Old Fishbowl

[breeglet]

Alrighty. So I just got my new betta, Pascal. He is a beautiful doubletail butterfly cambodian betta. If anyone else saw my other thread, then you would know he's kind of depressed right now. I saw he was making bubble nests after I got rid of one of my frogs (bittersweet woohoo!) and now he is just floating around on his side and being very still most of the time (going to skip feeding him today to let his GI settle down maybe).

ANYWAYS.... I am home right now (I usually live on my university campus), and I have nabbed my dad's old 2g fishbowl (I remembered it being a 1g, how happy I was so discover it was twice that size!)

It has been in my garage for years. Like, almost a decade kind of years. There is some crud around the top of it. I've sponged it down a little bit (with a brand new sponge that has never seen soap) and got most of the dust and uck off. I'm wondering if there is something else I could do to give the cleaning method a little more unf? Plain water and a scrubbing sponge don't exactly cut it for some of the nasty on this bowl.

[pittipuppylove]

Very cool! Gotta love rediscovering stuff. I've heard that both vinegar and 10% bleach solutions are safe to use if you rinse the tank really well afterward, but I personally have never used either method.
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[breeglet]

Oh right, vinegar! Thank you, I forgot that vinegar can be used for cleaning even though I use it all the time (doh!)

I'd use the vinegar over bleach any day, but that's just my preference. The big jug of vinegar I bought is still here, I'll go use that. Thank youuu~

[callistra]

That's not depression, btw. He's ill. That's why we were trying to help you in your other thread. It's either SBD issues and/or water quality issues, but that was your call to walk away.

[breeglet]

I really would have preferred that in a private message than hijacking this thread.

[callistra]

I responded directly to information you provided in this post.. "he's kind of depressed right now. I saw he was making bubble nests after I got rid of one of my frogs (bittersweet woohoo!) and now he is just floating around on his side and being very still most of the time" That's not hijacking.. but if you don't want this info I would leave you alone. If you didn't want anyone to comment on it, I don't know why you would include it. Sorry.

[breeglet]

This thread is asking what chemicals are safe to use to clean a fish bowl... referencing an unrelated thread that I already walked away from due to feeling uncomfortable feels a lot more like chasing me down than anything else. If you want to continue talking about the other thread, I'd feel more comfortable in PM.

Edit: I included the information so that anyone from the other thread would know this fishbowl was the one I was talking about there. I didn't make that very clear I see now, but it really wasn't an invitation to bring the other thread into here and so yes the topic feels hijacked to me. I've already done my own investigation into SBD and will be treating it accordingly.

[Oldfishlady]

Vinegar and elbow grease...lol....If it was glass instead of acrylic---razor blades work great too-but that would scratch acrylic....

Since you have only had this guy for what...3-4 days and he wasn't in the best shape when you first got him....IMO-he was sick from the start and with the buoyancy issue-often this can be genetic related and/or due to how reared at the fish farm and nothing you did or didn't do per se. With that said, stress can compromise the immune response, however, the stress from pet shop care, the car ride and being placed in a larger volume of water with filtration is going to be stressful-regardless of the stocking. IMO-you haven't had him long enough and your tank not overstocked enough and on top of that-you removed him from that environment in a timely manner-for the tank or anything you did or didn't do to be the problem.

The 2gal sound perfect to keep him long term and personally, I wouldn't use a filter-just live plants as the filtration. Right now, once you get him in that tank or even keep him in the small temporary cup with the lid he came in (provided that he came in one) those things are perfect of QT and usually small enough to float in a heated tank....Anyway, if you use the 2gal-lower the water to 3-4 inches-add some plants to float and to help make him feel secure-Then cover the top with plastic veggie wrap to retain the heat/humidity for the labyrinth organ, turn off the light for 24h-but if he want to eat-feed him small amounts several times a day-he needs that nutrition. You can use Epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate) 2tsp/gal and this may or may not help with the buoyancy problem-it depends on what the cause is to start with-but the Epsom salt is safe to use long term and with live plants and if the buoyancy problem is due to genetic or rearing-he may need to stay in low dose 1tsp/gal all his life to help with symptoms.

Lots and lots of different ways to keep and treat this species successfully...I use more of a natural method-focusing more on providing the tools for the fish to help itself-supporting the immune response....

[Kytkattin]

I have to agree with callistra. I haven't seen the other post, but just based on what you posted here I would have mentioned that a fish on his side is not a healthy fish and is not just depressed!

[callistra]

I am concerned because you said your fish is getting increasingly lethargic since you got him.. Also before you said he was holding himself fine, so this would be the first day (3 days later) that he is now also side floating. The fact he used to be more active and even blowing a bubble nest at one point, but over the past few days he's become more and more like this.. So either he came in with something or there's something up with the water and/or stress issues have caused illness.

Hopefully he'll perk up in the 2g with a water change. Make sure the temp is identical to the old tank and to acclimate him slowly to avoid shock.

Just to add.. epsom salt needs to be pure 100% magnesium sulfate per the ingredients label, with no dyes, perfumes or additives of any kind. Some epsom salts do have this so be careful. It also needs to be predissolved and if you are introducing it to the fish in his water for the first time it should be added slowly over and hour+ to avoid shock because it will likely decrease the ph.