Rescue Betta Fish Recovery

Hey
I saved this little guy, he's getting better now, and I'm new to this...I think it's a girl as she doesn't have that gill flap...
First pic when I got her 3 weeks ago, her progression, what do you think?
I gave her a 5l tank but tonight or tomorrow will buy a 12g she has a filter and heater, medicine, food and water conditioner, I do a 25 % water change every other day with britta filtered water, I got a test kit too which shows perfect readings but the waters hard so we have bought a osmosis kit and softener too, lastly I was told not to give meds and conditioner together so I alternate when I do the water change, any other advice would be so appreciated you've all been so helpful already, thankyou

 

Very pretty Betta! That is definitely a male

What meds are you giving? Are you not adding dechlorinator to the water on half the water changes?

What are your exact readings? If you do use RO water you're going to need to get something like Seachem Replenish to put back the minerals your fish needs to survive

 

Well done to you Deborah. Looks much better than the first picture. From where did you rescue him?

 

Hey thanks, how can you tell?
I give just under 1ml of dajana multI cure every 5 days.
I leave the water to stand for 24 hours and test the ph, alkalinity, chlorine, nitrite and nitrates, all safe before adding to his tank, is there more I can do for him??! I want him to be like, super uber happy coz he's so cool!!!

Oh sorry, I'll do one now...

 

The coloring and fins looked better in the last couple of pics unless it's just the way the light fell on him when you took the pictures

 

Very pretty Betta! That is definitely a male

What meds are you giving? Are you not adding dechlorinator to the water on half the water changes?

What are your exact readings? If you do use RO water you're going to need to get something like Seachem Replenish to put back the minerals your fish needs to survive

Well done to you Deborah. Looks much better than the first picture. From where did you rescue him?

From a work mate, he'd lived in a tiny box for a year with barely any food or fresh water

The coloring and fins looked better in the last couple of pics unless it's just the way the light fell on him when you took the pictures

The last three are from today, he's got lots more colour coming.g through but still a little patchy on top

Ph is a little high actually... Hes due a water change with conditioner today so that should help, right?

Very pretty Betta! That is definitely a male

What meds are you giving? Are you not adding dechlorinator to the water on half the water changes?

What are your exact readings? If you do use RO water you're going to need to get something like Seachem Replenish to put back the minerals your fish needs to survive

Hey thanks, how can you tell? <br />I give just under 1ml of dajana multI cure every 5 days.<br />I leave the water to stand for 24 hours and test the ph, alkalinity, chlorine, nitrite and nitrates, all safe before adding to his tank, is there more I can do for him??! I want him to be like, super uber happy coz he's so cool!!!<br /><br />Oh sorry, I'll do one now...

 

Yes that should help as far as my knowledge goes

 

Hey thanks, how can you tell?
I give just under 1ml of dajana multI cure every 5 days.
I leave the water to stand for 24 hours and test the ph, alkalinity, chlorine, nitrite and nitrates, all safe before adding to his tank, is there more I can do for him??! I want him to be like, super uber happy coz he's so cool!!!

Oh sorry, I'll do one now...

Are you sure that your water company only uses chlorine? If they use chloramine you'll need to use something like Prime in order to neutralize it because it doesn't evaporate.

Is that tap or tank?

Ph is a little high actually... Hes due a water change with conditioner today so that should help, right?

Don't mess with pH! What's your alkalinity reading from the strips?

 

Strips are typically not very accurate, have you researched the nitrogen cycle? I would not mess with either pH or gH. Getting the water softener or other chemicals for that is not advised. Your betta will adapt to your pH and hardness no need to add chemicals Your tap water is probably around the same pH as the tank water so doing a water change wouldn't make a difference. I would suggest getting a water conditioner for chorine, chloramimes and heavy metals. Leaving water out will only get rid of chlorine. If you have the money right now, I would get a good liquid test kit (I use API master freshwater) and you need tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. The safe range for ammonia and nitrite is 0 while the safe range of nitrates I would say is below 40.

 

Strips are typically not very accurate, have you researched the nitrogen cycle? I would not mess with either pH or gH. Getting the water softener or other chemicals for that is not advised. Your betta will adapt to your pH and hardness no need to add chemicals Your tap water is probably around the same pH as the tank water so doing a water change wouldn't make a difference. I would suggest getting a water conditioner for chorine, chloramimes and heavy metals. Leaving water out will only get rid of chlorine. If you have the money right now, I would get a good liquid test kit (I use API master freshwater) and you need tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. The safe range for ammonia and nitrite is 0 while the safe range of nitrates I would say is below 40.

Not really, I've been just trying to get him healthy, with advice from fish stores, which haven't been too helpful I know there is a cycle,but not 100% sure how to...

Tap water is around 8.5 and tank is 7 after conditioner, and as I'm in Spain I don't think there's chloramine..

Are you sure that your water company only uses chlorine? If they use chloramine you'll need to use something like Prime in order to neutralize it because it doesn't evaporate.



Is that tap or tank?



Don't mess with pH! What's your alkalinity reading from the strips?

reading is high again after today, gone up to 8.5+ now kh is at 120-180.
I'm in palma de mallorca in Spain and yes I think it's just chlorine here.

Are you sure that your water company only uses chlorine? If they use chloramine you'll need to use something like Prime in order to neutralize it because it doesn't evaporate.



Is that tap or tank?



Don't mess with pH! What's your alkalinity reading from the strips?

That's the tank reading by the way..

 

How much conditioner are you adding and what kind? I can't imagine what could cause the pH to drop so far!

 

How much conditioner are you adding and what kind? I can't imagine what could cause the pH to drop so far!

Just under 1ml as it's a 5l tank but I've not added anything to his water or done a water change since Thursday, I test the water regularly and it's all good in there, how often should I do a water change now it's good, coz I need to keep the cycle right? Thanks

 

Doing water changes won't interrupt the cycle unless you introduce non-dechlorinated water.

Are you using Prime?Because if you are then you should only need about a tenth of the amount you're currently dosing for that size tank, which is approximately 1.3 gallons for those who don't speak metric

Did you ever get the 12g?

 

Doing water changes won't interrupt the cycle unless you introduce non-dechlorinated water.

Are you using Prime?Because if you are then you should only need about a tenth of the amount you're currently dosing for that size tank, which is approximately 1.3 gallons for those who don't speak metric

Did you ever get the 12g?

No but I've been told a few times, I'll get that next, this is just quite expensive!! Happy to do it though, so satisfying seeing him get better!! We got a 28l last and are growing in it, I'm doing a few days before I put the fish in to allow the cycle and just be sure the levels aren't gonna go crazy at night or for some reason and kill my fish!! I'd say there's just more than 25l of water in the tank, after the substrate and rocks...so far so good, we are going to get the correct led light for the new tank later today for the plants so that should be almost ready!

 

No but I've been told a few times, I'll get that next, this is just quite expensive!! Happy to do it though, so satisfying seeing him get better!! We got a 28l last and are growing in it, I'm doing a few days before I put the fish in to allow the cycle and just be sure the levels aren't gonna go crazy at night or for some reason and kill my fish!! I'd say there's just more than 25l of water in the tank, after the substrate and rocks...so far so good, we are going to get the correct led light for the new tank later today for the plants so that should be almost ready!

just leaving it to sit doesn't cycle it, if you want it to take less than 2 months you'll need either seachem stability or tetra safe start. there are other products like them but these work the best. they are a bottle of bacteria essentially that will kick start your cycle and make it go much faster. the nitrogen cycle is the conversion of ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates. ammonia and nitrites are highly toxic to all fish and inverts, while nitrates are harmful only in large amounts. there is another form of ammonia, which both of the above products are in the bottle with bacteria, called ammonium. it is harmless, but can turn back into ammonia at the right ph. my guess is that they store it in a low ph in the bottle so it and the bacteria remain dormant (and alive) but when added to the tank it is reactivated due to the higher ph. this is why the "ammonia" spike occurs with tss, it is mostly ammonium, and also why they tell you not to test for 2 weeks. this is also why it takes longer to cycle at lower ph's.

for decorations, bettas need silk or live plants, unless the plastic passes the pantyhose test. I like the look of live, and certain plants don't require extra care other than the occasional pruning of bad leaves. I love my banana plants and water wisteria, and java fern is a good choice too.

I say all of this out of concern for the fish, not criticizing you.

EDIT wow i'm sorry that's so long.

 

Well written, thank-you LittleBlueBetta

I know that Prime may seem expensive but if you do the math you'll realize that it's actually much cheaper than others because you use so much less! Many of the cheapest ones are highly diluted.

 

Well written, thank-you LittleBlueBetta

I know that Prime may seem expensive but if you do the math you'll realize that it's actually much cheaper than others because you use so much less! Many of the cheapest ones are highly diluted.

I just checked the petco website and there is a sale and an 8.45 oz bottle of Prime is only $6.49.

 

Well written, thank-you LittleBlueBetta

I know that Prime may seem expensive but if you do the math you'll realize that it's actually much cheaper than others because you use so much less! Many of the cheapest ones are highly diluted.

Ahh prime is conditioner! Yes I bought seachum stability and the lady said the conditioner I got from her is fine so it's that and the seachum excel, 1/8 tsp baking soda every other day and that's it, the readings are:
Ph7.5
Kh40
Gh150
Tc 0
No2 0.5
No3 40
We just put the heater in with the plants too so hopefully, a couple of days, water swaps between tanks to adapt temp and back, and fingers crossed he can move over! What do you think? I really value your opinion thank you for your help

just leaving it to sit doesn't cycle it, if you want it to take less than 2 months you'll need either seachem stability or tetra safe start. there are other products like them but these work the best. they are a bottle of bacteria essentially that will kick start your cycle and make it go much faster. the nitrogen cycle is the conversion of ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates. ammonia and nitrites are highly toxic to all fish and inverts, while nitrates are harmful only in large amounts. there is another form of ammonia, which both of the above products are in the bottle with bacteria, called ammonium. it is harmless, but can turn back into ammonia at the right ph. my guess is that they store it in a low ph in the bottle so it and the bacteria remain dormant (and alive) but when added to the tank it is reactivated due to the higher ph. this is why the "ammonia" spike occurs with tss, it is mostly ammonium, and also why they tell you not to test for 2 weeks. this is also why it takes longer to cycle at lower ph's.

for decorations, bettas need silk or live plants, unless the plastic passes the pantyhose test. I like the look of live, and certain plants don't require extra care other than the occasional pruning of bad leaves. I love my banana plants and water wisteria, and java fern is a good choice too.

I say all of this out of concern for the fish, not criticizing you.

EDIT wow i'm sorry that's so long.

Don't be daft I'm so grateful for your help!! I went and got the stability and the conditioner we already have is fine apparently so we have that and the excel we also got a new filter for the new tank and the old filter is going back in tonight, I'm just going to the aquarium to get a replacement filter coz the original got dirty filtering the settling planted tank, how about that?

 

Do you have an ammonia (NH4) test? What does Tc stand for, chlorine? What did you mean by "water swaps"?

 

Do you have an ammonia (NH4) test? What does Tc stand for, chlorine? What did you mean by "water swaps"?

Not yet, I've ordered the apI master kit but could but as late as the 14th Tc is total chlorine. Water swaps...I was going to introduce the water from the new tank into the old so my fish can adapt. I've put the old filter back in, all seems well...

The coloring and fins looked better in the last couple of pics unless it's just the way the light fell on him when you took the pictures

Yeah man!! Look today!

 

If the parameters of both tanks are pretty similar, and they should be since they have the same source water, then you can just move your Betta over. A short temperature acclimation if necessary, but not much more

 

If the parameters of both tanks are pretty similar, and they should be since they have the same source water, then you can just move your Betta over. A short temperature acclimation if necessary, but not much more

Cool ok, I'll do a water change today and then move the fish over when my boyfriend finishes work, I know he'd want to see it!!! So excited and nervous!!! The nitrates are around 20-40 now but should be less after water change, I'm keeping temp the same in both tanks so that should be Ok, just to acclimatise him!! Woohoo!! Thank you!!

 

Pictures when he's in!

 

Pictures when he's in!

Aaaahhhhhh! He's in! I did 5 water swaps over 3 hours and with the temp the same in both tanks I floated him in his betta tub for 20 mins and he looked pretty intrigued so we sank him in, he's been slowly milling about, getting aquainted with his new surroundings, finding leaning spots and anchoring stations, and put the old filter coz the new one was too hectic for him and not turned on the air stone yet, let him settle... It's an anxious time over here!! Gonna do 5l water changes every day for the next week then down to every other day then weekly. If I've said anything that doesn't sound right please say!! Thanks for sharing my excitement and helping!!!

 

The old filter was cycled? He looks really good!

 

The old filter was cycled? He looks really good!

Yeah it was, it had been in both, me, not knowing what I was doing! The old ones back in the new tank again, did a 25% change and all is well he's stoked!!