[Morgyn]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10gal
What temperature is your tank? 78-80
Does your tank have a filter? Yes, AquaClear 20
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? One gold mystery snail

Food (He passed away last Saturday 9/13)
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Two different types of pellets, tiny bits of soaked algae wafer tabs occasionally
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Was doing every two to three weeks- lfs told me only when nitrates got high- they never got above 0 but I still did WCs because come on- poop and pee.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 20-60%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Quickstart or Seachem Stability, and for plants- Leaf Zone

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.2 (7.6 out of filtered tap and also conditioned/aged water- can't figure out what made it higher)
Hardness: Never tested
Alkalinity: pleading ignorance isn't pH = acid/alkaline?

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He got really bloated Tuesday 9/9- but for the record always seemed like something was wrong with him, did salt dips etc- had fin rot but that healed- still in my gut something wrong and we couldn't figure out. His nose got white- not a growth on but like the scales were white- Did do a week of Binox in May? June? no noticeable difference- so expert at lfs said he must be an older fish. :-(
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Thursday 9/11- seemed slightly sluggish and seemed to have a hard time swimming- Friday morning obviously sluggish with hard time swimming - extremely bloated and looked like dropsy and I moved him immediately to a 2gal hospital bowl - only filled with 1gal so he didn't have to swim much to get to top.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Tuesday 9/9
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? See above.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? See "How has your betta fish's appearance changed?"
How old is your fish (approximately)? No idea. Rescued 1/31/14 and he passed 9/13/14.


Since I don't know for sure what it was- please what should I do to his 10gal planted tank with a lonely mystery snail now? I did add aquarium salt per package instructions to 10 gal this week- and also to 5.5 gal which was Dexter's second tank and now home of Vighnesh the betta (since April). Feel horrible, was told the WC on this site was excessive and unneeded- now thinking that expert advice wasn't so expert after all. Dexter I'm so sorry.

Eventually want to put new fish in tank but if there's still something bad in it that's not ok. I'm planning on a WC this weekend, and may be switching the substrate- 1- in case current is infected and 2- considering a dwarf puffer fish. (Otherwise another betta or possibly some type of killifish instead)

Anything else? Let sit a month and if snail ok = safe to add new inhabitant(s)?

Should I do anything for Vighnesh or his tank besides the AS? LFS suggested treat with Betta Revive but he has always seemed healthy, the medicine is harsh and wouldn't it be better to keep a closer eye on him for now?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Sounds like Bacteria was probably the cause. Bacteria resides in the water regardless so just do a big water change and the tank should be just fine. Most bacterial diseases are opportunistic so if the fish is stressed, they'll attack but because they reside in the water either way, there isn't anything you can do other than keep him as stress free as possible--which is the ultimate goal in fish keeping ^_^

 

[Morgyn]

Thanks Lilnaugrim (again!). K, WC again this weekend. Had done a 30% before he showed symptoms and another 30% the following week on the Tuesday I noticed something off.

Weekly, when everything is normal, what % should I be doing please? (10gal filtered tank, fully cycled with plants) One post on here says 50%- which I could easily do but doesn't that stress them out? I only did larger WC when it felt like something was going wrong. I do keep a log though too so there's objective measures of course.

Also, the tank currently is in our dining room- we have somewhat of an open area downstairs- people before us remodeled so kitchen, dining and living room are pretty much connected. We walk by the tank several times a day. Is that a bad spot? I also used to sit and watch him especially in the morning on days off I'd have coffee and sit with him. I don't know where else to put that isn't by a window or upstairs in our bedroom that's carpeted and has big temperature fluctuations. (Another reason I'm considering the DP- the activity might be beneficial.)

 

[lilnaugrim]

Since there isn't anything in the tank besides the snail, it shouldn't bother anything, just keep the water media wet to keep the cycling going. So you can literally do a 90% water change to get rid of most of the water and then add the new water back in.

Weekly, anything from 25-50% will be just fine since it's only a snail and a Betta or DP. Or every other week since it is a planted tank (my planted tanks get less water changes to keep the plants healthy, the waste gives off more nutrients so they keep everything in balance).

No, it's good to keep the tank there! Betta's loooooove human interaction! So do DP's, they'll be timid at first but they'll grow accustomed to everyone soon! Actually, most fish love human interaction once they come to know you ^_^

 

[Morgyn]

Thanks!

Water has ammonia in it testing out of filtered tap and after conditioned- so with a DP try and keep WCs around 20 or 30% right? Will have to look at the logs and test again to be 100% sure. Also trying to talk husband into a bigger tank- I pay and maintain, but him being iffy on the idea.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Filtered? Like a Brita filter?

 

[Morgyn]

Omg missed your question- filtered New Wave 10 stage filter. Started testing KH/GH- from filter 8/12 from cold water tap 7/12- so switched to using tap cold water - better for them.

Got a 29gal/109L tank- dirted w/sand cap- converted the 10gal/38L to a dirtied w/gravel cap- Vighnesh's 5.5gal/20L will eventually be converted to a quarantine tank- put a parlor palm in his tank as an aerial (only roots in water) - want the benefit of plants but so dark in that room only java fern grows- looks iffy at that. Not getting lightening for tank- aim is keep it simple. Have lighting on the 29 and 10- that's enough equipment and electricity expense.

10gal is currently a makeshift quarantine tank- so happy I didn't put newbies in the 29 right away- bn pleco showed ich at a week and a half. Also have glow light tetras- they started showing ich but by then I was medicating etc so only showed for a day or two. Bolivian Ram (mikrogeophagus altispinosus) was fine.

Decided against the dwarf puffer and opted for a community tank.

When did this site change from betta to tropical fish?

 

[lilnaugrim]

It's not changed, there are actually two different sites: BettaFish.com and TropicalFishKeeping.com, TFK is the parent site and because there was so much activity on the Betta stuff, it was made it's own forum. But you can view any post on BF on TFK, but you can't view regular posts made on TFK on BF.

 

[Morgyn]

Oh I see, thanks for explaining!