Spiderwebs

[feefait]

My sons Betta has begun to produce what could bets be described as spiderwebs in the water. this is in addition to a film across the top of the water. i change at least half of the tanks water weekly, and completely change it every other week.

We have a 3 gallon tank, enclosed with no filter. We had bought a cleaner fish at the suggestion of someone from one of the chain pet stores, but he died very shortly after we got him. About 2 weeks later the film and spiderwebs started.

We bought drops that turn the water blue and out them in, and it seems to clear up the webs, but we still have the film and a stench.

Any suggestions on how to clear this up?

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to FishForum. It sounds like your betta is making a bubblenest, not spiderwebs. Do you use a water conditioner and how often do you change the water?

[IonBaller07]

Do you by any chance keep live plants? When my live plants died I guess they started rotting and it created a spider web effect. I had to throw them all away and do a few 100% changes before it went away.

[Elisew]

Originally Posted by feefait

My sons Betta has begun to produce what could bets be described as spiderwebs in the water. this is in addition to a film across the top of the water. i change at least half of the tanks water weekly, and completely change it every other week.

We have a 3 gallon tank, enclosed with no filter. We had bought a cleaner fish at the suggestion of someone from one of the chain pet stores, but he died very shortly after we got him. About 2 weeks later the film and spiderwebs started.

We bought drops that turn the water blue and out them in, and it seems to clear up the webs, but we still have the film and a stench.

Any suggestions on how to clear this up?

More water changes would be a good idea imho. A half a tank change once a week isn`t enough, can you manage to do one 50% change and then a 100% in one week instead of doing a 100% every other week?
At least that way by completely changing the water at least once a week you can ensure no plant or waste debris being left for 2 weeks in the tank.

It sounds like it`s plant debris but it`s difficult to say without seeing a photo of what you mean.

Lise x

[feefait]

Thank you for your responses. We have never had live plants in there, it was just the cleaner fish who had died. I have completely changed the water a couple times and bought an infection treatment. It seems to have worked. I am going to have to do a complete change weekly and 50% every couple days in the meantime.

He is very active and looks fine. How would a Betta react to an internal filter?

[Elisew]

Glad it seems to be better now. The more frequent the water changes then the better your Betta will be 8)

I have a 37G, a 10G and a 7.5G. I did have a Betta with other community fish in the 37G (til he died), I have 1 Betta in the 10G and 2 Bettas in the 7.5G. All 3 tanks have filters in and I`ve never had any problems at all.
If you choose to have a filter then the main thing to ensure is that it`s not `bigger` than the tank needs, if you do you may find the flow is too fierce for your Betta to be able to swim near or cope with it.

I have plants in front of the flow from the filters which interrupts the flow a bit, therefore making it easily manageable for the Bettas to go near.

Bettas are pretty clever and will swim around the parts of the tank they feel happy with and do tend to get used to flows from filters....if not then they just don`t swim through the flow.

Lise x

[crowntail lover]

I am glad he is doing better....
And bettas do fine with filters