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I wish I could see thw pictures but I can't- could you describe what his fins look like right now? And you mentioned daily water changes. Depending on the size of the tank (did I misunderstand or did you say two gallons?) you only need do it once per week or so. With fin rot, the best way to prevent it is to keep Darwin clean and warm. If taht is indeed what he has- there are plenty of medicines on the market that will put him on his way to healing. But be sure that is what is ailing him before you medicate. Anyway, good for you for saving him. I hate, absolutely hate the betta as centerpieces idea. Good for you for being responsible and giving him a home.

You can't post pics unless you're a premium member, but I copy/pasted the pic urls into my browser to view a few. He could just be a comb tail or his fins got a little shredded on something. Clean water helps as will melafix if they're torn. If your house is warm enough I'd take out the heater, as a lot of the little heaters don't seem to work properly, but if you want to try it go ahead. You will need to do 100% waterchanges at least once a week in the one gallon. The java moss is good they like to lay in it.
Enjoy your little cutie.

Hey everyone. I'm a new person around these parts, so I hope I'm not breaking any rules by asking non-Advanced questions, but bare with me.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7025Large.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7030Large.jpg
This is Darwin. I met him as a part of a vase table-centerpiece at a wedding I attended. Unfortunately, the couple, as entranced as they were with their own future, hadn't really planned one for the ten siamese fighting fish they had swimming in spring-water originally intended for drinking.

So, being a caring, if somewhat impulsive individual, I offered to take one of them home. I don't know what happened to the others, although I fear the great porcelain bowl in the sky was their reward for asthetic appeal.
Anyway, surfing the much conflicting information on the internet, and examing my very limited student's budget, I eventually established a set-up like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7020Large.jpg
That's a one gallon bowl with a heater. The heater is a low wattage one aimed for a couple of degrees upgrade and specced for two gallons, but living in a temperate climate (BC) I hoped the temperature climate would compensate enough. That's also live Java moss in there, because I heard that live plants helped regulate the water quality.

Lately, I've been a bit uncertain about Darwin's fins, though- when I first got him they were a bit tattered and splotchy. I don't know if this is normal wear-and-tear or the fin rot I've read about occasionally.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7033Large.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7032Large.jpg
I let it sit for a couple of days, because I really didn't know what to do- here's a current picture if I can find one.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7041Medium.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7035Medium.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/DejaView/Fish/100_7039Medium.jpg
I'm really not sure what to do, and I don't think I have the spare time or experience with this to handle daily water changes- I haven't even gotten a thermometer yet. I need a critique of anything and everything- is there too much Java moss, too much light, too much water? Ask any questions you have, please... I don't really know much about fish and their care, but I do want to keep Darwin happy and healthy.

Last edited by BettaVu at 05-Jul-2005 16:43

Well, he's eating again... The edge of his fin is thin and transparent-white... I don't know if that's fin healing or fin degrading, but the holes in his fin seem to be more present.

Also, sometimes weird round pellets with white fluff or fuzz form- is this untouched food pellets, or is he having some digestive trouble when I'm not looking?

Awww , do u have like a little thermometer in the bowl? Before doing a water change, test the temp of the water you are about to add to the tank. If you can, let the heater sit plugged on in the fresh water until the temp in the water is equal to the temp in the bowl and do a water change.

For now, u will just have to wait and watch until he recovers ansd try feeding him his favourite food.

I did a water change... but I messed up some of the temperatures, so I think it must've gone stressful for Darwin, and he's not eating very well now... I'm worried.

Alright... I finally got a full spectrum test on the water. Most of them were fine (ammonia wasn't tested, but supposedly amonia isn't toxic unless the PH is off from neutral?) but copper levels were at .3. I guess our pipes are screwing up.

Also, finally got thermometer. temperature is around 81-82 Farenheit. I unplugged the heater, because I wasn't sure, but is that too high?

really i don't think of fin rot, unless i see red/blood at the very end of the tail. i would also get bettamax. but be warned, do it very carefully, b/c it does STAIN[i learned the hard way] it may stain the sink/bowl etc.

URGENT: Alright, damage is definitely being done to his fins, because a pin-hole showed up. It could be fin rot, but it may also be fin melt, because the inability to pick-up food no doubt severely hampered water-quality. I'm changing it today anyway. I've picked up some aquarium salt- is there anything else I should do?

Well, it's usually about 20-21 celsius, and slightly cooler in the winter... sometimes during the summer it gets warmer, but my dad tends to be a a ventilation freak and the bowl isn't in one of the warm rooms, anyway.

Insulating the tank can help, try using some styrofoam or some soundproofing material or even some thick fabric (be careful to not get it in the water so it sucks it all out )

&2 is 22*c (if you go to the link *interactive* above on the blue header bar,and select *calculators* from the drop-down menu, you can convert whatever you need

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Wow... lots of information to digest.

I'm not entirely sure what 72 farenheit is in celsius, but I'm probably taking him with me to the interior of Canada when I go to university, and there it gets REALLY cold during the winter (I think all the dorms are stocked with room heaters as well, so I can try to keep him close by). The heater is a Hadar 7.5 watts MINI.

Currently, I'm feeding him "HBH Betta Bites colour-enhancing pellets". They float on the top for a little while, and normally he goes for them pretty quickly... but sometimes not.

EDIT: And yes, I picked up a dechlorinator as well, although I don't know if it's quite as effective as the Seachem one previously described. Vancouver's water quality is usually pretty clean, so hopefully it'll help. Mainly mountain run-off.



Alright, another question for all you fine fish aficionados: What do people mean by siphoning? I know what the word implies, but I'm not sure how to go about the process when it comes to aquariums. What kind of equipment do I need? Please remember that I'm on a budget.

EDIT2:
Alright, say I remove the heater- do I have to do anything to ease the shift to a cooler temperature? Apparently temperature shifts can be quite stressful.

Last edited by BettaVu at 06-Jul-2005 17:54

Welcome to FP, and you seem to have posted in the perfect place...why it says advanced betta care still confuses me

To me it looks like you lucked into getting a really lovely betta boy, and he doesn't look to have any problems, that is what his normal finnage should look like

Like pugperson said, ditch the heater, great idea, but I'd hate to have him do like my Bad Boy did...he kept insisting that he wanted to spawn with it, and one day welllet's put it this way I no longer have him:#(

Also as was said the marbles and cabs make a great bottom if that is what you want and makes clean up easier (i just helped a buddy's daughter do a water change with gravel, what a nightmare)

The java moss helps with the water quality, and you will have to do weekly water changes at least 75% weekly though closer to 100 is better since it has no filtration, but I'll be realistic a true 100% water change is hard, it's not like you can leave the betta boy just sitting on the counter while you change his water

If you have the opportunity get to PetSmart/WalMart or such and see about getting a 1 gallon tank...I found one at each of the two stores that are pretty much identical...not only is it a 1 gallon tank, it has a UGF (undergravel filter, with airpump) and a lid with light...mine only cost about $10 and is well worth it...then run to the craft department and grab some marbles or cabs that please you

Get the stress coat or stress zyme that tryst has suggested, you don't want the chlorine in the water when you put you friend in the tank, and there are many products that remove chlorine, find one you like that works, we each seem to find ones we like The Hikari Betta Gold is a good food, that he'll enjoy...

Congratulations on the find, and for rescuing him, more than likely from an untimely death:#(

heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

A good fish food that is always eaten quickly and won't sink is Hikari Betta Bio Gold. It's a bit more expensive than the generic stuff but the difference in quality is definitely worth it. I feed about 4 pellets at a time, 2x a day, it is eaten up in about 15 seconds and NEVER gets the chance to sink. It has a few ingredients that prevent things like bloat and constipation (important with bettas) and is generally a very good food. Here's a pic so you know what to look for in stores:



From: http://www.hikari.info/tropical/t_14.html
That link also has a product description with more info about it.

Another thing I have found absolutely great for betta bowls since I started using it to treat ammonia in my tap water is Seachem's Prime. It removes free ammonia, and is supposed to neutralize nitrite and nitrate, as well as being a dechlorinator and getting rid of both chlorine and chloramine. I have high concentrations of chloramine in my water so I use a double dose, the regular dose is only 2 drops per gallon. So even though it seems to be an expensive product, the small 50 mL bottle will treat something like 500 US Gallons. If all you have is one betta bowl, that bottle should last you about 10 years. Anyway, my bettas seem to be much healthier since I started using it. They don't get fussy between water changes when they normally would as ammonia starts building up and I don't think I would go back to using another water conditioner.

Here's a pic of Prime:



From http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Prime.html. That site also has a product description.

I like to call those my betta care kit, I recommend them to everybody that keeps them and I know a lot of people that have bought bettas for decorative value. In total they will set you back about $15-20 CAD but if you keep the food in the freezer it will not spoil and even the smallest package should last for months. Like I said above, the smallest bottle of Prime will last about 10 years. Both of them are available at Petsmart and most other chains, and should be available at good local shops too.

I personally like marbles for betta bowls rather than gravel because they are so easy to clean, look nice, and all of my bettas have a habit of sleeping in their own poo for some reason so it keeps them off the bottom and stops them from lying in their own waste. You can get marbles from walmart in the craft section for about $1 last time I checked. Those polished river stone things work too if you want a more natural look. They look very nice in a bowl with some java moss and lucky bamboo stuck in the back and poking out of the water.

The fins look like they probably were damaged, most likely just from being kept in bad water in one of those little betta cups. Like calla said, they look like thay have started to heal and they should be fine. In good clean water with good food they might even grow back. Keep an eye on them if you are concerned. If the fins are actually rotting you will know for sure. They go opaque and dead at the tips, and you will see a black or red line that will recede either slowly or quickly toward the body. Let us know if you see anything like that but as long as you take good care of him it shouldn't be a problem.

Another fin issue to watch out for is bad-water-fin-melt, it also shouldn't be a problem if he is well taken care of but let us know if you see the fins melting or receding at all. Fin melt can be differentiated from rot by the look of the fins, they don't turn white and opaque or anything, they just seem to disappear and the fins look really ragged. Good clean water will prevent that from happening. The bad news with a betta that has had some fin damage is that they are especially e to fin issues in the future and need to be given the best care possible to prevent future problems. Again, good clean water is all you really need.

About the heater, as long as the temperature in your home doesn't go below about 72 F you don't really need it. The problem with small heaters is that a lot of the time they are built with bad thermostats. In a small bowl if you have a thermostat malfunction (where the heater gets stuck in the *ON* position) you could easily end up with a cooked betta. I would probably remove it, none of my betta bowls are heated and I think the heater takes up a lot of valuable swimming room. Bettas can be kept at reasonable room temperatures without too many issues, you will know if there are any temperature problems because the betta will seem really sluggish and may lose interest in food.

I think that covers everything. Congrats on the first betta, give it a little time and you should have a few more. For some reason nobody seems to stop with the first betta, they just end up buying more and more or getting larger tanks.

EDIT: that was a long post I should really draft something a bit more permanrent up for a care sheet and put it up somehwhere

Last edited by trystianity at 06-Jul-2005 15:40[/font][/font]

Possibly... the pet store I went to didn't stock much in the way of betta fish food... I guess I should try other stores.

As long as the chopsticks are clean. If you find it too tough to look through the gravel for the pellets, switch the gravel for marbles, or bigger gravel in a lighter colour. Honestly, if the Java Moss and gravel are a hinderance, its okay for you to go ahead remove them. There is nothing wrong with a bare bottom fish bowl.

The sunk pellets, well, siphoning is the way to go for them. Siphone alternate days, or a little bit of water every day if you have the time.

Can you not find some thing that wont sink to the bottom. We get fish pellets here that dont sink, and the Betta wldnt really mind eating from the top???

I dont know about the US though, but I am assuming, you can get pellets that dont sink so easily???

Ah... the ammonia thing sounds like a big issue, but it's hard to even find the pellets on the substrate I use. Should I go for some whitened gravel instead? Also, how should I go picking up the food from the ground? So far, the tank's too deep for the plastic spoon I use for surface stuff, and the Java moss gets in the way of the net, so I have to confess, I've been using old chopsticks to take what I can find off the bottom. But I'm not too sure if that's an issue or not.

Yeah, unfortunately 100% is the way to go in a 1g tank, aything less than that and you will get ammonia buildup.
Thats why you have to get the pellets out, because if they sink to the bottom and rot, they will cause there to be too much ammonia in the bowl, and it will burn Darwin.


the fins look ok. the reason for the lighter patch seems to be that it *was* damaged, and that is the colour of the fin that has grown back in its place



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Thanks very much, Pugperson- I appreciate the possibilities and well-wishes.

You can have a bowl without gravel. A lot of people use marbles or cabs in the bowl, since it is easier to do a complete water change by just dumping the marbles in a strainer and rinsing. Personally, I would ditch the heater, unless your place is really, really cold. Weekly water changes for a 1g are ok. The java moss does help with the water quality, especially without a filter, and makes such a nice bed for the betta. Good luck with your new betta.