dinatwin

I posted this post on Aug 14.
Hi I'm new here and I have a question. I have a girl betta who was in a tiny bowl for a long time about a year then I decided to get a 5 gallon tank. I set it up I have well water but I put 15 drops of water conditioner in it. Then later that day my husband put the fish in. i wanted to wait but he already did it. Since then i have been reading TONS and realized there is so much more than just setting up a tank and putting fish in it. ( I feel bad for my cute little betta having her in such a small bowl. Anyway I noticed the next day she had white raised cotton like dot on her head. I think it's a fungus infection she has devopled 2 more but not as big. They are not flat. So i went to the pet store and bought Fungus Clear Tank Buddies by jungle products. Did i do the right thing? oh and by the way I broke the tablet in half since on the box it says a full tab for 10 gallons. I have a 5 gallon tank.

Here are the tank stats
Temp 78 degrees
pH 6.8 -7.2
alk 80
hardness 25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
Amonia 1.0

She is now getting worse. The fungus has now moved to her eyes and she is VERY pale. The tank readings are the same except the ph is 1.0 and this is After a 50% water change. Maybe all the gunk stirring around gav me a higher reading?

I'm very concerned for her. She still swims like she used to. She loves the swim the current by the filter. But i have noticed she's hiding more than usual. But when she sees me she comes right out and swims towrds me. Her belly and under her face is very very pale. I started first dose of API fungus cure 48 hrs ago and this seemed to decrease the cotton like protrutions on her head and eyes but it's still there. Maybe the medicine is too strong?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong and I want to do right by her. she's a real firecracker. I will try to post some before and after ics very soon.
Thanks so much everyone!!!

Lucy

Hi Dinatwin, I'm sorry your fish isn't feeling well.

It would really help the members if you could post a pic of her.

With your ammonia readings, you should be doing daily water changes. Use prime as your water conditioner, this will detoxify the ammonia for 24hr (until the next water change)
Ammonia is toxic to fish and will impede any progress made with the meds.

In your other thread, you mentioned you age the water and add it at room temp. If you use a good water conditioner, this is necessary, you'll want the temp of the new treated water to be the same as the water in your tank.

What gunk do you have in your tank? It sounds like you might be over feeding her. A gravel vacuum will help you with water changes and suck up whatever is on the bottom.

dinatwin

thanks lucy. Yes i have been doing daily water changes and i have started using prime since this past friday. I used to use aquasafe until someone recomended prime instead. My husband put 3 neon tetra and 4 glow light tetras in about 1 week ago. so I think we are over feeding them. That is the gunk. I did do gravel cleaning once and since I'm new at this i guess i didn't do such a good job. Also i do age the water. If for some reason i can't i adjust the water temp using warm water and I check the temp to make sure it is the same as the tank water. I use a thermometer. but most times it's aged 24 hrs. I immediatly fill the bucket after a water change for the next day.

I will go get a pic right now.

thanks again!!

dinatwin

Here is a before pic
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s.../fish059-1.jpg
Here a a bunch of after
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...yfish011-1.jpg
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...ixyfish008.jpg
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...ixyfish002.jpg
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...ixyfish017.jpg
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...ixyfish013.jpg
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...yfish007-1.jpg
http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...ixyfish014.jpg

Lucy

Unfortunately, your tank is overstocked, a 5g is really only big enough for the betta.
You really should get a 10g for the tetras.

It's going to be very hard to keep the ammonia levels down with that many fish. Left over food will also create ammonia.
It does take some practice using the gravel vac. I always ended up with water all over the place. lol

You also have a compatablity problem, neons are little fin nippers.
I'd suggest you move them as soon as possible.

Edit: You posted the pictures while I was typing. lol
He looks to be bloated, possibly eating the food meant for the tetras along with his own. Bettas can be little piggys and not know when to stop.
Another good reason to separate the fish.
Try giving him a few bits (the size of his eye) of thawed, shelled frozen pea or fasting him.

Fishies-for-me

she is a very pretty little crowntail isn't she?...A betta ia all you should have in that tank as with 3 neons and 4 glolight tetras in there you are very overstocked and that could account for at least some of the problems you are having. Do you have another tank you can move the tetras into? I know the use of salt is very debatable in here but I have always had good results for fungus with 1 tsp salt for 5 gallons of water....good luck.

Fishies-for-me

lucy you were quicker on the keyboard than I was...lol

dinatwin

oh nooo. I'm overstocked. I don't have another tank. I have a betta I just put in a 2.5 gallon minibow and the 5 gallon I just told you about. I really didn't want 3 tanks. It's soo much work i don't want to get burned out. It's soo new to me. I'm going to kill my hubby for putting them in.
thanks again!

Lucy

Suave just posted a thread about Petco having a sale on tanks.
3 tanks isn't really all that bad. You either need a another one or return those fish.

Since hubby bought them, he can care for the 3rd tank.

Christian Patti

walmart sells 10 gallon tanks for 10 dollars maybe check those out

welshalien

maybe return the tetras to the LFS?

Kelly