I'm new to owning a Betta, inheriting him from my aunt. His tailfin's been badly damaged, and from the research I've done, this seems to be the result of tailbiting. And I have to guess that this is because he's been bored in his 3.5 gallon tank. So I splurged and got him a 10-gallon decked out with decorations that he can swim through and hide around.
The water quality is great - no nitrates or chlorine on the test strips, very soft water quality (I understand Bettas prefer that) - but the pH is remarkably high. It's always showing me what seems to be the max value on the strips, despite what I think has been six treatments now, over the course of the day. I live in the Great Lakes area, and I heard that may have something to do with it?
I've heard from a few sources that this isn't a big deal, but if one fish were picky about pH, it'd probably be a Betta, and like...the whole reason I got this tank was for him to have a better environment. Also, if it's this high, I'm worried that it might give him ammonia poisoning or something. Should I cycle it out with distilled water to bring the values down?
The water quality is great - no nitrates or chlorine on the test strips, very soft water quality (I understand Bettas prefer that) - but the pH is remarkably high. It's always showing me what seems to be the max value on the strips, despite what I think has been six treatments now, over the course of the day. I live in the Great Lakes area, and I heard that may have something to do with it?
I've heard from a few sources that this isn't a big deal, but if one fish were picky about pH, it'd probably be a Betta, and like...the whole reason I got this tank was for him to have a better environment. Also, if it's this high, I'm worried that it might give him ammonia poisoning or something. Should I cycle it out with distilled water to bring the values down?