Ready Freddy RIP why it happened.

[zzrguy]

Well my daughter betta passed he went down hill fast and all of a sudden. I changed the water every week. The shrimp where all doing good then one died and we had a ammonia speak body removed ammonia drop in two day water was change at body removal then I had a nitrite spike for two days. Water was changed again shrimp still looked good then freddy started to loss his color but was still eating. Parameters stayed good for two weeks then a nitrate spike off the chart water change again. Nitrate stayed at 80ppm within two days of a water change. I vacuumed each water change so now I am lost to what is happening. I took Freddy out and started treating him with betta fix to no avail. The plants where all doing great and the shrimp still looked good. Then the one more shrimp died I moved the rest to another tank their doing fine water check the tank 0,0,80ppm took the plants out moved them to the new 29gal tank. The filter in the betta tank was running and keep the water clear but the last two day had a algea bloom on all the glass that was unreal. Now I am totally baffled all the water parameters are back to normal except I'm growing algae like a crazy. Well no fish no shrimp and no plants so no need for the tank. So I took it down it looks like there was a huge build up of crud in the substrate. I vacuumed every time i did a water change but a guess not deep enough. Now the part that is make me wonder is how did I get so much of a build up be it that i would clean the tank once a month by washing gravel and cleaning the hole bowl.

[ZackyBear]

A bowl for a betta needs to be scrubbed down every week, really. Water changes every 2-3 days for a bowl + weekend scrubbing.

As for the algae bloom, usually that happens with a tank that hasn't been cycled, or there is an imbalance. It's possible that an imbalance killed your betta.

What kind of algae was it? Are you using test strips or do you have a master test kit? What tank were you keeping your betta in, anyways? In your post you mention betta tank and then bowl so I'm kind of confused.

[zzrguy]

It was a 3.5 gal bowl with a filter and was quite clean thank to the shrimp. I used a master test kit. The crud in the bottom of the tank smelled real nasty but the water had no odd odor. So I'm look throw my records and readdy freddy was at least 2.5 years old I guess his age and water quality gave him the 1-2 punch.
My sons old Chiclid tank is now going to be my daughters tank it will be planted and she wants a new Betta it will be a week or two before that happens or we will just add a Betta to the 29gal and I'll use the 5gal as a quarantine tank for new fish and plants

[ZackyBear]

Originally Posted by zzrguy

It was a 3.5 gal bowl with a filter and was quite clean thank to the shrimp. I used a master test kit. The crud in the bottom of the tank smelled real nasty but the water had no odd odor. So I'm look throw my records and readdy freddy was at least 2.5 years old I guess his age and water quality gave him the 1-2 punch.
My sons old Chiclid tank is now going to be my daughters tank it will be planted and she wants a new Betta it will be a week or two before that happens or we will just add a Betta to the 29gal and I'll use the 5gal as a quarantine tank for new fish and plants

At least you know he had a happy life. Sorry for your loss

And wow, 2.5 years? That's a long time o.o As for the crud on the bottom, you can buy a cheap dollar toothbrush and use it to on the tank bottom whenever you do a tank scrubbing (if you don't put a betta in the 29 gal that is)

[zzrguy]

The crud was in the gravel.