Tragic Betta Deaths

[Hunnelips]

First off I would like to say hello all...I'm new to the forum. I have read and followed for awhile and finally decided to join.

Now to the point...I have had two tragic betta deaths.

I have a lot of experience keeping bettas and all of my past fish have lived 3 to 5 years.

Joey was alone in a one gallon for his whole life (3 years) up until I decided to place him in my community tank. He was very active and seemed happy for about a month and slowly lost color and became lethargic. He unfortunately passed soon after. Joey the second was purchased (could have been his identical twin) and was very happy to have tons of space to swim around and explore. He lasted about 4 weeks and died tonight. Earlier I had noticed he had a cottony growth on his underside. This had sprung up overnight because I watch all my fish very closely and the 29 gallon is at the foot of my bed. I watch them as I fall asleep nightly. I treated the tank with melafix according to dosing instructions but unfortunately it didn't help.

I can't tell you ammonia levels because something used in my water conditioning gives a false positive, and my api test always reads above 8ppm. My other two tanks test the same. All other fish are healthy so I know these readings are not accurate. I can't tell you nitrite or nitrate readings as I don't have the test for those. I can't tell you the ph either. The tank stays at a steady 78 degrees. I would call it over filtered because I have a power filter as well as an air driven diy bio filter. Bio filter is ceramic bio media by Fluval. There is absolutely no aggression in the tank between any of the fish. The zebrafish chase each other and that's about it. Platys breed regularly and I remove the fry. Water changes are three gallons once per week, Amquel Plus as the water conditioner.

As a final note I would just like to say that I'm completely stumped. Most fish keepers say bettas should have adequate filtration and steady higher temperatures as well as large swiiming expanse. This will be my second failed attempt at giving a betta a better home. The funny part is that my prior bettas live long happy lives in unheated one gallon tanks. Does anyone have some insight on this or can see something that I'm missing?

 

[Cactuspixie]

So sorry about your bettas
Perhaps the false positive result for ammonia that you are referring to is the fact that some conditioners (like prime and safe) convert toxic free ammonia to ammonium. It still reads as ammonia and still needs to be removed with water changes. Those conditioners need to be used at higher doses and added daily or every other day to keep the toxicity down. Basically it just buys you time and some breathing room.
Your other fish had adapted to the conditions in that tank over time, but your bettas were probably used to more regular water changes and couldn't cope with the sudden increase in toxins. (Not just ammonia)
I would do 50% water changes at least twice daily until you have that ammonia under .25ppm.
What stock do you have in that tank?

 

[Hunnelips]

6 platys 2 mollies 2 zebrafish 1 dwarf gourami 1 pleco

 

[Cactuspixie]

6 platys 2 mollies 2 zebrafish 1 dwarf gourami 1 pleco

Are the zebra fish danios and is the pleco a bristlenose (or other small species)? I would change at least 9 gallons each week once you have your ammonia under control. Only regular testing for ammo, trites and trAtes will tell you how much really needs to be changes though.

 

[Hunnelips]

Yes danios, and the pleco is common but he's a baby cakes and only one inch right now. Once he gets three inches I have another tank for him. I've done the 50 percent water change route once a day and it got me nowhere. My tap water tests at 1 ppm ammonia before conditioner and after conditioner due to chloramines. I've even bought water and tested it, got a 0 ppm reading, added it to the tank, waited a few hours and re tested and still got 8 ppm ammonia reading.

 

[jlk]

What type of test are you using for ammonia? Expiration date? What type of ammonia product are you using?

You really should invest in proper tests for all your levels because it's difficult to know the whole story here without knowing what everything reads. Even typical water conditioners/ammonia lock products can not handle 8ppm of ammonia and I suspect water quality issues are the main causative factor here.

 

[Fishfur]

Just as a fyi, that the first betta passed on may not have been because of anything you did wrongly. 3 years is longer than many of them live in captivity, and you had to have taken good care of him for him to have lived that long. Many of them don't make it to 2 years, and it's rare for any to make it past 4. I think the record is about 7 years but the average pet store Betta at two years of age is an elderly fish.

I am sorry for the loss on the second one, but jlk is right. You really do need to invest in good tests. Even though the other fish seem fine, unless you know what's going on with the water, it can be hard to nail down a cause for anything. Fish can become habituated to water conditions over time that may kill new fish who haven't been similarly habituated.

 

[Fishlover3578]

Most of mine are 2 years my oldest is about 3 lol lived I one gal bows wit WC once a month til now its once a week or every two

 

[Hunnelips]

What type of test are you using for ammonia? Expiration date? What type of ammonia product are you using?

You really should invest in proper tests for all your levels because it's difficult to know the whole story here without knowing what everything reads. Even typical water conditioners/ammonia lock products can not handle 8ppm of ammonia and I suspect water quality issues are the main causative factor here.

Nessler test by API...probably useless because I use ammo-carb in my filter cartridges and amquel plus as my water conditioner. My tap water has chloramines and reads 1ppm ammonia via the test AFTER I put amquel plus in. That's why I use so much ammonia safeguarding. I don't like adding ammonia to the tank. That's no good.

I believe I need the Seachem test that can read ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels through ammonia blocking chems.