Newbie needs avise please!

[soonerbarb]

Need advise please! I am a newbie and have had my 20 gal since October. I do 20% water changes every two weeks and have had good luck so far. Lost 2 fish to the filter (got that corrected). I had a Beta and he did real well for about 1 month, then one day all his fins were gone, I took him out and put him back in his old tank but he didn't last long. Anyway, I received an email notice to do a 50% water change, is this needed? I am unsure about the water changes still.

 

[turboTSI]

I would do mayeb 5g a week

Dave

 

[xray]

Tell us more about your tank. The beta probably lost his fins to another fish. A 50% water change is a bit drastic, unless there was a problem with the water.

 

[soonerbarb]

my tank is "perfect"

I am wanting to add some more plants soon, all fish are healthy!

 

[An t-iasg]

What tankmates were in with the betta? Guppies, especially ones with long colorful fins, and tetras are two species I can think of offhand that bettas don't do well with. A group of fast-swimming fish may stress a betta too. A betta may mistake a guppy for another male betta, and attack it. A group of tetras can gang up on and nip a betta. All this leads to betta stress, which leads to disease. When stressed, bettas' fins can often get ragged. This could turn into finrot, which must be treated with meds. Some bettas do well in a community tank if they get along with the tankmates. Some will not, and prefer their own tank. I have my bettas in 5 gallon tanks, with a 25-watt heater and sponge filter. A tank like this is cheap and easy to set up for a betta.

Changing 4-5 gallons of water a week is fine if the tank is cycled. Usually you do large changes of 50% if you are trying to lower the ammonia or nitrite levels of a tank that's not done cycling. Read about cycling here: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21
or here:http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html When you're done with this link, click on "Contents" to read more about setting up a tank.

 

[soonerbarb]

I had tiger barbs in with my betta, I watched them real close for the first couple of days and they did good....I have decided against doing the 50% water change.

 

[Billsgate]

It is never bad to do a 50% water change, but i would do a 5 gal water change every week if i were you. If it's been longer then a week ago, just change 10 gallons, once. You should never do much more then 50% pwc.
But again, change 5 gallons every week and you're fine.
It might have been the barbs that beat your betta up.......tiger barbs can gang up on other fish.

 

[SeriousDude5]

Yes I believe your beta may have lost his fins to another fish as for water changes 50% seems sufficient for a tank of that size considering the water could get polluted quiet quickly and if you don't want to do 50% every other week do 25% a week. Good Luck!

 

[gheitman]

I do 20% weekly water changes on my larger planted tanks and 30% on my smallest (5g) planted tank. Have you checked the nitrate levels on your tank? Since you just set it up in October you are probably just reaching the end of the nitrogen cycle being fully developed. I would recommend adding plants any time you want. They will only help in keeping nitrates down.