Moved betta 2 gallon bowl to 10 gallon tank, shredded tail

[flyingbettas]

Dear all,

Help!!!


Carl and Devon -- I am sure you remember the betta boy we thought may not make it. Well he made it but...

I attempted to move him into a 10 gallon tank yesterday. It was going to be his own 10 gallon not shared with any other fish. 

He took it terribly. 

About one third of the webbing of his tail was eroded after the move ( almost perfect before the move, with two tears in the webbing only and resulted from me taking him out of his bowl and overcleaning it). He took to pacing the bottom of the tank and I could tell from knowing him for months he was not acting normal. i covered the entire tank with towel to keep it dark and took a couple peeks but each time he was the same, stressed out.

and from the 95% almost perfect tail, in six hours after the move one third of the tail was shredded , webbing gone leaving only the rays. 

I moved his favorite trees from the tubs into the tank along with him. Tank is not heavily planted but that was a cave and three trees ( same kind that was in his bowl). I used a homemade sponge filter in the 10 gallon so excessive flow was not an issue.


So 7 hours after the moved I relocated him back to his bowl, and one hour after being back he went back and slept hard on his tree top. Today he is still moody. On his tail from the edge up to where the tears end you can see discoloration ..like a big band if discoloration, looks like damaged slime coat.

1. Will I ever be able to move him to a larger tank? Or a tank for that matter ? He may be used to translucent plastic tub and being able to see out of clear glass is scary?

2 if he can't at least I will have to upgrade him to a larger plastic tub since I can't keep up with this rvery other day water change! Was ok when medicating and monitoring him but it is killing me. I am thinking 2.5 gallon with mini sponge filter. Carl, you mentioned in your article you did betta maintenance for a company that had betta in small bowls on their employees desk. Would you mind sharing the set up?

please help. I care so much about this betta having brought him back from death's door. I want him to have a good life. Last night I could not sleep, spending so much time wondering what went wrong. Thank you !

[Carl]

This is rather odd IMO.
Your darkening of the aquarium should have helped and if not done from the start, should be tried again

What are the water parameter in both tank & bowls, a difference would be my first suspect (especially pH)

As for this client, these were all 1-2 gallon bowls with seasoned AAP Hydro Sponge #1 or Mini Filters, some decorations and generally large pebble or marbles on the bottom

Carl

[flyingbettas]

Carl,



thank you!


any live plant in your betta bowl set up?
would pea sizes gravel work ok or strictly pebbles? How deep should the substrate layer be?
what is your maintenance schedule for this client?
sorry if I ask you too many questions. If he does not do ok in the tank the 2 gallon set up may be the only way forward and I want to do this right.


Speaking of the tank, I dod not cover it from the beginning. I left him there with ambient light from the window for an hour or two and covered him up once I saw he was not doing well. Plus I notice there were some spots where the gravel layer was thin and you can see the bottom.. could the reflection be the culprit?

I will double check as you suggested. I use RO water with seachem acid/alkalinity buffer and seachem replenish. Every batch of water is tested before use. ( including what was in the tank I moved him into) Ph sits at 7.4, kh 3, gh 7. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate was 0,0,5 . The betta in question receives water change every other day (2/3 of the bowl each time) and was thriving prior to the move.

I pretty much use the same water source (RO) and the same formula for mixing up the water that goes into his  bowl and his tank. 


the only possibility is PH being different in the bowl, but I feel it would be unlikely that it could swing significantly away from 7.4 in two days. ( he had his water change in the bowl done just two days prior to the move) I will check on that anyways.


 

[Carl]

At the company in question, all the decor was artificial, no live plants.

The pebbles were pea sizes (or marbles) about 1/4 to 1/2 deep

The symptoms most closely match my experience with pH shock which can kill fish. I always make sure to mix water between new water and old water when moving fish, even short distance.

Finally, please note that Replenish adds "just enough" minerals to restore RO or DI water, not enough for ongoing mineralization

Carl

[devonjohnsgard]

The only thing I can think of in addition to what Carl stated was using a slow accumulation not using 100% RO water as it's hard to keep it perfectly balanced long term after water changes.