starywary

Hi all, not sure if you guys remember about a week ago (maybe a little longer) I posted about my son's betta that he won in school. I had just set up a 10 gallon tank for the betta, Cinderella, and things weren't looking too good for a minute. But I got some great suggestions here, and I just wanted to update you guys.

At the time I first posted I was really broke, so the daily water changes and garlic were pretty much the only things I could start to do, but just that worked wonders - it was hard to believe the same fish just half a day before had looked so miserable.

Today was the first time I had a chance to go out and buy some stuff for him though, and although it seems so overdue, he still looks so much better than that little scare I had.

I followed advice and got Prime water conditioner, stuff to set up my air pump, ( tubing, check valve, and air stone) and I did get a test kit, but unfortunately I just couldn't afford the API master kit right now. ( They only had one left in the store) so I got the dreaded strips. Also, I don't remember if it was recommended on this forum or if it was one of the things I read up on, but I got a small container of aquarium salt.

I have a few questions though: 1) I got the smallest bottle of Prime they had, but on it there are no directions for using it in a 10 gallon. They say to add 1 capful, or 5 ml, for every 50 gallons of water. It does say that each thread on the cap is about 1 ml, which unless my math is worse than I thought, means I need just that for my 10 gallon. The thing that bothers me is that I'm not sure which of the two threads in the cap they mean, and it sure doesn't look like 1/5 of the entire capful. I don't know how much I should add, if it has to be precise, and since the way I do water changes is to use a 1 gallon pitcher to scoop out tank water and then use a 1 gallon jug to add new water, so how would I treat the water first? Can someone just help me with the math, lol.

2) Should the aquarium salt be added to the new treated water before I add it to the tank, or can I just add the 2 tablespoons they suggest ( for a 10 g) right to the tank? Is it ok to add the salt every time I do a water change, especially since until the tank cycles I am doing frequent ones. ( every day to every other day.)

I think that's it, for now, lol. You guys have been so helpful, Cinderella thanks you! ( so does Snow White, the albino cory, who is doing great too)

I'm still having trouble with the pics. Do I just upload them to photobucket and then post the link?

Alessa

I add 5 drops per gallon (because I am paranoid lol) but I have read two drops are fine.
and for what did you get the salt? I would not use it, since it is more harmful than good with fish in a long term and it is specially harmful to fishes like cories!

does he have any disease symptoms now? otherwise I would continue with the daily water changes, prime and garlic for now.

Butterfly

I would not use the salt either.
I use a small needleless syringe like shots are given with and use two drops per gallon when doing water changes in my smaller tanks.
Carol

jdhef

As alessa says, I would not use the aquarium salt. It is harmful to any scaleless fish such as Cory cats. It seems that adding salt is an old time "cure" for a lot of fish aliments, but recent theory now is that it does as much harm as it does good.

Lucy

Thanks for the update on Cinderella. Good advice above.

Isn't it amazing what good water and a little garlic can do.

You can put the pics on photo bucket or if you scroll down, you'll see 'manage my attachments' and upload them directly from your computer.

We'd love to see pics of them.

starywary

Thanks Lucy, I'll try that now. I wish I had asked on this forum about the salt before I bought it instead of just going by what I read online. It was only $3, but I'm on such a tight budget that I hate to waste money on anything! He was so cute when I put the air pump on, lol. He looked like a dog sniffing at some new toy or something. I do still need to get him a little hideaway though, and now I know I have to do a stocking test on the plastic plants in there.

As far as the test strips, are they bad because they are inaccurate? And how off can they be? The tried one last night and it said that I have about 10 nitrates, no nitrites, very soft water, and a low pH of about 6.4. THe thing is, all but one sections of the strip are the same colors on an unused one. The only one that changed was the alkalinity, which was about 50. Now I wish I had just put that money aside to save for the API master kit. I did see another master kit for sale, but a different brand, and I think it was also test strips. I also didn't like that they only had one of the API kits and it looked like it had been sitting there for a long time, it was all dusty. It ran about $30, does that seem average? maybe i should call up the store I got the cory from, which is just a fish store, not a pet store that sells fish.

mathas

The two stores near me that sell the Freshwater Master kit charge $34.99 and $39.99, so $30 might not be a bad price, but you can order it online from DFS for $25.98 shipped. You'll have to wait an extra couple of days for it to arrive, but is a few bucks cheaper.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=4454

Lucy

The API master kit can be rather pricey, but you get more tests from it than the strips and as you know most members agree it's very accurate.
I had a couple strips tests (same brand) when I first got my tank and out of curiousity tested with both and got 2 different readings.
That convinced me. lol

The API master kit is on sale here:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...54&pcatid=4454

Walmart has a good price on line, I've never seen them carry it in a store, but on the website it says they'll ship it free to the store where you can pick it up.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3635493

I wish I had known about those sites sooner. I paid over $30.00 for mine.

jdhef

I think that Big Al's had it on sale last week. I don't know if it's still on sale but it might be worth checking. There's a link to Big Al's on the top of this page.

Fishies-for-me

I also recommend the api test kit and altho expensive to start they will last a long time and are really worht the money. Dis you open the salt yet?? maybe you can return it for store credit or a refund....good luck.

Devon

The API kit costs almost $45 at the LFS here in Seattle... I love it here but boy are things expensive. The API really is the best, and I have never seen such a good price on it as in the Walmart link that Lucy posted.

I agree with everyone else here that salt should not be used, I have had good luck with using less than 1/4 of what they recommend for rare, very specific health problem instances (some people here will say not to use it even for those things... to each their own), but in my opinion you should never use it to treat the water on a regular basis.

5 ml is 1 teaspoon. If it's asking for one teaspoon for 55 gallons, I imagine that just a few drops in a 10 gallon would be sufficient... someone please correct me if I'm totally off on this thought.

Many kudos for doing all this to ensure the health and happiness of your son's new betta... I imagine if the school was giving the fish out as a prize, he is very lucky to have ended up with someone that would take the proper care of him. Scary thought to give out a betta to just anyone, regardless of their knowledge or preparedness.