So i have had my Betta going on a couple months now and everything is going great. His tank is filtered and he has one part of the tank that is like a hanging jungle which he loves to stalk inbetween all the plants and one part is open water which he loves just floating around in. That is also where he gets fed and boy he loves his food lol
But there is a serious side to this thread and im hoping it will help if people dont already know about it. Before this fish i had another betta who sadly died because i was mis-informed by the pet store about how to look after him in an adequate environment.
After that fish i researched online and joined here to gain information on how to keep Betta fish in a tank that will keep them healthy and happy and it helped, to an extent.
My problem was the timescale and volume of water changes. Something i have had to learn through the experience of my poor lil guy suffering fin rot. After reading online i gathered that my tank should have a water change every 4-5 days. I went with the 50% water change option which includes 'hoovering' the gravel to suck up and remove any fecal matter and rotting food that has been missed.
I was doing this and then about 2 weeks ago i noticed my Betta acting real strange. He would have these crazy outbursts of speed around the tank in a circle and would swim into his plants and the gravel at the bottom. Then he would come to rest and be breathing real heavily.
I could see something was distressing him but i couldnt put my finger on it, then one day i woke up and noticed the edges on his fins seemed to be falling apart. Long story short my little guy had fin rot. I instantly upped his water changes to two 50% water changes a week and introduced the relevant antibiotics into the water cycle.
Within literally a day of doing this he stopped his crazy outbursts and his fins are healing very nicely.... albeit very slowly.
So the whole point of this thread is to make people aware that........ if your betta fish starts having outbursts of extremely fast and erratic swimming patterns, that look like hes trying to escape the water in the tank..... it very possibly could be a an early symptom of oncoming fin rot (which im assuming is very uncomfortable for any fish).
But there is a serious side to this thread and im hoping it will help if people dont already know about it. Before this fish i had another betta who sadly died because i was mis-informed by the pet store about how to look after him in an adequate environment.
After that fish i researched online and joined here to gain information on how to keep Betta fish in a tank that will keep them healthy and happy and it helped, to an extent.
My problem was the timescale and volume of water changes. Something i have had to learn through the experience of my poor lil guy suffering fin rot. After reading online i gathered that my tank should have a water change every 4-5 days. I went with the 50% water change option which includes 'hoovering' the gravel to suck up and remove any fecal matter and rotting food that has been missed.
I was doing this and then about 2 weeks ago i noticed my Betta acting real strange. He would have these crazy outbursts of speed around the tank in a circle and would swim into his plants and the gravel at the bottom. Then he would come to rest and be breathing real heavily.
I could see something was distressing him but i couldnt put my finger on it, then one day i woke up and noticed the edges on his fins seemed to be falling apart. Long story short my little guy had fin rot. I instantly upped his water changes to two 50% water changes a week and introduced the relevant antibiotics into the water cycle.
Within literally a day of doing this he stopped his crazy outbursts and his fins are healing very nicely.... albeit very slowly.
So the whole point of this thread is to make people aware that........ if your betta fish starts having outbursts of extremely fast and erratic swimming patterns, that look like hes trying to escape the water in the tank..... it very possibly could be a an early symptom of oncoming fin rot (which im assuming is very uncomfortable for any fish).