Is this logical? Why my fish become inactive.

[OliverTheBetta]

I bought a 2.5 gallon tank and put a fish in it. He died. I didn't add enough conditioner to dechlorinate the tank is my best guess.

Cleaned the tank thoroughly, conditioned the water as read on instructions and the tank sat overnight. Next day, I went shopping and purchased Picasso. He was placed in the tank after doing the chemistry mix and temp acclimation by floating. He loved it. For a couple of days. Then, he just floated around at the top and became disinterested in food. Wednesday night, I took him out and put him in another smaller tank and today, he is doing a lot more swimming around. He's eating a little, but not much.

Also on Wednesday night, I cleaned the tank (and all the stuff inside), conditioned the water, blah, blah, blah, and added Redmond - my most "fiesty" one. Now HE'S not moving around much and not eating much...

The only logical solution I can come up with is that the water (which is treated separately from my other water as I fill the tank directly from the faucet) is not getting as well treated as the other water I'm using which goes into 1 gallon jugs, treated with Prime and Stresscoat (both) and I have to be honest, I add more than the directions call for. 2 teaspoons per gallon of each. I do that because I think we have hard water (calcuim deposits on faucets and showerhead that require a vinegar soak every so often). In the 2.5 tank, I follow the directions on the bottle, hence, less conditioner.

I'm thinking I need to do at least a 50% water change and use the water from the jug to refill the tank. Is this logical or not?

I just don't know what else it could be. The filter is off and the heater is keeping the water at 78. Which is slightly warmer than the other water he was in, which was 74. Hmmm...

I don't know. Any ideas?

[turtle10]

I am not really sure, but you really don't need two teaspoons of prime per gallon, 2 drops is enough. Also, water conditioner won't do anything to hardness or softness, it simply removes or makes safe ammonia, chlorine, chloramine, etc.

[earthworm88]

Hi OlivertheBetta,

To me, it isn't logical. Not using treated conditioned water (or under treated) is highly unlikely to kill your betta on the spot. Bettas in unconditioned water will be slowly affected but often time at some point you will see signs and symptoms.

I am honestly a bit confused. You have two 2.5 gal tanks? One to house Picasso and one to house Redmond? And now they are both suffering?

I strongly suspect they are suffering from the toxicity of the conditioner. I don't use Seachem Prime, so I had to do a little research. I believe the recommended dosage is ~ 0.1ml per gallon. So for a 2.5 gal, you probably need about 3-4 drops (depending on the dropper, someone corrects me if I am wrong here)? However, you used 2 teaspoon per gallon! That's 20ml of Prime you put inside that 2.5 gal that only needs 0.25ml! In a nitrite emergency, you can use up to the max of 5x the dosage, but here you are using 80x the normal dosage!

As Turtle10 said, conditioner doesn't affect the hardness or softness of the water. All it does is to alleviate the ammonia/nitrites toxicity.

Have you tested the water parameters yourself in terms of pH and alkalinity etc. both inside the current tanks and at the water source?

[OliverTheBetta]

Well, I took water samples in to the store and had them tested and they said my tank water is "perfect" so I don't know.

I guess they don't like the bigger tank. I moved Redmond back into the 1/2 gallon and he's thriving again. So now all six of my bettas are in 1/2 gallon tanks and they are happy, eating, swimming fish again.

I'm going to stick with what works!!!!

Thanks for your feedback.

[turtle10]

What a pet store thinks is "perfect" may be very different from what good parameters actually are. Next time ask for the specific numbers, or if you can, buy a liquid test kit.