end and you use the suction created by syphoning water to clean the crap out of your gravel ( they cost about $10.00 ). Go to the post Y2daze suggested and that should cover all aspects of fin rot tratment . Maybe you should invest in a power board for your room if you think it is getting dangerous running all those cords , sure beats waking up to a fire . Beliave me I know from experience that the more you muck around with your tank the more problems you create , so try to leave it alone as much as possible and last but not least prepare your water a couple of days before you need it so it has time to age .... :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Lover19 Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Aw thanks guys that really helps alot. I will get him a vaccume tomorrow and ive been advised to get a pH tester so those two things ill be getting. And i only have used the fungus ade once but illl check out the others u mentioned as well. Thank you all so much!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 while you're getting a pH kit it would be beneficial to get an Ammonia test kit and a Nitrite test kit as well (Actually those 2 are more beneficial than the pH kit although you still needa pH kit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I'd go a step further than Stace and say forget the pH kit and get the ammonia and nitrite kit. I'd also second the comments re *aging* the water and ditching the fungus remedy in exchange for a finrot treatment. Fungus remedy kills fungus, not bacteria. You need an antibiotic such as the medications referred to in the thread Stacy linked you to. Zeolite absorbs nasty things in the water One tip, don't used salt in the tank if you use zeolite, as salt causes zeolite to discharge the nasties it has absorbed. People remove zeolite and soak it in a strong saline solution to get it 'empty' again for re-use. Other than that, I think you've had great advice and I wouldn't add anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 oh thanks Lilli I did forget about that little bit! guess I better stop salting my water lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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