Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 10
Does it have a filter? Yes; carbon. Top Fin “Silentstream 10 Power Filter”
Does it have a heater? Yes. Top Fin “25-watt Submersible Aquarium Heater”
What temperature is your tank? Previously 76 Fahrenheit. Changed to 80 Fahrenheit 3 days ago
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Power filter
-Added air pump w/ 1 inch stone yesterday
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? One small, adult pleco (clown maybe? Around 4”). The pleco’s got no symptoms
Food:
What food brand do you use? Tetra “TetraBetta plus Floating Pellets”
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? Bloodworms; maybe once a month
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 4-5 pellets every other day
Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Every 2 weeks
-Changed carbon filter cartridge every other day
What percentage of water did you change? 30%
What is the source of your water? Tap water; treated with stress coat
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Vacuum. Half of the tank has large glass stones. The other half has no substrate
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? Only stress coat.
Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.
Ammonia: 0 ppm
-only able to test yesterday and today; got wrong test previously
Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrate: 20 ppm (mg/L)
-originally between 80-120 ppm; just got it under control yesterday
pH: between 7.5-8
Hardness (GH): 180 ppm (mg/L)
Alkalinity (KH): 60-80 ppm (mg/L)
-All numbers besides the nitrate have been consistent since Wednesday.
-I got the wrong test strips originally so yesterday’s the first time I was able to check ammonia levels.
Symptoms and Treatment:
IMPORTANT NOTE: the pleco hasn’t shown any symptoms whatsoever
When did you first notice the symptoms? -1-2 weeks ago: lethargic
-Wednesday: appearance started changing (see below)
-Yesterday: dyspnea/agonal breathing
How has your Betta’s appearance changed?
-Wednesday: White patch on chin
-Wednesday: one small ulcer on each facial gill
-Today: ‘pine coning’
-Today: ulcers on gills healed
-Today: white patch on chin still present
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? Laying around. He’s still able to swim and float normal but chooses not to. He’s not swimming slow when he does choose to.
Is your Betta still eating? Yes
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? I’ve been avoiding a hospital tank; I don’t want to stress him and the pleco is asymptomatic.
-Water changes daily to every other day (started Tuesday).
-Top Fin “Biological Cleaner” biweekly (started 2 days ago)
-Bio-Balls (added 2 days ago)
-API “Stress Coat”. Added directly to tank; not just water before changes (started 2 days ago)
-Added plants that were living in his other tank (yesterday)
-Added 2 tbsp aquarium salt yesterday and 1 tbsp today (water change)
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? No
How long have you owned your Betta? 2-3 years
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? No
Note: I’m a CVT. I did have to learn a little bit about fish in school, and I work with some exotics. But my experience with fish is minimal.
The betta was healthy and then started declining. He was laying around more, specifically on his side. I assumed he was getting old until I saw the white patch and ulcers. This is a family members tank; I got involved when I saw the ulcers.
No external signs of ich/fungus so I’ve resorted to bacterial treatment as of yesterday.
As of Wednesday I knew: nitrates were up and I couldn’t test for ammonia. So I:
-did daily water changes of 30-50%
-Thoroughly cleaned the bottom of the tank in the process
-Changed the filter and added extra carbon (ammo-carb).
As of Friday: added
-bio-balls
-probiotic (“Biological Cleaner”)
-extra stress coat.
-plants that were in a different tank
As of yesterday: water parameters were/are normal (including ammonia) and fish is still sick (lethargic with dyspneic breathing). I assume he’s critical at this point. No external signs of ich/fungus so I:
-begrudgingly wrecked the microbiome of the water I just stabilized 🫠
-changed water again (30%)
-pulled the carbon filter
-added 250 mg of doxycycline (most broad spectrum ABX I could find) in the form of API “Fin and Body Cure”
-added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt (dissolved in a cup of water first) to restore electrolytes
-added air pump with air stone
Today I:
-did a 50% water change
-added 250 mg more of the doxy
-added 1 tbsp of aquarium salt
-retested and all parameters were normal
If the betta makes it I’m going to:
-try to medicate his food; I’ve been struggling with getting the doxy to dissolve properly before mixing with the food
-lure the pleco out of hiding to nab him and quarantine him in some container until I can add him to the larger tank
Does anyone have any suggestions?
The family member thought the only cause of elevated nitrates was over feeding. The tank has always had an algae problem, so I’m assuming: Algae overgrowth + pleco = lots of poop = elevated nitrate and phosphorous.
Tank setup:
![Image]()
Wednesday pics:
![Image]()
![Image]()
saturday pics:
![Image]()
![Image]()
Today pics:
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
How many gallons is your tank? 10
Does it have a filter? Yes; carbon. Top Fin “Silentstream 10 Power Filter”
Does it have a heater? Yes. Top Fin “25-watt Submersible Aquarium Heater”
What temperature is your tank? Previously 76 Fahrenheit. Changed to 80 Fahrenheit 3 days ago
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Power filter
-Added air pump w/ 1 inch stone yesterday
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? One small, adult pleco (clown maybe? Around 4”). The pleco’s got no symptoms
Food:
What food brand do you use? Tetra “TetraBetta plus Floating Pellets”
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? Bloodworms; maybe once a month
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 4-5 pellets every other day
Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Every 2 weeks
-Changed carbon filter cartridge every other day
What percentage of water did you change? 30%
What is the source of your water? Tap water; treated with stress coat
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Vacuum. Half of the tank has large glass stones. The other half has no substrate
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? Only stress coat.
Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.
Ammonia: 0 ppm
-only able to test yesterday and today; got wrong test previously
Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrate: 20 ppm (mg/L)
-originally between 80-120 ppm; just got it under control yesterday
pH: between 7.5-8
Hardness (GH): 180 ppm (mg/L)
Alkalinity (KH): 60-80 ppm (mg/L)
-All numbers besides the nitrate have been consistent since Wednesday.
-I got the wrong test strips originally so yesterday’s the first time I was able to check ammonia levels.
Symptoms and Treatment:
IMPORTANT NOTE: the pleco hasn’t shown any symptoms whatsoever
When did you first notice the symptoms? -1-2 weeks ago: lethargic
-Wednesday: appearance started changing (see below)
-Yesterday: dyspnea/agonal breathing
How has your Betta’s appearance changed?
-Wednesday: White patch on chin
-Wednesday: one small ulcer on each facial gill
-Today: ‘pine coning’
-Today: ulcers on gills healed
-Today: white patch on chin still present
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? Laying around. He’s still able to swim and float normal but chooses not to. He’s not swimming slow when he does choose to.
Is your Betta still eating? Yes
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? I’ve been avoiding a hospital tank; I don’t want to stress him and the pleco is asymptomatic.
-Water changes daily to every other day (started Tuesday).
-Top Fin “Biological Cleaner” biweekly (started 2 days ago)
-Bio-Balls (added 2 days ago)
-API “Stress Coat”. Added directly to tank; not just water before changes (started 2 days ago)
-Added plants that were living in his other tank (yesterday)
-Added 2 tbsp aquarium salt yesterday and 1 tbsp today (water change)
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? No
How long have you owned your Betta? 2-3 years
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? No
Note: I’m a CVT. I did have to learn a little bit about fish in school, and I work with some exotics. But my experience with fish is minimal.
The betta was healthy and then started declining. He was laying around more, specifically on his side. I assumed he was getting old until I saw the white patch and ulcers. This is a family members tank; I got involved when I saw the ulcers.
No external signs of ich/fungus so I’ve resorted to bacterial treatment as of yesterday.
As of Wednesday I knew: nitrates were up and I couldn’t test for ammonia. So I:
-did daily water changes of 30-50%
-Thoroughly cleaned the bottom of the tank in the process
-Changed the filter and added extra carbon (ammo-carb).
As of Friday: added
-bio-balls
-probiotic (“Biological Cleaner”)
-extra stress coat.
-plants that were in a different tank
As of yesterday: water parameters were/are normal (including ammonia) and fish is still sick (lethargic with dyspneic breathing). I assume he’s critical at this point. No external signs of ich/fungus so I:
-begrudgingly wrecked the microbiome of the water I just stabilized 🫠
-changed water again (30%)
-pulled the carbon filter
-added 250 mg of doxycycline (most broad spectrum ABX I could find) in the form of API “Fin and Body Cure”
-added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt (dissolved in a cup of water first) to restore electrolytes
-added air pump with air stone
Today I:
-did a 50% water change
-added 250 mg more of the doxy
-added 1 tbsp of aquarium salt
-retested and all parameters were normal
If the betta makes it I’m going to:
-try to medicate his food; I’ve been struggling with getting the doxy to dissolve properly before mixing with the food
-lure the pleco out of hiding to nab him and quarantine him in some container until I can add him to the larger tank
Does anyone have any suggestions?
The family member thought the only cause of elevated nitrates was over feeding. The tank has always had an algae problem, so I’m assuming: Algae overgrowth + pleco = lots of poop = elevated nitrate and phosphorous.
Tank setup:
Wednesday pics:
saturday pics:
Today pics:
