I am so frustrated..

[livismom]

I don't know what I am doing wrong. I'm in tears right now. I left for work this morning, worked my 10 hour shift of he11, ran to Wal-mart to get drinking water as I fear our tap water may be the reason every male betta dies or is not doing well. I get home to find...

1. Moe our very first fish (about 3 1/2 weeks ago) not better but definitely not worse.

2. The Delta Nu's (got them about 2 weeks ago) doing just great.

3. Apollo (got him same time as the girls) still clamped fins and tail fighting to swim and not eating.

4. The gorgeous double tail that we just got Saturday dead.

Is there a trick to caring for males? Please somebody help me... I feel like a failure. Here are specifics...

Moe is in 3 gallon qt. Heater and filter. Temp 78. He has not eaten in weeks. I put aquarium salt in his tank and had been doing 25-50% water changes at least every other day. As last resort (figured he can't get much worse) I started him on bettafix. He's been on it for 3 days. He has improved. still not eating but swimming. I've been told to stop treatment so tomorrow I'll clean the tank.

Apollo was doing great until a few days ago. Was in 2 1/2 gallon heated and filter with some ghost shrimp. He became lethargic and clamped fins after nearly 100% water change. And not eating. He is now in a small critter keeper so I can change water easier with heater no filter.

The one who died hadn't been named yet. He was in a medium critter keeper until the 5 gallon was cycled. Still trying to find pure ammonia. Filter and heater. Now to be a little fair to myself...there were over half a dozen dead betta at Petco when I bought him. So as upset as I am, I'm hoping I'm not to blame.

I do test the water daily. I have the strips. Bought them before I learned that they aren't good. I don't really know what I should buy. I use Prime and aquarium salt. I feed Aqueon betta pellets and sometimes blood worms

Any help would be appreciated. Oh...the guy at Petco said the tap water is bad here. He told me not to use their water but to get cheap drinking water from Wal-mart. The test strips read 8.4 + ph, 300+ alkalinity, 300+ hardness, the nitrates in all the tanks has never been close to 20, nitrites 0 except once in Apollos tank and it was probably about 10, and ammonia never past .5.

[Luimeril]

try getting a conditioner, like AquaSafe, if the water in your area's bad. it'll help alot, if you don't have any.

to try to get them to eat, soak the pellets in garlic juice or bloodworm juice.

[livismom]

Originally Posted by Luimeril

try getting a conditioner, like AquaSafe, if the water in your area's bad. it'll help alot, if you don't have any.

to try to get them to eat, soak the pellets in garlic juice or bloodworm juice.

Is Aqua Safe better than Prime?

[Luimeril]

i don't know much about Prime, other than we have it, and i don't use it. >.>; i've always used AquaSafe. o.o

[PewPewPew]

.5 is still a little high at prolonged levels, and it worries me that your strips are reading that high, considering it is probably higher in reality.

If you're truly conerned about the water, you can try and do that. I know some places dont have good water. Wean them off the water, do like half and half with changes for a while.

Do not use AQ salt for more than a week-10days.

Moe can go for a long time without food. Unless you see him wasting away, hes probably okay, just not feeling great. Try soaking pellets in garlic juice and offering them. Or get some daphnia or frozen foods, which they love.

As for Apollo, has he been eating the shrimp? Are the shrimp healthy? If theyre not doing well, they are a good indicator of something wrong with the tank. Theyre sensitive. Also, if they are unwell, they could be hurting the fish, too.

Sometimes that happens, its like a blight. It cant be helped...

The cruical things for fish are:
-A good sized tank
-Regular water changes
-Conditioner
-A comfortable environment (not too bright, not too much current, hiding and resting places)
-proper acllimation when doing water changes
-frequent/appropriate changes
-Proper diet

Again, try the water thing. If they perk up, then its that water. Idk if it does, im not familiar with Prime, but your water might have chloramine (or something like that,lololol) that is not the same as chlorine ,but as bad. Water companies put it in to help get rid of bad things in the water and its cheaper. If Prime doesnt remove this, is hurting the fish for sure. Look to see if it is "broad" and will remove chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, all that.

Good luck to you. Make sure that nothing from one fish's tank that is ill goes into another's. If you need to do that, scald or boil it (not heaters, filters, or acrylic(boil))

One bit of advice- keep the tanks darkish. Theyll like that, its soothing. If you can find it, try to find bettaspa (watered down Indian Almond leaves, but more availible) or find IAL itself. Or get some (real) drifwood and let the tannins (brown stuff) seep into the water to relax and help them heal.


Good luck! <3

[Luimeril]

strips are never accurate. o.o they told us our 10 gallon was perfectly fine, when it was in fact, a dangerous place for a fish to live, the ammonia was so high(thanks to a channel catfish we were sold. >.> we took him back, though).

[PewPewPew]

They can be, or at least kinda. Depends on the test and how fast you read it.

Mine is usually only off a little bit, since its limited in how you can read the colors and stuff, but otherwise not too bad.

The worst it said was .25 when it was really .5 (I have a API liqiud kit, too)

*shrug shrug*

Best advice on that, OP, dont trust it. It says .5? Change that water!!!

[Luimeril]

ours was telling us the ammonia levels were tolerable, but we took a sample to the pet store and the liquid test was reading the ammonia levels as, literally, off the charts. ._____.

[livismom]

Thank you both!

The only shrimp that have been eaten are a few of the ones in the 10 gallon with the girls. I have had two shrimp in Apollos tank die since the last water change.

Moe is soo thin it's gross. He is near transparent. I don't know if he can eat. Doh I just remembered that when I checked on him tonight he had a thin whitish stringy thing hanging from where he would poo.

The Prime removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia. Detoxifies nitrite and nitrate. And provides slime coat. Per the bottle.

[sjones]

Prime is really good.

I don't know but the skinny fish plus the stringy white poo seems to indicate a health problem, perhaps parasites