Ammonia High Betta Dieing Need Help With What Sponge Filter 2 Get

[Frankieflowaz]

Ive been using prime and stability prime for 3 weeks and stability bout 7 days now
My fish has finrot it seems and hes laying at bottom a lot past 3 days or so hes not doing good I do 50% waterchanges every 2 days and I did water yesterday and my ammobia was around 1ppm I did a 50% yesterday and one today with some aquariums salt to help heal anyways I'm thinking the 6.5 semI hexagon tanks filter is the culprit for high ammonia so quickly. . anyone know of a good sponge filter?? Herea my tanks top also my 20 gallon fish is healthy n fine so I know my tap water is good that tanks been around 2 or 3 months now tho

 

[Fish0n]

fish-emergency-template.376562
Here is a template. This will give people responding to your post more complete information so you can get a more complete answer

 

[Frankieflowaz]

Tank

What is the water volume of the tank? 6.5gal semI hexagon walmart starter kit
How long has the tank been running? 3 weeks
Does it have a filter?yes
Does it have a heater?yes
What is the water temperature?78
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
Butterfly betta from petco
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Every 2 days
How much of the water do you change?50% roughly
What do you use to treat your water?prime seachem
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Substrate and water

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
What do you use to test the water?
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

Ammonia: 1ppm yesterday did 2x 50% waterchanges since
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5ppm
pH:7.4ish on high ph it was yellow

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Every day
How much do you feed your fish? 4 flakes or so
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Omega one buffet flakes betta
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? Not to my betta in this tank no

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 1 week or 2
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Last week
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?red line on tail and black outline
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Aquarium salt today 1 tspn per gal
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? Not too bad but its lower fins on stomach were curly or torn up
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Was super active n ate now lays on bottom a lot and doesn't eat as much if any

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
Up top

 

[Wintermagic]

For a fish in cycle it's not unusual to start seeing ammonia in the second week. Water changes and prime will be your best friends for a while.

Its likely that the ammonia is causing stress on your fish. I would suggest daily waterchanges to keep ammonia under 1ppm. Dose the whole tank with prime not just the amount you changed.

Some people use tetras safe start or seachems stability to help start the bacteria. Others use filter media from an established tank.

A sponge filter is great. Low tech and provides a lot of surface area for beneficial bacteria to live. For cleaning them just put some tank water in a bowl and squeeze the sponge in it to get out the gunk.

The finer the pores in a sponge filter the faster it will clog but I don't have a favorite brand. For your tank you don't need a huge one.

Edit: once the bacteria start converting ammonia into nitrite, try to keep the combined total under 1ppm. Can use the prime the same way to help protect your betta. Once he ammonia and nitrate show 0 and nitrates go up your pretty much home free. You'll be able to cut back on your water changes a bit. Try to keep nitrates under 20 ('ve heard everything from 10 to 40.)

 

[Marimo]

Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia should all be at zero. There is no acceptable level. Suggestions: I would put your Betta into his own bowl w/airstone on low (put a valve on line so you can increase/decrease airflow. Change his bowl every 2 days or so with room temp. water. Cut down on feeding- that's probably your nitrate source. Keep changing water on tank, and let cycle out until 1 month. Check water in a week. Make sure you have water tests. A master test kit would be awesome. What is the pH of your tapwater?

A sponge filter is great, but since it contains no chemical filtration such as carbon or zeolite, you will not see a reduction in bad stuff like ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[grump299]

Hope all is going well with your betta but to correct last post a cycled tank should show some nitrates they should be kept under 20ppm. This is done with water changes you can base your water change schedule on your readings most of the time it works out to be every week. You should show 0ppm on ammonia and nitrites and 10ppm-20ppm nitrates on a fully cycled tank.

 

[MomeWrath]

A sponge filter will absolutely deal with ammonia and nitrite once it has an established biofilm and provided you don't rinse all of that off every week. Small tanks can be hard to get a reliable cycle on, and those internal filters in the plastic starter tanks are insufficient, to say the least. I would up your water changes to 50% daily (be careful to match temp) until your betta is feeling better, and then make sure you do 50% weekly water changes after that.

 

[Tol]

I am a big fan of ATI Hydro Sponge filters. for 6.5 gallon you could use a Hydro Sponge Filter MinI or Hydro Sponge Filter 1 running on a small air pump.

 

[angelcraze]

I like the idea of a sponge filter. The trouble with hex tanks is they are deep without much surface area for oxygen exchange. Not so much of an issue for a betta with labyrinth organs, but nitrifying bacteria also needs oxygen. An airstone is perfect to help add o2 and also provide an optimal space for BB to grow.