Ailing Betta

[Jolie2k]

Ive got a Betta who seems to be getting worse and worse. He was in a 1 gal Oct- Mar, and fared very well without a filter or heater. We then upgraded in Mar to a 3 gal with heater and filter, and he just seems to be getting worse and worse. He developed popeye after about 6 weeks in the new tank. We treated it with Maracyn and it got better, but it came back within a month. Now he's got a cotton-like growth throughout his beautiful fins, and we don't know what we're doing wrong. We were doing 80% changes because of what I read on this site, but now we're doing 100% changes every 3 weeks.

I got one of those submersible ph indicators, but I think it's just gone kaput in a couple of weeks: the color went from orange to white in a couple of weeks from the time we bought it.

Sorry for the long ramble, I'm just trying to give as much info as I can. Thanks to anyone who can shed some light. This is our first fish - he blows bubble nests all the time and we love him!

 

[JohnnyEck]

My betta also seemed to get worse when I upgraded him from a bowl to a tank. To me, it's still a mystery as to exactly what happened - it may have been the stress of a new environment, possibly the fact that he wasn't used to the bacterial flora at a higher temperature and the filter currents. So I can commiserate.

I'm not sure this is going to help you, but what I did when this happened was isolate him back in his home bowl after I'd carefully decontaminated it with boiling water for several minutes. There was nothing else in it (gravel or plants), and the water was regularly changed and medicated. The trick is, I placed this "clean room" inside of the heated tank (with a level below the lip of the bowl so the water wouldn't mix). This way, he could first get used to the temperature difference. After he seemed thoroughly well, I raised the level of the big tank (after also having cleaned it, but again with no harsh chemicals, and no boiling water not to ruin the caulking), so he could swim out, and removed the bowl. After this, I was really careful about monitoring the water quality for a while, until I was sure he wasn't getting sick anymore.

Besides pH, I would also be really careful about monitoring ammonia, because that seems the bane of my tank. I'm sure you're going to get lots of other people commenting on how your tank should be cycled, so I'll skip it. However, if yours, like mine, is not cycled - do watch for ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. You can buy a kit that can test for all of the parameters, and change the water to keep the levels of these chemicals down.

If your pH is, indeed, the culprit, you can buy chemicals to raise or lower it to an appropriate level.

I also use aquarium salt. I have read that it can help your Betta fish stay healthy, even though there's is also lots of back-and-forth about this. I am of the opinion that it's beneficial because it puts electrolytes in water, which makes it closer in composition to your fish's body. To me, it seems like that's a good thing.

 

[adadkins1]

Do not worry about the pH at this point in time. As long as your pH isn't fluctuating all over the place you are going to be fine. The last thing you want to do is use chemicals to change the pH. They will cause it to change rapidly and are unsafel.

You need to do about a 25-50% water change every week, not every 3 weeks. If the new tank wasn't cycled then the ammonia and nitirite are probably what caused the betta's ailments. It sounds like he may have fin rot. If you start doing water changes twice every week to keep his water crystal clear the fin rot may clear up. However another round of Maracyn may be needed if he has a severe case of fin rot. Some pictures would be a great help.