Female Betta Update/Tank conditions advice needed!

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Carla

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jul 18, 2005
Messages
4
Location
Michigan
Hi all-
So I ended up going to the lfs to have them check the water for me. No wonder Ms. Betta wasn't feeling well. The GH was 40dgh, and the KH was 15. My pH even increased to 8.2 over the past week, which I don't quite understand because I hadn't added anything to the tank. The nitrates/nitrites and ammonia are still all zero. (I think that I may be due for a new test kit). The veterinarian on staff at the lfs thought that she may have contracted a bacterial infection from stress, so they told me to put her in quaranteen with a triple sulfa antibiotic, 90%RO and 10% tap water. She seems to be feeling a little better already.
Anyhow, they told me that I could either buy a home RO system (which is really expensive and I don't really have space for), buy RO water to try to mix with tap water (which they said could cause swings in tank conditions because it wouldn't always contain the same amount of elements, etc) or get new fish that like hard water (they said maybe a goldfish or cichlids). I don't really know what to do. I bought 10 gallons of RO water home and used 5 gallons to do a pwc on my 15gal tank (their idea, since I have no clue what I'm doing!), and they said to repeat it in a week, then bring in more water samples. Will I have to continue this forever? I don't really have a lot of money to invest in the tank at the moment- I'm still in vet school, so money is tight and time is tight as well. I don't want to make my fishes ill, or do anything to hurt them, and I don't know how I would find good homes for them. (I feel like I've already failed as a fish keeper!) Any advice? If you use RO/tap mixtures, does your tanks water conditions swing a lot ?
If any of you missed my previous post, see "female betta inactive" for other tank inhabitants, etc!
 
I have been mixing 1/2 bottled spring water to 1/2 tap water in all 5 of my betta tanks for a few months now and I haven't had any swings in water parameters at all. The bettas seem to like it as the males have been blowing bubble nests alot. I haven't got a spawn yet but thats because the females are all still to youung.
 
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