Betta Bungalow Blues

[Larry Little]

HELP!!

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my Betta tank balanced. It is a 10-gallon tank that is 48"Lx6"Wx12"H and divided into thirds. The substrate is gravel,it includes 6 medium to large potato-sized river stones, and is planted with Java ferns, tissue culture Cryptocoryne wendtii, and banana plants. Each section has a separate sponge filter/bubbler. I have a 48" 2-bulb t8 fluorescent light fixture hanging 2" above the water surface. Each section houses one male Betta and one mystery snail plus some other miscellaneous snails. The tank has been set up for just over three months.

I feed the Bettas mini pellets once a day; each fish gets 8-10 pellets. Twice a week I substitute a small pinch of frozen bloodworms. I also feed a small pinch of flake food for the snails twice a week.

I can't seem to get the water chemistry to settle down even with at least weekly water changes; the ammonia isn't too bad (.5), but the nitrites and nitrates go sky high. The plants are showing SOME growth, but not as I was expecting.

Then to top things off, about three weeks ago, I stuck some rooted water sprite floaters in the gravel bed. since that time, I've had a problem with cloudiness even after doing 90% water changes about every 3-4 days.

I know the cloudiness can be caused by bacterial blooms, but with my feeding regimen, I don't know if this is the problem or how to stop it. Honestly, I had better success when I kept one Betta in an old antique 2-gallon tank (I'm talking 1930s old; metal framed and black tar caulked) with a chunk of driftwood and only changed the water when it got too dark and nasty for me to see the fish!!

I saw in someone else's post about cloudiness the recommendation of vacuuming the gravel, I don't want to do this due to the live plant roots; I'm afraid I might do too much damage.

Where am I going wrong with this? This tank really does have me flummoxed.

 

[Toad]

I think one of your issues is you are over feeding. I'd cut the amount of pellets by half, and skip one of the snail feedings.

What kond of water change regime do you have?

Sent from my SM-G930T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[flchamp89]

1. That is a 15g tank I believe
2. Way too much food
3. Large stones as substrate allows for detritus build up. Yes no need to vaccum a planted tank but....build up between those stones could be current issue given the amount of food.

 

[Larry Little]

1. My bad; taking into account these are outer dimensions and leaving about 1" at the top, the volume is roughly 13.6 gallons. Then take into account displacement for substrate and rocks, that gets me down to about 11. 5 gallons of water.

2. The Betta pellets are the size of pin heads. Do you really think that's too much for a grown male Betta? I wondered about the flake food for the Mystery snails.

3. There are two stones in each section isolated from each other. I think the miscellaneous snails are taking care of any extra food. I can't be absolutely certain, but I see no signs of any detritus.

 

[flchamp89]

Cloudiness is probably a bloom of sorts. But 24 -30 pellets still seem a lot. Do you do a fast day ? Post a picture. Id love to see it seems neat.

 

[Larry Little]

For three grown male Bettas?

 

[flchamp89]

Id think so yes. General rule is stomach about size of the eye. Betta are pigs and will often eat as much as you provide. Less is more imo.

 

[Larry Little]

In answer to water changes, I was doing 50% once a week until the cloudiness began; since that time, I've been doing around 75 - 90% about every 4 days. I did a 90% change yesterday and the tank is already clouding up again. And now, I'm seeing what appears to be fin rot.

I was away from keeping aquariums for about 30 years, but before that, I had tanks all my life. I worked for the Tulsa Zoological Park in the Aquarium Department for 5 years. I've never had this kind of trouble with a tank before. It really is most discouraging.

 

[flchamp89]

Source water params are good?

 

[Larry Little]

Weird thing about that; we're on the city water system. Tulsa, OK water just might be the hardest water in our region ( I know this from inspecting dish machines at restaurants). Two days ago, I did my 90% water change in the tank and checked chemistry. The NH3/NH4 was 0.5 after the change; I decided to check the chemistry of our tap water and found it to also be 0.5. Nitrites and nitrates were acceptable in both tests. Out tap water pH runs @7.8.

I have another question; I began using Melafix to treat the tank, but have since read conflicting reports of its efficacy and of its possible dangers to labyrinth fishes. Any experience with or comments on this?

 

[flchamp89]

Ask coralbandit...he local fish dr. I am ok with disease ID. But I don't use fish medication. If I cant fix it with wc or a salt dip its all over.

@coralbandit

 

[abw0004]

Think of it this way, fish's stomaches are as big as their eye is. Use that as a rule of thumb when feeding.