Advice on water parameters and veil tail betta’s fins
Apr 21, 2018 12:28:21 GMT -5
devonjohnsgard likes this
Post by jan on Apr 21, 2018 12:28:21 GMT -5
Hi Friends!
I was wondering if I could get some advice for my water parameters and my red veil tail betta’s fins. I had posted earlier about completing the cycling my 5 gallon tank. I also got a KH/GH test kit recently. So, here are my current Water Parameters (I use spring water that I get fresh from water dispensing machines nearby. It is approved and tested in our state by the DEP.)
Ammonia 0 (aquarium)(API test shows slightly above 0 but my Seachem Ammonia Alert is yellow/safe.)
Nitrites 0 (aquarium)
Nitrates 10ish (aquarium)
PH 8.1 (or almost 8.2) but the new water I added for a PWC was testing at around 8.0
KH 179 (aquarium); 196.9 (new water)
GH 250.6 (aquarium); 268.5(new water)
Food - Aqueon betta pellets (8 months I fed them dry) (for the past 1 month I have been soaking them for 5 min)
I have not done any alterations to the water except to add Prime when I do a PWC. Sometimes I will put in some Prime in between water changes. Since he has been in his 5 gal tank, I do a substrate cleaning with a gravel vac and change 1 gallon of the water once a week.
The KH guidelines I have are from Carl’s article “Fin and Tail Rot in Bettas and Other Fish” (50-150ppm). Mine are a little high. Is that OK or do I need to lower it? If so, how do I do that?
GH seems to be fine because it is above 150. Is that acceptable?
PH - Carl’s article “Fin and Tail Rot in Bettas and Other Fish” says any PH that is stable between 6.5 -8.2 is OK if stable. Mine is on the high end but stable. It goes up and down between 8.0 and 8.2. Is that OK?
Now, onto fins. Blaze’s history is less than desirable because I was learning. I got him from Petsmart and he seemed quite active and healthy. Fins looked good. I kept him for the first 3 months in a ¼-½ gallon vase with tap water softened by a water softener. (UGH!) So for the first 3 months he got total scrubbings of his aquarium. No water tests. No heat, but it was summer. And dry pellets for food.
He then moved to a 1 1/3 gallon aquarium with heat and I switched over to spring water. He stayed here for the next 5 months and had a heating pad for heat, and got PWC to cycle this 1 1/3 gal tank. I did water tests and lots of water changes as it cycled. Still dry pellets for food.
In the meantime, I was also cycling his 5 gal tank. It was fully cycled when he moved in on month 6! He loves swimming around in it. He swims a lot more!
His fins looked good when I got him. They hang down most of the time because they are so long. He doesn’t spread them out like some other bettas. In the 1 1/3 gallon tank, his fins grew on the ends. I could see it on his caudal fin and his anal fin. They were very long and had about 3-4 mm of growth on the ends. I could distinguish the growth because it was red (that is his color) but more transparent than the older fins. He developed 2 tiny holes in the anal fin.
When I transferred him into his new 5 gal tank I began to see tearing and stringy-ness on his caudal fin, mainly on the thin 3-4 mm I mentioned earlier. It tears, then heals a little, tears some more. Sometimes it loses a little chunk, sometimes it looks a little stringy. I can tell that the caudal fin is shorter than it used to be. Some of the thinner 3-4 mm is almost gone on the end his caudal fin but not all of it. The ends look raggedy, but he still has a lot of healthy caudal fin left. Sometimes it happens within 2 hours. It will look fine or have some thin spots and then be damaged 2 hours later! The anal fin, which now hangs down longer than the caudal, seems to be fine. It still has the 2 little holes but the thin ends aren’t shredding and they may have what I think might be new growth on them.
I checked his tank for rough objects. I found a cracked sharp plant leaf which I removed and I hid the Matrix under the substrate. His sponge filter is soft. After doing all that, the caudal fin still tore. Do you have any suggestions?
So, I could use advice in 2 areas: How are my water parameters? What do you think the fin problem is from?
I was thinking of using Seachem Stressguard to help his fin regrowth. Do I need Wondershells?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and help me! I really appreciate it! I am very inexperienced at this but I am learning!!
Sorry I don't have pictures. I had difficulty getting some.
I was wondering if I could get some advice for my water parameters and my red veil tail betta’s fins. I had posted earlier about completing the cycling my 5 gallon tank. I also got a KH/GH test kit recently. So, here are my current Water Parameters (I use spring water that I get fresh from water dispensing machines nearby. It is approved and tested in our state by the DEP.)
Ammonia 0 (aquarium)(API test shows slightly above 0 but my Seachem Ammonia Alert is yellow/safe.)
Nitrites 0 (aquarium)
Nitrates 10ish (aquarium)
PH 8.1 (or almost 8.2) but the new water I added for a PWC was testing at around 8.0
KH 179 (aquarium); 196.9 (new water)
GH 250.6 (aquarium); 268.5(new water)
Food - Aqueon betta pellets (8 months I fed them dry) (for the past 1 month I have been soaking them for 5 min)
I have not done any alterations to the water except to add Prime when I do a PWC. Sometimes I will put in some Prime in between water changes. Since he has been in his 5 gal tank, I do a substrate cleaning with a gravel vac and change 1 gallon of the water once a week.
The KH guidelines I have are from Carl’s article “Fin and Tail Rot in Bettas and Other Fish” (50-150ppm). Mine are a little high. Is that OK or do I need to lower it? If so, how do I do that?
GH seems to be fine because it is above 150. Is that acceptable?
PH - Carl’s article “Fin and Tail Rot in Bettas and Other Fish” says any PH that is stable between 6.5 -8.2 is OK if stable. Mine is on the high end but stable. It goes up and down between 8.0 and 8.2. Is that OK?
Now, onto fins. Blaze’s history is less than desirable because I was learning. I got him from Petsmart and he seemed quite active and healthy. Fins looked good. I kept him for the first 3 months in a ¼-½ gallon vase with tap water softened by a water softener. (UGH!) So for the first 3 months he got total scrubbings of his aquarium. No water tests. No heat, but it was summer. And dry pellets for food.
He then moved to a 1 1/3 gallon aquarium with heat and I switched over to spring water. He stayed here for the next 5 months and had a heating pad for heat, and got PWC to cycle this 1 1/3 gal tank. I did water tests and lots of water changes as it cycled. Still dry pellets for food.
In the meantime, I was also cycling his 5 gal tank. It was fully cycled when he moved in on month 6! He loves swimming around in it. He swims a lot more!
His fins looked good when I got him. They hang down most of the time because they are so long. He doesn’t spread them out like some other bettas. In the 1 1/3 gallon tank, his fins grew on the ends. I could see it on his caudal fin and his anal fin. They were very long and had about 3-4 mm of growth on the ends. I could distinguish the growth because it was red (that is his color) but more transparent than the older fins. He developed 2 tiny holes in the anal fin.
When I transferred him into his new 5 gal tank I began to see tearing and stringy-ness on his caudal fin, mainly on the thin 3-4 mm I mentioned earlier. It tears, then heals a little, tears some more. Sometimes it loses a little chunk, sometimes it looks a little stringy. I can tell that the caudal fin is shorter than it used to be. Some of the thinner 3-4 mm is almost gone on the end his caudal fin but not all of it. The ends look raggedy, but he still has a lot of healthy caudal fin left. Sometimes it happens within 2 hours. It will look fine or have some thin spots and then be damaged 2 hours later! The anal fin, which now hangs down longer than the caudal, seems to be fine. It still has the 2 little holes but the thin ends aren’t shredding and they may have what I think might be new growth on them.
I checked his tank for rough objects. I found a cracked sharp plant leaf which I removed and I hid the Matrix under the substrate. His sponge filter is soft. After doing all that, the caudal fin still tore. Do you have any suggestions?
So, I could use advice in 2 areas: How are my water parameters? What do you think the fin problem is from?
I was thinking of using Seachem Stressguard to help his fin regrowth. Do I need Wondershells?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and help me! I really appreciate it! I am very inexperienced at this but I am learning!!
Sorry I don't have pictures. I had difficulty getting some.
Would you mind giving me some step by step instructions or pointing me to where I can find them? Thanks for your help! You guys are so gracious to give advice so freely! I appreciate it!
He spends a lot of time with it, especially resting on it. I have added the Betta Spa, the Wonder Shell, and frog moss. And I am still using Stressguard. His fins are looking better even though he had another tear/shredding of the ends of his caudal fin shortly after I added the frog moss, Betta Spa and Wonder Shell. I did remove his plastic plant to see if that was contributing to the problem.