Post by mechadogzilla on Oct 11, 2020 14:23:42 GMT -5
Hello all,
I'm new to this forum though I was receiving guidance from a Betta forum previously for help with my boy, Ikagerasu.
Here is a Google Photos link to the pics of his water test results, food, tank, and the betta himself:
photos.app.goo.gl/bA1au8K9MpXNu9dA7
Tank gallons: 3-3.5 (can't remember exactly).
Filter: Tetra Whisper www.tetra-fish.com/products/filtration/whisper-internal-power-filter.aspx
Temp: Holding at 79F
Heater: Aqueon 100528680 Adjustable Aquarium Heater, Black,50 W
Air: Small stone
Tank mates: Marimo Balls. No other mates.
Plants: 1 live sword plant.
Food:
He only ever wanted Tetra BettaMin - mostly the Brine Shrimp and on occasion the mini pellets when he refused the shrimp
. We tried switching to NLS new Life Spectrum Pellets; he's not eaten in 2 weeks but has also been ill so I didn't expect to see him eat.
Feeding Schedule: normally 1-2 times per day, when he used to eat the brine shrimp (only a few tiny pieces). Now he eats nothing.
Maintenance:
Water Changes: approx. 25% per week adding back in 50/50 Spring Water/Berkey Water.
% of water change: 20-30%
Source of your water: The water in the tank is a combination of spring water PH 6.8 and Berkey Filtered water PH 7.6.
If anyone here is unfamiliar with Berkey Filtration, here are the specs. It leaves minerals intact.
www.berkeyfilters.com/pages/filtration-specifications
Our water here is not good so we have to use the Berkey Filtration tank.
Cleaning method: Vacuum
Additives used: None
Water Parameters:
Ammonia: 0-.25
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 5.0
pH: I'm struggling to read it on the card. 8.4?
Hardness (GH):?
No idea. Only found out today we needed to be testing this and don't have the means to do so on short notice.
Alkalinity (KH): ?
" "
Symptoms and Treatment:
Last 2 weeks:
Lethargic
Laying on bottom
Gilling hard and fast
Usually puts his fins down while resting but instead he's been laying sideways on the sand.
**NOTE He previously fell ill this summer- lying on the bottom of the tank, gilling hard, not eating after the PH got too high in the tank. We did frequent water changes adding spring water in slowly over a few days. He recovered over approx. 2 months and got back to his usual self.
We were told to add Indian Almond leaf to help keep the PH down, so we did so.
The Ph held around 7.8-8.2. It has been a real struggle to keep the PH from rising constantly. We don't know why the PH keeps trying to soar! it's been tremendously frustrating and we have very little experience, though reading everything we can.
**
The trigger this time was that we unfortunately had a dying animal in the home, this August, that required around-the-clock care. In that month, my Betta did not get a single water change or water test.
He became lethargic and lying on the bottom of the tank, gilling hard and rapidly. , no interest in food.
We tested the water as soon as we noticed his behavior changed and the Nitrates were 160+ (blood red on the card).
The PH was 8.8+ (highest on the card and an ongoing struggle to keep down).
We have since slowly reduced the Nitrate back down to 0 with water changes but the PH is still soaring.
He has not been eating. It was recommended to us that we feed him New Life Spectrum Betta pellets. He previously would only eat junk- dried brine from Tetra. The folks in our forum promised us that no Betta will starve itself and can go up to 2 weeks without eating. Well, it's been at least two weeks and he won't touch the NLS food; he refused it even before becoming ill.
He does surface every 15-20 mins for air.
TREATMENT SO FAR:
The day before yesterday, we gave him his first ever Methylene Blue/sodium chloride bath in about 1 gallon of water from his tank.
Duration: 30 minutes.
We put the heater in the bath to maintain temp and O2 while he was in there. He's struggling so hard with his gills we thought it best to put the small air-stone in the bath as well.
he seemed to tolerate it well, but just stayed parked on his side, on the bottom of the gallon, the entire time. he's very familiar with our fingers and hands from feeding so catching him did not seem to stress him much at all.
We only just learned today from this site that we need to also be testing KH and GH. Never knew about it nor has anyone ever asked us about that before.
We hope we can help him to recover and realize we don't have all that we need to properly test his water. Any advice would be tremendously appreciated. please let me know if I missed any important data and I'll submit it straight away.
Thank you so much.
Ross
I'm new to this forum though I was receiving guidance from a Betta forum previously for help with my boy, Ikagerasu.
Here is a Google Photos link to the pics of his water test results, food, tank, and the betta himself:
photos.app.goo.gl/bA1au8K9MpXNu9dA7
Tank gallons: 3-3.5 (can't remember exactly).
Filter: Tetra Whisper www.tetra-fish.com/products/filtration/whisper-internal-power-filter.aspx
Temp: Holding at 79F
Heater: Aqueon 100528680 Adjustable Aquarium Heater, Black,50 W
Air: Small stone
Tank mates: Marimo Balls. No other mates.
Plants: 1 live sword plant.
Food:
He only ever wanted Tetra BettaMin - mostly the Brine Shrimp and on occasion the mini pellets when he refused the shrimp
. We tried switching to NLS new Life Spectrum Pellets; he's not eaten in 2 weeks but has also been ill so I didn't expect to see him eat.
Feeding Schedule: normally 1-2 times per day, when he used to eat the brine shrimp (only a few tiny pieces). Now he eats nothing.
Maintenance:
Water Changes: approx. 25% per week adding back in 50/50 Spring Water/Berkey Water.
% of water change: 20-30%
Source of your water: The water in the tank is a combination of spring water PH 6.8 and Berkey Filtered water PH 7.6.
If anyone here is unfamiliar with Berkey Filtration, here are the specs. It leaves minerals intact.
www.berkeyfilters.com/pages/filtration-specifications
Our water here is not good so we have to use the Berkey Filtration tank.
Cleaning method: Vacuum
Additives used: None
Water Parameters:
Ammonia: 0-.25
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 5.0
pH: I'm struggling to read it on the card. 8.4?
Hardness (GH):?
No idea. Only found out today we needed to be testing this and don't have the means to do so on short notice.
Alkalinity (KH): ?
" "
Symptoms and Treatment:
Last 2 weeks:
Lethargic
Laying on bottom
Gilling hard and fast
Usually puts his fins down while resting but instead he's been laying sideways on the sand.
**NOTE He previously fell ill this summer- lying on the bottom of the tank, gilling hard, not eating after the PH got too high in the tank. We did frequent water changes adding spring water in slowly over a few days. He recovered over approx. 2 months and got back to his usual self.
We were told to add Indian Almond leaf to help keep the PH down, so we did so.
The Ph held around 7.8-8.2. It has been a real struggle to keep the PH from rising constantly. We don't know why the PH keeps trying to soar! it's been tremendously frustrating and we have very little experience, though reading everything we can.
**
The trigger this time was that we unfortunately had a dying animal in the home, this August, that required around-the-clock care. In that month, my Betta did not get a single water change or water test.
He became lethargic and lying on the bottom of the tank, gilling hard and rapidly. , no interest in food.
We tested the water as soon as we noticed his behavior changed and the Nitrates were 160+ (blood red on the card).
The PH was 8.8+ (highest on the card and an ongoing struggle to keep down).
We have since slowly reduced the Nitrate back down to 0 with water changes but the PH is still soaring.
He has not been eating. It was recommended to us that we feed him New Life Spectrum Betta pellets. He previously would only eat junk- dried brine from Tetra. The folks in our forum promised us that no Betta will starve itself and can go up to 2 weeks without eating. Well, it's been at least two weeks and he won't touch the NLS food; he refused it even before becoming ill.
He does surface every 15-20 mins for air.
TREATMENT SO FAR:
The day before yesterday, we gave him his first ever Methylene Blue/sodium chloride bath in about 1 gallon of water from his tank.
Duration: 30 minutes.
We put the heater in the bath to maintain temp and O2 while he was in there. He's struggling so hard with his gills we thought it best to put the small air-stone in the bath as well.
he seemed to tolerate it well, but just stayed parked on his side, on the bottom of the gallon, the entire time. he's very familiar with our fingers and hands from feeding so catching him did not seem to stress him much at all.
We only just learned today from this site that we need to also be testing KH and GH. Never knew about it nor has anyone ever asked us about that before.
We hope we can help him to recover and realize we don't have all that we need to properly test his water. Any advice would be tremendously appreciated. please let me know if I missed any important data and I'll submit it straight away.
Thank you so much.
Ross
