Cloudy Water all the time

[InnerAnomaly]

Hi there-

I'm new here, and relatively new to owning a Betta...

I bought my Betta a 1 gallon bowl, and purchased some flat marbles for the bottom of the bowl. I still haven't managed to figure out just how much to feed him, I've received such conflicting advice, so for now I've been feeding him 4 pellets every morning when I wake up. and every other night my fiance will give him a frozen blood worm... I just changed the water Monday afternoon, and by last night it was very cloudy, so I changed the water... I took the fish out, and put him in a cup of water, and then I dumped the contents of the bowl into a colander dumped all the water, and ran scalding hot water through the bowl about 5 times to rinse it completely clean (as the instructions with the bowl said to never use soap)... I rinsed all the marbles completely as well. Placed the marbles in the bowl, then put some fresh water, using the dechlorination stuff the guy at the pet store told me to buy... We didn't give the fish any blood worms last night, but when I came down this morning, his bowl is all cloudy again...

Am I doing something wrong? or is there something wrong with the fish?

I don't want anything to happen to the fish as it would make me very sad. We've only had him 2 weeks, but we're already fairly attached to him...

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Eva

[jones57742]

Eva:

I "hate to disturb your fish any more"

but if he were mine I would try the following:

Remove your Betta from the one gallon bowl and place him in gallon vessel of water which has been brought to room temperature and dechlorinated.

Once again wash the "flat marbles" and bowl again as you have just done.

Fill the bowl with tap water and dechlorinate.

Leave the beta in his one gallon container and feed as normal for 48 hours.

Leave the "flat marbles" in the one gallon container and observe for 48 hours.

If I "had to guess now before the experiment" I would guess that the bowl with the "flat marbles" will turn cloudy
because of either
1) the "flat marbles" are only partially inert and the dechlorinate is reacting with them to produce the cloudiness or
2) the "flat Marbles" are not inert and the water is dissolving them.

I appreciate the attentiveness which have given to your fish "either way" the molecules which you are observing as cloudiness may be toxic to fish.

3) A third alternate which I hope to be true is that even after multiple, thorough washings "dust" still exists on the aggregate and it will continue to release this dust for as long as perhaps a week (been there and done that even with high end filtration).

If this (and I hope 3) is the case then wash the "flat marbles" as you have been doing the first 4 days.
Only change the water in the bowl the next three days without washing and by the 7th day the water should be "crystal clear".
If the water is "crystal clear" gently remove the water from the bowl and put the Betta and his water back in the bowl.
If the water is not "crystal clear" chunk the "flat marbles".

TR

[InnerAnomaly]

Thank you for your reply.

I did what you suggested, and put my fish in a different bowl, and the marbles in another bowl.

I used bottled water for the fish's bowl, and in less than a day his water is back to being super cloudy again...

He's only been fed once. and he eats everything I give to him. 4 Hikari Betta Bio-Gold pellets... Which is what the person at the pet store said to feed him every day.

Does it sound like the fish is sick? I can't imagine why, but I just don't understand how with nothing but the fish in the bowl and a gallon of bottled water with 1 feeding the water would get so gross...

[jones57742]

IA:

I did not "think of using bottled water" but that was "good thinking" if it was almost pure H2O.

Once again if it were my fish I would

do as set forth in the previous post with respect to the Beta and a new vessel of water;

purchase a small container of TetraMin Tropical Flakes (I only say this because this is the flake food which I feed my fishies);

do not feed him for two days (this should not hurt him)

feed him only a very, very small pinch of the flakes and

see what happens. (I believe that the water will remain "crystal clear").

Please report back the results as there is some possibility that the water will "turn cloudy" without you feeding him the first or second day.

TR