Please help my betta is very sick he sits on the bottom!!!

[trotfox5]

The plant's good and the 1 gallon is okay. He won't be super happy but he'll be comfortable and fairly happy. This is nearly my exact setup that i've had for sometime now!

[Campbell]

Originally Posted by crowntail lover

I currently have my male Betta in a 1 gallon vace with a plact growing to provide more oxygen.
Is this a healthy enviroment for him?

It isn't the ideal conditions, but it will do. So long as you do frequent water changes and proper temperature is maintained. The plant wont do anything for his oxygen intake because bettas breath with a special organ (I forget the name, but it starts with an L) and they get all their oxygen from the surface. The plant is still a good idea though because they like hiding spots, unless the plant is really large because that would limit his space in an already small space.

[dramaqueen]

Labrinth.

[Campbell]

Originally Posted by dramaqueen

Labrinth.

Yes, thank you!

[Kim]

Originally Posted by zizzof16

he mosly sits on the bottom of the tank all day. he will eat 1-2 pellets of food a day and his fins look like the are yellow( he is blue) and they seem to be getting smaller (like they are deteriorating). the only fins that he uses most of the time are the two front ones. we tried using the drops for the water called beta fix but it doesnt seem to be helping.

Bettafix= crummy med that doesn't work and can actually damage the labrynth organ

1 pint is pretty small. I'd try to upgrade his container to 2.5 gallons and try treating his finrot with 100% changes every few days. If he can't swim to the top, you can always lower the water level and fill it up more as he gets better. If he is still getting worse despite the clean water then I would try using Fungus Clear which I have had great luck with.

The only other thing is the temperature. Bettas need a constant temperature of 78-82 F which is optimal. I keep mine at 80. If your house stays any lower than 76 F you will need a heater for the tank. The 25 watt visi-therm stealth heaters are accurate and can be used on small aquariums. They are well worth the investment .

I hope this helps.

[zizzof16]

For the year that i have had him i have used straight bottled spring water with nothing added. Is that wrong? What do you use and do you test your water and add drops?

[dramaqueen]

Is spring water dechlorinated?

[Nataku]

*mutter grumble asdfjshfdspringwatersaljsdjaliesssssss*

Okay, guys, please get this through your heads : Spring water is an advertising gimmick. Water that comes out of springs is not "Omg crystal clean and safe!" No.
No no no.
Spring water is generally extremely high in TDS (total dissolved solids aka dirt and minerals) and has lots and lots of things living in it. If they took it straight out of a spring, stuck it in a bottle and you drank it you'd have dissentary quicker than I could find a stick to shake at you. And there's a bo staff sitting behind me I could shake at you.
"Spring water" is chemically treated just like the water you get out of your tap. In fact, in my case, it IS the water I get out of my tap, because I live in Florida, and that "spring water" comes from Florida aquafirs, which is also where the wells that we get our local tap water draw from. Many of those bottled water companies bottle the water locally. It isn't from a spring guys, not directly. It's from a tap. That tap? It has local city or county water in it. It's been run through a plant, it's been filtered, it's been treated with chlorine (or chloramine).

The one saving grace that hasn't killed more people's fish using bottled 'spring water' for their fish tanks is the fact that chlorine evaporates. Yeah, that's right, water will dechlorinate itself if you leave it to sit exposed to the air. Bottled 'spring water' is normally left to sit long enough in a bottle on a shelf that the chlorine in it breaks down and dissapates. But guess what? You could get some water out of your tap, leave it to sit for a day in a bucket, and it would do exactly the same thing. Shocking, I know. Also, bear in mind that that chlorine was acting to makes sure things that got in that water died. No more chlorine = no more anti-bacterial agent = some funky stuff growing in your water.

You are far, far better off just using the water straight out of your tap and using that money you saved from buying bottled water to get a good dechlorinator.

[dramaqueen]

I didn't think it was dechlorinated. But I asked to be sure.

[Kim]

For that reason I would get some dechlorinator (I use the API stuff, but others really like Prime and Amquel as well). You just don't want to leave anything to chance, and if you just use your tap water you'll save money with the bottled stuff.

As far as testing the water goes, for an uncycled tank all you really need is a pH and ammonia liquid test kit (far more accurate than strips). You can test the pH of your tap water just to make sure it is within the safe range, and use the ammonia test right before a water change to make sure that your current schedule is adequate.