40ppm nitrate tap water /ph shock

[Christoplis]

Hello. Well first off I’d like to say that this is all my fault for not cycling my tanks properly and not understanding everything needed for fish care. Yes I have a master kit and use it daily to check my tanks. Before I had received my master kit I was unaware of the nitrate issue in my water. We brought home a Betta and within a day he got really sick And Is battling fin melt. I’ve got the nitrate down to 5ppm with water changes. Not from my tap obviously. Ammonia is at 0. Nitrite is o and ph is at 7.6. It is a ten gallon tank and has only a pleco and the Betta. Oh and my original ph from the tap was 8.0-8.2. I know with the ph chAnge happening so fast it put the Betta in shock. Yesterday my nitrates were down to 10ppm and the Betta was doing horrible. Not eating sitting at the bottom kinda on its side. In one last ditch effort I did an 80% water change for him last night. Now this morning I go to see him and he is no longer hiding and laying down. Still at the bottom but not lying down. He has fin melt. Now that u can take all that in my biggest question is do I need to medicate him for fin melt or is there a great chance with great water conditions he kicks it on his own? I really don’t wanna Medicate him if he can pull out on his own. Please feel free to tell me all the mistakes I’m making and help me become an excellent fish keeper. I love those Lil guys and just wanna be educated and do my best with them. Oh P.s before the 80% water change last night I was doing about 40% water changes that started a few days ago. Everyday I was changing some water and he was just getting worse until this morning he is actually out. Not sure if he wants to eat today though. I’m using a fluval filter and also have a heater for the tank. The tank is newly established so vacuuming does not occur. Also no new decorations and he eats tetra Betta pellets

[IHaveAquariums]

I'd say the best thing for fin rot is aq salt and keeping the water about 82°, how did you get the pH down from your tap? Chemically alterting it isn't great and it'd be better to use driftwood to lower it, but I'd say if you can just improve the water conditions it'll help him the most

[Christoplis]

I started using Crystal Geyser bottled water. I did not use chemicals as they are frowned upon. The origanal tap and bottle mix has me at a stable and much lower ph than the previous 8.0.

[Christoplis]

Thinking about starting triple sulfa today. Day two of his fins melting and him hiding

[coralbandit]

Good clean water should bring him back to par IMO..
What kind of pleco do you have? 10g is really small for almost any pleco..
Bettas can be 'lazy' or rather they do like to lay around, but many prefer a large leaf of a plant [real or fake ] to lay on.Try getting him a 'hammock' to lounge on?

[Christoplis]

It’s an albino bristlenose pleco. The pleco is only one inch and isn’t my main concern. Although I appreciate the concern about the pleco. I’m in a dire situation with this Betta. The more I research the more contradictions I find. Use salt. Don’t use salt. Use Bettafix don’t use Betta fix. Use this oh no don’t do that. In all the subject it’s all just this person says yes the next says no. Leaving me in limbo and on my own. I guess learning on ur own is part of the hobby. I started fungus and parasite treatment yesterday for him. After spending about 36 hrs hiding he is now out and slowly moving around. Sitting at the top of the water and sinking to the bottom of the tank. Better than before I suppose. His fins won’t stop falling off. His movement is improving but his fins just keep coming off. Sad to watch. This was a pic of him yesterday after coming out of hiding. This morning he was at the top of the tank but those fins just keep shrinking

[coralbandit]

Clean temp matched conditioned water is best IMO.
80 + degrees will help him also.

[Christoplis]

Thank you and I appreciate you taking your time to reply to me. Sorry if I came off as being rude. Just super worried. He is on day two of much better water conditions. The worst of the water conditions was the 40ppm nitrate. Is that what did this to him? I can give water perimeters a lil later. Between nitrate and stress?

[TMaier]

My Betta lays around a lot. When I first got him we was very weak from living in a cup. He got stronger but is still a lay about. Nitrates 20-40 really are not a big issue. My planted tanks run about that all the time.

Good clean water, vacuum, and do not overfeed and your boy should improve.

My Betta has the floating log and loves it more than the leaf.
I keep it out of the direct light too.

[BBradbury]

Hello Chris...

If you're keeping a basic tank with fish from the local pet store, then large, weekly water changes of at least half the volume of the tank will keep the chemistry steady and this is all the fish need. You can test the water if you want to, but if you keep up on the water change routine above, testing isn't necessary, you always know the water is clean and the parameters steady.

B

[Christoplis]

He died

[TMaier]

Sad news. Sorry for your loss.

[Christoplis]

Very sad news. I’m just lost cause the pleco seems perfectly fine. I took him out and plan on cleaning the tank and starting again. Any suggestions on how to clean it and any suggestions on my tap water issue with the high nitrate would be appreciated. Could I go like half tap and half distilled? I don’t wanna have to buffer ph that’s why I’m not going ro

[Christoplis]

In other news my Black Molly in my 29gal just gave birth. I just went on a rescue mission I’ve saved the only three I’ve seen so far