I have a betta (male) in my 30 gallon community tank. The ends of his fins looks kind of almost frayed. All the other fish are fine, no signs of ich. The tank has been established for almost 2 years, and recent tests have not shown even a trace of ammonia or nitrites. I have Ich Guard by Jungle Laboratories (I've never had to use it) and also Maracyn (powder) on hand to treat him with, if either or both of them will help. It doesn't erally look like ich though, and as I said, no other fish show signs of it, or signs of any problems. Even the betta seems healthy, swimming around a lot, voracious appetite as usual. The betta doesn't get picked on by the other tank mates, at all. I watch the tank often and the other fish leave him alone. I was concerned at first because he is in a tank with 5 golden barbs, but they never go anywhere near him, they kind of just hang out amongst themselves. The betta is usually just off swimming around by himself, and no one ever seems to bug him. His colors are bright and fine, it's just the frayed edges. So after all that... my main question...
Can I put the betta in a small bowl to treat him for a few days? I don't have a spare heater, and I'd rather not treat all 30 gallons with the maracyn, as no other fish is expensive, and the ich guard turns the water blue. Will he be ok without a heater for a couple days? Will either of these helped?
Thanks, sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I got all the information.
I recently did about a 30 pwc and added a few plants. I've read that fin rot could be caused by dirty water. The water is completely clear though right now, and as I said, the nitrates/ammonia are nonexistant. I've only had the betta for about a month. Could stirring up the gravel while doing the PWC and putting the plants in have caused this?
EDIT: I think I figured out what may have been causing the stress (and therefore the tail rot). My thermometer broke about a month ago, and I have been using the sticker thermometer, which actually came with the tank (I got it from a friend). I know they aren't accurate, but I didn't think it would be that far off untill I got a new thermometer. http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...cl0/coralifebatteryoperateddigitalthermometer
It's a digital one... but I got it set up and noticed that while I thought my water was on the high side (79-82) it was actually about 10 degrees colder than that (72). I know that's too cold for a betta, I'm surprised it hasnt' caused any other problems. None of my other fish seemed ill, and none have died. I'm going to slowly increase the temperature over the next day or two and see if that helps the betta out. I'm going to know better than to trust those sticker things from now on.... I should have listened to everyone's warnings.
Can I put the betta in a small bowl to treat him for a few days? I don't have a spare heater, and I'd rather not treat all 30 gallons with the maracyn, as no other fish is expensive, and the ich guard turns the water blue. Will he be ok without a heater for a couple days? Will either of these helped?
Thanks, sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I got all the information.
I recently did about a 30 pwc and added a few plants. I've read that fin rot could be caused by dirty water. The water is completely clear though right now, and as I said, the nitrates/ammonia are nonexistant. I've only had the betta for about a month. Could stirring up the gravel while doing the PWC and putting the plants in have caused this?
EDIT: I think I figured out what may have been causing the stress (and therefore the tail rot). My thermometer broke about a month ago, and I have been using the sticker thermometer, which actually came with the tank (I got it from a friend). I know they aren't accurate, but I didn't think it would be that far off untill I got a new thermometer. http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...cl0/coralifebatteryoperateddigitalthermometer
It's a digital one... but I got it set up and noticed that while I thought my water was on the high side (79-82) it was actually about 10 degrees colder than that (72). I know that's too cold for a betta, I'm surprised it hasnt' caused any other problems. None of my other fish seemed ill, and none have died. I'm going to slowly increase the temperature over the next day or two and see if that helps the betta out. I'm going to know better than to trust those sticker things from now on.... I should have listened to everyone's warnings.