Can't seem to keep Betta's & power filter too powerful?

[ljl]

Hi, I am having trouble keeping a Betta in my aquarium. I have had a aquarium when I was young and had male and female bettas and had no problems. I had them in community tank with a few other tetras and few other fish, which I don't remember what breeds I had. I setup my tank in November and I had followed the book with cycling my tank and buying a couple fish to start before getting more. I do about a 2/3 water change once a week, use water conditioner, and test my water. The heater keeps the temp at 75. When I test with test strips, my nitrate, nitrite, and pH is all good. Water is a little hard but not bad. I have tetras, mollies and algae eater. I have aquarium salt in because of the mollies which I did not have years ago when I had bettas. I had got a male betta back in December and he started to get white fuzzy patches on and within 24 hours he died. I got a female betta Sunday and she was doing fine until Monday night when she found an opening in hood for the heater and jumped out. I got her back in and she seemed fine. The next evening she had a white patch on her back. I got some bettafix and some drops for ich and parasites and administered that in tank. I even gave her a aquarium salt bath, but I think too much time passed before and she didn't make it. I am really frustrated that I can not keep bettas now when I did years ago. Only difference I know of is that when I was at home we had spring water and now I have well water and wondered if that could be a problem. I have lost some other fish over the time have had aquarium setup but not due to the white fuzzy patches that my bettas get. Anyone have any ideas what the problem could be? Also another question...I have a aqua tech power filter and when I have lost any fish, most of them end up wrapped around filter intake. Can this be to powerful if they get too close and be sucked against it and can't get loose? Seems strange that they all have been at the same place in aquarium and I never see it happen since I work full time. Would love any ideas or suggestions anyone has on these questions. Thanks.

 

[BettaGal]

What size tank? Bettas like the water between 78-80 degrees. They're a little too cold. Using test strips, from personal experience, is highly inaccurate. You'll need a liquid test kit. API Master test kit is a good one to get, and on Amazon, it's fairly cheap. Bettafix didn't help. Those products really only reduce stress and for Bettafix I have not read much positive thoughts on it. Where was the white fuzzy stuff at on your bettas?

 

[ljl]

I have always had 10 gallon tanks. My thermometer doesn't have adjustment on it. It just keeps it steady at 75. I know that bettas like it warmer but read that 75 would be tolerable. The white fuzzy patches were on their backs. It did spread more on the male. The female stayed on her back but did get a little larger. They lost their bright color too and got dull.

When I had my first aquarium, I never tested the water. Wasn't aware of it then but never had problems like I have now and I have a bit more experience then I did then.

 

[BettaGal]

Ok. Two things.

1) 10 gallons is too small for a community tank. Every schooling fish I know of is too active for a 10 gallon. Mollies I believe need 20 on their own.

2) The white fuzzy stuff might be Columnaris. Is anyone else in the tank showing any signs of something being wrong? Columnaris is highly contagious and kills quick.

In a 10 gallon tank, a betta by itself will be very happy. You might try that approach.

 

[brunettebaby4571]

The tank might just be overstocked and levels might be very high and could be killing the bettas. If I were you I would get rid of the mollies as they are really better suited for bigger tanks. I would also try to do more water changes if I were you especially if you are having all these fish die they might have made your levels spike and also I would stop putting the salt in the tanks unless you are using it to treat ich or something of that sort. I dont really find it useful and I don't think bettas or tetras are particularly fond of salt in their water.

 

[BettaGal]

I'm gonna look up your filter too, just to see if it is too strong. I'm not well-versed in all the different types of filters. Lol.

 

[ljl]

I honestly don't think it is the levels. I change water often and test it. When I first tested my levels were high so I changed more percentage of water and it really decreased the levels. Actually so far since I have had salt in water have not lost any except the betta. The rest are active and doing well.

 

[ljl]

The rest are active and doing fine so far. When I have lost any other fish they never show signs of sickness. That is why I wonder about the filter...they always are around filter intake and have seemed fine before that.

 

[BettaGal]

What size filter is it? Aqua tech power filters come in several sizes. It looks like one similar to one that someone had that their betta was sucked into the intake tube. I don't think this is that one, but it's similar.

 

[brunettebaby4571]

When they die they might just be getting sucked up by the filter since they are dead and cant obviously fight it. I don't think the filter is actually killing them although I could be wrong since I am not staring into your tank but I always have bigger filters than I need on my tanks and none of my fish get sucked up including baby fish so I dont know if that would be your problem. I would still look into rehoming the mollies or getting them a bigger tank. They produce a lot of waste and get decently big and 10 gallons just isnt big enough for them. How long is it before your bettas are dying after being put into the tank? Also how are you acclimating them before putting them in the tank?

 

[ljl]

Well, I am at work now so I don't have the info. in front of me, but it was a filter for a 10 gallon tank. I believe it is the 10-20 gal one.

 

[brunettebaby4571]

Yeah I don't think that is killing your fish. I have used a filter rated for a 50 gallon on a ten gallon tank and while it was a lot of water flow all of my fish did fine with it and none died or were sucked up.

 

[ljl]

I have floated all of my fish for 15 min in the bags before releasing them in the tank. The bettas died after 2-3 days.

 

[BettaGal]

Well, I am at work now so I don't have the info. in front of me, but it was a filter for a 10 gallon tank. I believe it is the 10-20 gal one.

Then that shouldn't be too big of a problem. Bettas sometimes have issues with the stronger filters. They aren't good swimmers, and so do not like strong currents and easily get stuck in the intake if its big enough. I think your fish were dying and the body was pulled onto the intake, like someone else said. Where are you getting your bettas from? Also, it really would be very beneficial to get a liquid test kit rather than strips. How often are you changing the filter cartridges?

 

[BettaGal]

I have floated all of my fish for 15 min in the bags before releasing them in the tank. The bettas died after 2-3 days.

This might be another issue. You're temp acclimating them, but your parameters might be different than the store. After floating them, slowly add tank water to the bag little by little. I usually just hold the edge of the bag under the water so some flows in, then wait a few minutes, then keep going until I can't seem to make hardly anymore water go into the bag.

 

[ljl]

I changed filters at two months.

 

[BettaGal]

There is no need to ever change the filter cartridge. It's actually worse for your tank to change them. You're basically throwing out your cycle when you do that. Never change them unless they're falling apart. Even then, you'll want to put the new cartridge in with the old one for probably at least a week to avoid another cycle.

 

[ljl]

I have a canister filter and a underground filter as well. I have read that canister filters are best for mechanical, biological and and chemical filtration so I might just go with those two for now.

 

[BettaGal]

Those might work. I'm not familiar at all with canister and underground filters, or hardly any of the real nice ones, for that matter. As long as they don't make the water surface move a ton and your betta can't get accidentally sucked into the intake, I think you will be fine with those.

 

[brunettebaby4571]

Yeah definitely dont change your filter media. When they get dirty simply just swish them in some old tank water and put them back in the filter. If you do change filters just put some of the media from the old one in the new filter and you should be okay.