adding salt to new tank with tetra safestart

HI everyone. I need help. I'm very new to bettas and fish in general. I got a male betta for my son at the local fish store (small, not a chain). I have a 3 gallon eclipse tank for him. Set it up on day 1 and filled it and added Tetra AquaSafe. Added Tetra Safestart on day 2. Added the fish on day 3. Now on day 7. He seems to be doing well. Would eat the freeze dried bloodworms from the second day in tank. Refused to eat the pellets I bought every day. Bought some Tetra BettaMin flakes today and he ate them right away. Gave him a little bit of a pea yesterday and he ate it. Did a 5 in 1 test strip yesterday and all the levels were fine except could not read the nitrites and nitrates at all. They were supposed to be in the pink to purple shades and mine were green, so that made no sense. Tested the ammonia tonight and got .25, so I guess that's ok. Temperature the first two days was pretty consistently 80 F. Last two days has been between 82 and 84 (he was in the basement in the beginning; moved him to the main floor).

I've read that when using SafeStart, you're not supposed to change the water for about a week. Well, this afternoon, I noticed a couple little spots that could be ich on his fins (the little ones that always move like crazy) and a couple on his body. Moved him into the kitchen with really good light for a little, so don't know if these spots are new or were always there. I'm wondering if this is ich, and, if it is, if I should add some aquarium salt to his tank. If so, how do I do this safely?? I don't think I'm supposed to do a water change for a few more days. Do I add the salt to water that I've taken out of the tank, and then put it back in? With the fish in the tank or do I remove him first? Please help. I want to do this right so our little fish has a long and happy life with us. Thanks!

 

Welcome to Fishlore!!

Here is a link about TSS: https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/q-a-with-tetra-about-tetra-safestart.58116/

When you add Tetra SafeStart (TSS) you should add you entire stock right away with the TSS. The bacteria probably died off since there was no ammonia to feed off of.

Here is how to treat ich: Raise the temp to 86. Add extra aeration since warmer water means less oxygen. Wait 2 weeks. Do gravel vacs twice a week to pick up any ich spores that have fallen.

I would do daily 50% water changes with Prime water conditioner until the ich is gone. Then dose with TSS again.


Also the test strips are very inaccurate. I would pick up an API (liquid) Master Test Kit and test the water with that.

 

thanks. i'm mad because I was going to add the fish right away, and the store guy (at a small shop who boasted that they knew much more than the guys over at petco, but who referred to the fish as a "beta" and said that plastic plants would be great) said to wait. anyway, so don't TSS again until the ich is gone? right now i'm at 82 or 83 without turning the light on at all (I got nervous because the temp was up to 84 yesterday, and I thought that was getting a little to close to the unsafe range), so will keeping the light on for a while be enough, or do I need to get a miniheater? and how can I be sure it's ich? right now, not in natural light, I don't see a thing on him. I just saw some tiny white spots this morning because he was in the natural light and I was looking really close. and, not to be too scattered, what kind of vacuum do I get?? thanks in advance.

 

oh, and what about the salt? add that with the water changes? thanks!

 

Can you post a picture of the betta with the spots? Did you check to see if the bottle of TSS was expired?

Yes you will have to purchase a heater to get the tank up to 86. When you get the heater slowly raise the temp (1-2 degrees an hour).

A gravel vacuum is this:

I wouldn't add salt. It usually does more harm than good.

Also the best advice is to never trust the LFS. They just want money.

 

Pass on the salt, and imo the bacteria is probably fine, it only went a day without a fish in there. Tss is too expensive to have to redose for the slight chance that some of the bacteria died off. I'd hold off on water changes unless the fish is acting sick or if the ammonia gets p over 1ppm-2ppm.

 

didn't check the exp. date on the box. naively assumed that it was not expired. no date on the bottle itself. will buy a vacuum and heater tomorrow. have no idea how, but I'll try to post a pic. will have to wait until tomorrow so I can get him in natural light. oh, and he has a couple bigger spots on his lower head (don't look like ich at all but could be some other sort of fungal infection) which I thought were just part of his natural coloration. now i'm wondering if I didn't bring home a completely disease-ridden little guy. if so, I hope I can nurse him back to health. or maybe i'm just being paranoid???thanks for your help!!!!!!

 

ich looks like grains of salt. Definitely don't medicate unless you are positive you have figured out what the issue is, sometimes it can do more harm than good.

 

Pass on the salt, and imo the bacteria is probably fine, it only went a day without a fish in there. Tss is too expensive to have to redose for the slight chance that some of the bacteria died off. I'd hold off on water changes unless the fish is acting sick or if the ammonia gets p over 1ppm-2ppm.

thanks. if I check the ammonia level tomorrow and hasn't risen, can I assume that the TSS is working? how quickly will the ammonia level rise in a filtered 3 gallon if uncycled? thanks for your response.

 

It should be gradual, assuming that you aren't overfeeding. I would feed EXTRA lightly for the next week, as in just a pellet or two daily, and suck out anything that isn't eaten immediately.

If the TSS is working, it may remain stable, or go back down.

Doing a water change at this point is throwing your (TSS) money away.

 

It should be gradual, assuming that you aren't overfeeding. I would feed EXTRA lightly for the next week, as in just a pellet or two daily, and suck out anything that isn't eaten immediately.

If the TSS is working, it may remain stable, or go back down.

Doing a water change at this point is throwing your (TSS) money away.

am not overfeeding. ate one freeze dried blood worm once a day for the past couple days. yesterday had like 1/20th of one pea. today a flake or two of the new food. no pellets ever. he won't touch them (I take them out after a little while). regarding the TSS, it's a small tank, so I only need to add like 10 ml of TSS if I want to start over (I bought a 50 ml bottle so I have plenty left). i'm assuming once the tank is cycled, I don't use the TSS again, right? so..... not sure if I should do a 50% change each day and then add TSS again when it looks like the ich is gone like fishingman said or what??

 

Personally, I wouldn't do water changes until the water gets really toxic or the fish start showing adverse effects. That's because the TSS needs time to settle in. It definitely wouldn't hurt to add another dose though, since you didn't use the whole bottle.

Most people recommend using an entire bottle regardless of the size tank its going in, I don't, but I do suggest you shake the everloving junk out of the bottle before adding it to make sure that its well mixed.

You can't overdose on beneficial bacteria, the colony size will regulate itself.

 

I agree, I added the whole bottle no matter the tank size. No water changes until about 10 days when the TSS should have worked.

Double check your water at this point to see if your readings are correct, if so, then you can do a small 20-30% change to be on the safe side.

 

thanks everyone. ok, so I'll test the water, then, if levels ok, will change 20%, then will add more TSS and will get a gravel vacuum and heater today. wish me luck!

 

Welcome to Fishlore!!

Here is a link about TSS: https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/q-a-with-tetra-about-tetra-safestart.58116/

When you add Tetra SafeStart (TSS) you should add you entire stock right away with the TSS. The bacteria probably died off since there was no ammonia to feed off of.

Here is how to treat ich: Raise the temp to 86. Add extra aeration since warmer water means less oxygen. Wait 2 weeks. Do gravel vacs twice a week to pick up any ich spores that have fallen.

I would do daily 50% water changes with Prime water conditioner until the ich is gone. Then dose with TSS again.


Also the test strips are very inaccurate. I would pick up an API (liquid) Master Test Kit and test the water with that.

medusey is doing much better. it is definitely ich because all the salt spots have disappeared since I raised the temp. have been doing a 40 - 50% water change and vacuuming gravel each day. should continue to do so for two weeks, right? THANK YOU!!!!!!

 

medusey is doing much better. it is definitely ich because all the salt spots have disappeared since I raised the temp. have been doing a 40 - 50% water change and vacuuming gravel each day. should continue to do so for two weeks, right? THANK YOU!!!!!!

Yes 2 full weeks.

 

Bettagal,

I have moved your question to a thread of it's own to prevent hijacking this thread and to help you to receive more responses.

Here is the link to your new thread:



Thanks!
Ken