Hello! F Betta/nerite

Hello! My name is Cora.

I recently adopted/rescued a new Betta fish.
She is a Halfmoon Female and is a very deep blue with some lighter pink shades you can catch in the light. I'm still thinking of a name for her and am thinking of "Liberty Belle" or "Blue Belle."


Today I also added a Nerite snail. He still hasn't moved and I'm afraid to name him before I know whether he is dead or alive. I got him from Petco and reading some posts on here indeed people have bought dead snails! I hope he is alive.

Tank:
3.5 gallon Enchant Aquarium by Top Fin.


Mods:
I added a small heater thinking the air conditioning would make the tank too cold. However, with the heater on the temperature was ranging from 80-84. From research, this is a little too hot and I turned off the heater. The temperature is now 78. Maybe in the winter I will plug it back in. The flow of the filter is perfect and she isn't affected by it at all, so I did not need to modify.

Live Plants:
Cryptocoryne Balansae. I love the look of the crimped leaves and the tall thin shape.


Marimo Moss Balls: I added three small ones just today.
I also used "Flourish" to feed the plants so hopefully they will live in this light and setup.

Water Test:
I tested my water today and it read: Nitrates: 0ppm, Nitrites: 0ppm, PH: 7, Carbonate Hardness: 80ppm, General Hardness: 180.
I'm new to cycling and I still don't quite understand what these numbers mean. The General Hardness number seems unusually high?
I added biological booster hoping this would help me with the cycle beginning to clean itself.

I've been changing some of the water whenever it starts to look slightly dirty. All the water I've treated with the yellow bottle of water treatment stuff you find at petsmart. I also used the "perfect start" by API and added a few drops of "Betta Fix" in the beginning just in case there where any fin tears that I wasn't aware of or any bruising on my fish.

I'm hoping I'm doing this all correctly and have been really trying to do this correctly. My fish is very active and seems very happy exploring the tank and greeting me when I walk up to the tank.

Any advice on the cycling or on the nerite snail?

Also thanks for reading if you have made it this far! I'm so glad to be here!!

 

Looks great! But there's a few things to change. You should be doing weekly water changes no matter if the water looks dirty or not to remove any ammonia, nitrate, nitrites build up that could poison your fish and you shouldn't be adding any medication with "fix" at the end of it because it's a controversial medication because it contains tea tree oil which covers the surface of the water and coats the betta's labryinth organ potentially suffocating them.

 

Hello and welcome to fishlore. There are a few thing which you should know first of all the nitrogen cycle (click the blue word cycle to get more info)please read it all as it is a necessary part of fish keeping. Next you should do water changes every week and take out half of the water. I recommend an aqurium siphon. Next stop using bettafix as it is a controversial medicine that contains tree oil that could coat your bettas labyrinth organ and could kill your betta. If your betta ever develops rips many people on here agree that clean warm water is the best medicine. Not that your betta should develop any rips unless you have something sharp in your tank that could cut him or your filter intake sucks his fins to prevent this from happening please cover up your filter intake with a piece of pantyhose and rubberband it onto the filter input so it won't suck at his fins. Also I have that same tank and know the flow can be a little strong. So if your betta seems to be pushed around baffle it as bettas like slow flows due to their long flowing fins

 

HI welcome to fishlore.

If your nerite snail is on its back it can’t flip itself over. So it will die. Don’t ever just drop it into the tank because it might not land upright. If it’s been upright and hasn’t moved it might be dead. If it wasn’t stuck to anything or moving at the store, or was upside down, it might’ve been dead when you bought it. If it’s not moving or sticking to anything now it’s probably dead.

 

Oh I forgot about the nerite sorry. Nerite snails often don't move sometimes for days on end. He's just getting used to the water quality and everything to check if he's not dead you can take him out of the water and if he smells he's dead

 

Make sure there is actually a snail in the shell. First time I bought a nerite I actually got an empty shell.

How did you acclimitize the nerite?

 

You should be doing weekly water changes no matter if the water looks dirty or not to remove any ammonia, nitrate, nitrites build up that could poison your fish and you shouldn't be adding any medication with "fix" at the end of it because it's a controversial medication because it contains tea tree oil which covers the surface of the water and coats the betta's labryinth organ potentially suffocating them.

Thank you! Okay I will make sure to make weekly water changes regardless. And oh shoot. Wish I hadn’t spent money on the Betta fix now. ☹️

I recommend an aqurium siphon.
... or your filter intake sucks his fins to prevent this from happening please cover up your filter intake with a piece of pantyhose and rubberband it onto the filter input so it won't suck at his fins. Also I have that same tank and know the flow can be a little strong. So if your betta seems to be pushed around baffle it as bettas like slow flows due to their long flowing fins

Thank you for the recommendation for the siphon. I’ve never used one, but it looks like it will make things much easier!
As for the water flow, I have it filled almost to the bottom of the black rim, and this seems to make the flow on this aquarium much less strong. I was concerned whether I should use a baffle or not after seeing that a lot of people do, but after looking up this tank, many other users on this site have the same experience as mine if you fill the aquarium to the level I have it at. My fish swims all over the tank and doesn’t have an issue with the flow of the filter. The water seems very minimally agitated at the top of the tank as well. If I ever notice the current being too strong I will add a baffle for sure though.

HI welcome to fishlore.

If your nerite snail is on its back it can’t flip itself over. So it will die. Don’t ever just drop it into the tank because it might not land upright. If it’s been upright and hasn’t moved it might be dead. If it wasn’t stuck to anything or moving at the store, or was upside down, it might’ve been dead when you bought it. If it’s not moving or sticking to anything now it’s probably dead.

In the store the snail was facing the ground. I acclimated him by adding aquarium water to the bag a little at a time, and then finally put him in facing down. Before I put him in I looked in his shell and it was shut tightly. Hopefully that means he is alive, but I am nervous maybe even though he looked alive he is just dead.

Oh I forgot about the nerite sorry. Nerite snails often don't move sometimes for days on end. He's just getting used to the water quality and everything to check if he's not dead you can take him out of the water and if he smells he's dead

Okay. I’m really hoping he is alive!

Make sure there is actually a snail in the shell. First time I bought a nerite I actually got an empty shell.

How did you acclimitize the nerite?

I acclimated him adding water to his bag from the aquarium a little at a time. I’m hoping this worked and didn’t stress him/her out. I checked and there is a snail inside thank goodness haha.

Thank you all for welcoming me and for the tips!! I will keep you all updated.
And I will be asking more questions too most likely. Thank you!!!

 

Iverg1 Sure enough after I responded to you about the filter not being too strong, I noticed it seemed a little stronger today. I think it's because my water level had decreased some, but I'm going to create a baffle and use the pantyhose trick as well. I really want to make my fish feel at home.
Thanks again.

 

Your welcome

Wish I hadn’t spent money on the Betta fix now. ☹️

Well did you save the recict?

 

Your welcome

Well did you save the recict?

While it is controversial, I've never lost a betta from using Melafix (more potent form of BettaFix) in my tanks. So perhaps keep it for emergencies (or go ahead and return it).

 

I disagree while it may help I think that clean warm water is always the best defense and medicines should just be used as a last LAST resort

 

I do have the receipt, but I don’t want to return a partially used bottle. Also I think I will keep it for emergencies. It is much less potent than melafix.

My snail still hasn’t moved today. :/ Going to take him out after work to see if he smells.

 

Don't worry about it. I've heard story's of snails who stayed in their shell for a few weeks

 

Don't worry about it. I've heard story's of snails who stayed in their shell for a few weeks

I took him out yesterday night and his insides were decomposing and smelled very bad. I’m glad I checked. Next time I’m making sure the snail is alive at the store.

 

Sorry for your loss if you have a test kit I would check for ammonia

 

Sorry for your loss if you have a test kit I would check for ammonia

Checked my ammonia and it says 0, which is surprising when a snail just passed away in the tank!