wildroseofky
Aquarium Advice Addict
I went to Petsmart Monday evening to check out their Betas and get a new tank. I picked up a 20 long for $29. Was that a good buy? They had just got a shipment of Betas in a few hours earlier. I went through several racks of Betas and it made me sad. One was dead and most, not all, looked depressed and sad. I found a pink female with rosy fins but I did not want a female right now. I moved what I thought was an empty cup in the back to see if any more were back there and found a lone pink male baby. He as maybe an inch and half long.
He is a pretty opalescent pink with a few blue spots. He looked to be missing some scales on his head and I was worried about getting him. I asked the store clerk about him and she said that was normal for that type of Beta. I told her I did not believe that because my research had never said anything about Betas having a bald head. He didn't appear to be sick. His skin looked healthy, all other scales were shiny and smooth, and his fins were all intact and full. I kept debating and finally, after they knocked off $2 on the sale price, I decided to take a chance. The clerk then tried to sale me the pink female saying they would do fine together in one tank. I did not fall for that and told her I only wanted one for now. I got him home, acclimated him over 2 hours, and put him in his new tank. He explored a little. Flared at his reflection some. Then he started hunting. I went ahead and gave him a few Beta pellets and he ate with gusto.
He has been in my 10 gallon for almost three days now and of course problems have occurred. Not with him, with the tank. This is a heavily planted 10 gallon, setup for almost 8 months, and kept cycled with snails and baby mollies. Evidently the 8 little mollies were not enough to build up a big enough BB colony. A few hours after I put him in I noticed him and the few babies still in the tank acting funny. I did a water check and ammonia was .50, nitrite was 1ppm, and nitrate was 5. I panicked and immediately did a 90% water change. Everyone started acting better immediately. I went ahead and pulled out as many of the babies as I could and put them in another tank. I still have around 4 I couldn't catch. All less than half inch. I kept doing water checks and I pulled another cycled HOB off of another tank. I had a small canister filter on there and it developed several leaks the night before so I had taken it off and just left a sponge filter I had in there. Probably another thing that caused a problem. I had left the filter floss from the canister near the sponge filter but evidently not enough. I have been doing twice a day water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite down. I also took more filter media out of another HOB and added to the HOB I put on the 10 gallon. That seems to have helped things. All of the water changes have stressed out the new Beta and he hides every time he sees me. Today my water perimeters are ammonia barely green so less than .25, nitrite 0, nitrate looks like 10. So things are getting better.
Now that I have written a mini novel some questions. My tank temp is not staying above 75 degrees. I am using a 50 watt heater but I had to borrow it last weekend for my 29 gallon tank. I broke that one moving the tank. I picked up a new one and returned the 50 watt to the 10 gallon. It's original home. It kept the tank at any temp I set it before but now is not even when I maxed out the temp dial. Did I damage it or does it just take awhile to get the temp back up. It has been back in the tank since Monday morning.
Should I be worried about the missing scales? He seems fine. Nothing is red or a different color than his scales. It just looks like bare skin on his head area down to his gills. Gills are not read or flared. I tried to get a photo but my camera is not great. I did add a little kosher salt and epsom salt to the tank. About a teaspoon full. I have a mystery snail and other snails in there. Should I remove the mystery snail and add more salt? He swims around and is exploring his tank. He has flared at his reflection and lot and noticed the fish in the next tank and flared at them. He hasn't bothered the snails or the baby mollies in his tank. He looked them over but then wondered off.
He has eaten a few baby ramshorns. Is that a problem? He has not bothered the bigger snails but I noticed him picking something off of some plants and, when I looked closer, saw him eat a very tiny ramshorn. He ate his pellets with gusto this morning and finally didn't hide as much when he saw me.
I cannot get the photos to load. It keeps telling me I have too many. How do I delete previous attachments from old posts?
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/behindthethermometer_zps5f8e1aa2.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/bettaside_zps9a6e6b57.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/betta2_zps5a83a3cf.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/bettatank_zps4df984b0.jpg
He is a pretty opalescent pink with a few blue spots. He looked to be missing some scales on his head and I was worried about getting him. I asked the store clerk about him and she said that was normal for that type of Beta. I told her I did not believe that because my research had never said anything about Betas having a bald head. He didn't appear to be sick. His skin looked healthy, all other scales were shiny and smooth, and his fins were all intact and full. I kept debating and finally, after they knocked off $2 on the sale price, I decided to take a chance. The clerk then tried to sale me the pink female saying they would do fine together in one tank. I did not fall for that and told her I only wanted one for now. I got him home, acclimated him over 2 hours, and put him in his new tank. He explored a little. Flared at his reflection some. Then he started hunting. I went ahead and gave him a few Beta pellets and he ate with gusto.
He has been in my 10 gallon for almost three days now and of course problems have occurred. Not with him, with the tank. This is a heavily planted 10 gallon, setup for almost 8 months, and kept cycled with snails and baby mollies. Evidently the 8 little mollies were not enough to build up a big enough BB colony. A few hours after I put him in I noticed him and the few babies still in the tank acting funny. I did a water check and ammonia was .50, nitrite was 1ppm, and nitrate was 5. I panicked and immediately did a 90% water change. Everyone started acting better immediately. I went ahead and pulled out as many of the babies as I could and put them in another tank. I still have around 4 I couldn't catch. All less than half inch. I kept doing water checks and I pulled another cycled HOB off of another tank. I had a small canister filter on there and it developed several leaks the night before so I had taken it off and just left a sponge filter I had in there. Probably another thing that caused a problem. I had left the filter floss from the canister near the sponge filter but evidently not enough. I have been doing twice a day water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite down. I also took more filter media out of another HOB and added to the HOB I put on the 10 gallon. That seems to have helped things. All of the water changes have stressed out the new Beta and he hides every time he sees me. Today my water perimeters are ammonia barely green so less than .25, nitrite 0, nitrate looks like 10. So things are getting better.
Now that I have written a mini novel some questions. My tank temp is not staying above 75 degrees. I am using a 50 watt heater but I had to borrow it last weekend for my 29 gallon tank. I broke that one moving the tank. I picked up a new one and returned the 50 watt to the 10 gallon. It's original home. It kept the tank at any temp I set it before but now is not even when I maxed out the temp dial. Did I damage it or does it just take awhile to get the temp back up. It has been back in the tank since Monday morning.
Should I be worried about the missing scales? He seems fine. Nothing is red or a different color than his scales. It just looks like bare skin on his head area down to his gills. Gills are not read or flared. I tried to get a photo but my camera is not great. I did add a little kosher salt and epsom salt to the tank. About a teaspoon full. I have a mystery snail and other snails in there. Should I remove the mystery snail and add more salt? He swims around and is exploring his tank. He has flared at his reflection and lot and noticed the fish in the next tank and flared at them. He hasn't bothered the snails or the baby mollies in his tank. He looked them over but then wondered off.
He has eaten a few baby ramshorns. Is that a problem? He has not bothered the bigger snails but I noticed him picking something off of some plants and, when I looked closer, saw him eat a very tiny ramshorn. He ate his pellets with gusto this morning and finally didn't hide as much when he saw me.
I cannot get the photos to load. It keeps telling me I have too many. How do I delete previous attachments from old posts?
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/behindthethermometer_zps5f8e1aa2.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/bettaside_zps9a6e6b57.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/betta2_zps5a83a3cf.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/Beta/bettatank_zps4df984b0.jpg
Last edited:
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