Ammonia got high in floaty fup -- can anything be done as a preventative

[dragon14]

We feel absolutely horrible.

We floated our female betta in a clean plastic 16oz (probably about 12-14 oz water though) food container in our 10g tank to get her away from the pygmy catfish she was munching on since we did not have a spare heater. It's been about 4-5 days since then. I changed about 3/4 of the water every 24 hours, a couple of times I changed it twice in a day.

We finally broke down and bought a heater for our little 2g today (we should have done this right away!) and she is now in that, with fresh, clean water.

Hubby saved the water from the cup for me to test... I tested it, and, it was around 1.5-2ppm ammonia! HORRIBLE!

This experience makes me cringe, even more so, to think what the poor bettas in cups at petstores go through! And she was only in it for a few days with daily water changes as much as I could change without leaving her with no water in between.

Is there anything that might be a good idea to do as a preventive since she was in ammonia for a few days? We think we see her little tail splitting a tiny bit, but, I think it may just be from the light shining through her tail and making it look that way. I hope her tail is not splitting.


(side note, maybe a mod could change fup to cup. dang typo).

 

[Delapool]

Lots of clean water. Hopefully be fine.

 

[Fishanatic]

We feel absolutely horrible.

We floated our female betta in a clean plastic 16oz (probably about 12-14 oz water though) food container in our 10g tank to get her away from the pygmy catfish she was munching on since we did not have a spare heater. It's been about 4-5 days since then. I changed about 3/4 of the water every 24 hours, a couple of times I changed it twice in a day.

We finally broke down and bought a heater for our little 2g today (we should have done this right away!) and she is now in that, with fresh, clean water.

Hubby saved the water from the cup for me to test... I tested it, and, it was around 1.5-2ppm ammonia! HORRIBLE!

This experience makes me cringe, even more so, to think what the poor bettas in cups at petstores go through! And she was only in it for a few days with daily water changes as much as I could change without leaving her with no water in between.

Is there anything that might be a good idea to do as a preventive since she was in ammonia for a few days? We think we see her little tail splitting a tiny bit, but, I think it may just be from the light shining through her tail and making it look that way. I hope her tail is not splitting.


(side note, maybe a mod could change fup to cup. dang typo).

The split in the tail could have been from the ammonia levels. Usually burning of gills and damage to fins are a result of high ammonia levels. If it is the case, rest assured it heals quite quickly! Just keep thay water as clean as possible. Next time though, if you were scared from this experience, you could try to use a rubber made plastic box or something. Thats what I used to do and most of us use it for qt. You could use it too

55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...

 

[dragon14]

Thankfully her tail is fine! I watched it closely for about 5-10 minutes. And we plan on changing the water daily.

Thank you both! and a clean plastic tub is not so bad and easily obtainable at Walmart!

 

[Mebbid]

Next time, just put some holes in the container you are using to float the fish. I picked up a pitcher from the dollar store and drilled holes in the lid and all over the sides so I could put my clown fish in time out when I add new fish. It worked wonders.

 

[dragon14]

Next time, just put some holes in the container you are using to float the fish. I picked up a pitcher from the dollar store and drilled holes in the lid and all over the sides so I could put my clown fish in time out when I add new fish. It worked wonders.

Thanks for the tip! I hope there will not be a next time, but this is definitely good information to have