Betta and mystery snail

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Mistilynn

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 1, 2018
Messages
18
Location
Canada
I have had my betta for a few months and he’s always been healthy and active. He had a huge algae breakout which I couldn’t seem to control. I went to the fish store to ask advice & they recommended I bring home mystery snail to clear the algae. They gave me 2. Obviously my betta was unhappy as he has lived his whole life as a lone fish. I put the snails in yesterday evening, He nipped at their shells but anytime he came close theyd go in their shells so I wasnt worried or bothered. Well this morning and throughout the day my betta has been very lethargic. He came out & ate all his food but other than that hes been hiding & not swimming much. I removed one of the snails, the larger one and put it into a different tank. There was strange black & white things on the leaves and decorations in his tank so Im curious what that is, I will attach pictures. I left the smaller white snail in the tank. My betta is starting to swim around a little bit more & acting a bit more like himself, I also did a 50/50 water change after removing the snail. He was swimming around the remaining snail just looking at it not flaring or nipping or even getting too close. He stuck his head into some of the algae on one of the decorations and now it is stuck in his gill. I can’t get a photo because he is being too active at the moment. Will he be able to get the algae off or will I need to remove it somehow? I feel like the new snails have caused him some stress so I just want to cause the least amount of stress to him now. He’s been hiding around his heater and in the leaves of the coffee anubias (I believe thats what its called?). Which he used to do when I first got him but he hasnt acted that way in a long time so Im leaning towards its his reaction to stress. IMG_0782.jpgIMG_0779.jpgIMG_0775.jpgIMG_0776.jpgIMG_0773.jpg
 
Could the stuff on the plants/decor be snail poop? I heard they poop alot. I know little to nothing about mystery snails
 
Possibly Algae spots on leaves.
Do the white spots move around, if so they could be Planaria.

Do you know what the water parameters are? Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate, pH, GH/KH aka hardness and alkalinity.

What size is the tank and what if any filter is there? Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle? If you are newer to the hobby in general check out the info in the article link in my signature.
 
I'm positive it's snail poo. It's all over your decorations and gravel as well as your plants. Snails poop like crazy.
 
Possibly Algae spots on leaves.
Do the white spots move around, if so they could be Planaria.

Do you know what the water parameters are? Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate, pH, GH/KH aka hardness and alkalinity.

What size is the tank and what if any filter is there? Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle? If you are newer to the hobby in general check out the info in the article link in my signature.



I don’t have a water testing kit, The tank is a 5 gallon, Its got an aqueon filter (I think thats what the company is called) the tank came with the filter. Right now in his tank aside from the filter there is a thermometer, a heater, a moss ball, coffee anubias, a coconut cave, a silicone plant decor, a leaf hammock, a water dragon/monster decor & now his snail friend Sammy. I removed the larger snail that my fish seemed to be bothered by & he now has no issues & is back to normal building himself a bubble nest. The stuff all over the place was snail poop which I have gotten cleaned out. I don’t really know much about the cycle. I just do about a 30% water change once a week with water conditioner
 
Im assuming your tank isn't cycled. An easy way to keep your water up to par until its cycled is to do a 50% water change every 3-4 days. This will minimize the chance of disease in your fish.
 
Im assuming your tank isn't cycled. An easy way to keep your water up to par until its cycled is to do a 50% water change every 3-4 days. This will minimize the chance of disease in your fish.



How long will it take my tank to become cycled? Ive had the tank for about 10 months with the betta, Hes never really shown any signs of illness just became very lethargic after putting 2 snails in his tank recently, Which he began acting more like himself after removing one of the snails. If my tank isn’t cycled, How do I go about cycling it?
 
In 10 months it should be cycled. It might be worth getting an API freshwater master test kit and see where your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are at. If your tank is cycled I'd recommend 50% weekly water changes. Especially with snail's since they produce a lot of poo.
 
In 10 months it should be cycled. It might be worth getting an API freshwater master test kit and see where your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are at. If your tank is cycled I'd recommend 50% weekly water changes. Especially with snail's since they produce a lot of poo.



I ordered these for my snail, But was wondering, Will it be safe to put in the tank with my betta? Probably a silly question but if it could cause harm to my betta I don’t want to risk it
 
Rinsing the filter with tap water will kill off BB so even though the tank has been running for 10 months, it is not likely properly cycled.

Is the filter in the top corner of the tank, kind of built in at the side with a small cartridge black plastic on one side and fuzzy sealed in on the other?

You might be able to add a little Fluval Spec Biomax it is cheap under $4. usually. amazon has it as an add on for 1.99 if you need anything else like a API liquid testing kit :brow: Shop around to get the best deal. It is also available at the local big box stores. The reason I mention it is you can add it to the top of the filter pad and get a little more BB built up.

It could be maybe an additional amount of food for the snails or poop from the snails tipped the BB you have over capacity and you had a mini cycle/spike. This could cause his behaviour. He could have been pouting about the intruding snails too. lol.

https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-SPEC-Biomax-2-1-ounces/dp/B0049RNW96
 
I didn't catch you were rinsing the filter out in tap water. Autumn is absolutely correct.

If you get a little algae or biofilm (the annoying cloudy stuff on the glass is a good indicator) the snail can live off that. If you do supplement break off small pieces of the wafer. And only feed every 2-3 days
 
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