Is adding wild pond water safe for a betta?

I'm wanting to add some wild pond water to my betta tank to introduce a better selection of microorganisms but since I live in the midwest I was wondering if it'd be safe for a tropical fish aquarium.

 

There can be a lot of parasites and bacteria (not the beneficial kind) in wild water so I would stick to decloronated tap water, but I'm not an expert in this so we will see what others say.

 

There can be a lot of parasites and bacteria (not the beneficial kind) in wild water so I would stick to decloronated tap water, but I'm not an expert in this so we will see what others say.

I'll try to use pond water from a pond in a nearby reservation area. Most of the water nearby has gotten so polluted not even duckweed can grow in it. However, this small pond has duckweed growing, frogs and tadpoles living healthily, it's got snails, and some tall emersed grasses. It also looks clean.

I watched a Father Fish video that said you can introduce good organisms and bacteria from local ponds, rivers, and puddles that will help with all of the bad organisms while also keeping the water stable.

 

Be careful of Father Fish some of his stuff is too looney IMO. But to each their own.

I think it would be a good way to get your fish sick. Plus I would be wary of pesticides and the bad things in water. Like E coli. JMO again...

 

There can be a lot of parasites and bacteria (not the beneficial kind) in wild water so I would stick to decloronated tap water, but I'm not an expert in this so we will see what others say.

Fish tanks are actually far more polluted than nature. Our tank environment is more comparable to sewage treatment systems due to the high nitrogenous waste we add through fish food.

I would be more concerned about parasites, stuff like leeches, predatory insect larva etc.

Be careful of Father Fish some of his stuff is too looney IMO. But to each their own.

I think it would be a good way to get your fish sick. Plus I would be wary of pesticides and the bad things in water. Like E coli. JMO again...

It's common to think nature is "dirtier" but in terms of concentration of chemicals, bacteria count etc, our tanks are magnitudes higher. There are way more E coli in our aquariums than in a pond, as an example

 

Would you be better off setting up a large tub outside and collet rain water and let it develop its own Microsystems and collect from that would be safer you may not get all the benefits of things that may be in the wild ecosystem but you could also control the dangers a lot more

 

Around our area some shallow lakes get too warm and the beaches get closed for E coli. Sometimes swimmers itch. Im sure its a different environment in Canada. Water probably stays cooler than here.

 

You could try rainwater instead? We always have rainwater collecting... I used to use it for my Betta back in the day. At least you know it's clean - pesticide clean. If you are wanting to feed your Betta live food, I would suggest the following;
1. Cut up worms, not from your garden, but from your Worm farm, if you have one.
2. Mosquito larvae - plenty of articles on this site and elsewhere.
3. Brine shrimp, frozen or live.
4. + So much more
I don't know if this is the answer you were looking for, but hope this helps.

 

Around our area some shallow lakes get too warm and the beaches get closed for E coli. Sometimes swimmers itch. Im sure its a different environment in Canada. Water probably stays cooler than here.

You brought up a great example, for E coli to close a public beach the maximum bacteria count might be 1000/100ml or 10/ml but usually lower given by EPA

An aquarium of densely stocked fish may have E coli counts of 2000/ml (taken from this study). That's two magnitudes (200x) higher.

It makes sense because E coli is a disgestive tract bacteria, and fish in fish tanks are swimming in recirculated poop water.

The same goes for nutrients like nitrogen, phosphate etc. In nature many elements would be measured in parts per billion (ppb), but in aquariums theyre measured in parts per million (ppm) because we artificially add so much of them

 

Could always set up a rainwater tub abd introduce daphnia / plants etc there. Harvest the new growth from those cultures and move them into your aquarium. I keep ponds and tubs year round in the PNW. It’s taken awhile of trial and error (can’t grow duckweed in the goldfish pond lol ) but I’m getting an annually renewable ecosystem of live fish foods to treat my fish to.

 

Recommend finding out what's in the pond before adding it to a tank. Best bets to test it and put some in a container so you can see what types of organisms are in it.

 

Your fish does not have the same immunity to the bacteria that the wild frogs and fish have obtained from its parents and from living with the bacteria from the specific body of water since birth. It's great that you want to enhance your pet's life but it is not worth the risk.

 

Around our area some shallow lakes get too warm and the beaches get closed for E coli. Sometimes swimmers itch. Im sure its a different environment in Canada. Water probably stays cooler than here.

For us its the blue algae alerts....don't swim in the lake, don't eat fish from the lake, etc. I can think of at least 3 currently within 10 miles of me.

Not to mention the very real possibility of picking up something really invasive, like zebra mussels.

 

For us its the blue algae alerts....don't swim in the lake, don't eat fish from the lake, etc. I can think of at least 3 currently within 10 miles of me.

Not to mention the very real possibility of picking up something really invasive, like zebra mussels.

There are no alerts about water near me, nor are there any zebra mussels nearby. The fish are edible, you can swim, etc. It's just that some of the water has gotten polluted to a point which has killed off the duckweed.

 

Check your local "fish and wildlife" services website to see if there is anything nasty going around.

You definitely want to quarantine anything for a month or two before you make a decision. The idea is that pathogens will die without a host and insects will hatch by then.