December 2011
44 posts
My betta is a year old, Tribbles is his name. These last few months he has gotten a touch of white tufts of cotton on his fins. I read up about it and changed his water.. tried to keep water in balance .. and lately his fins have started looking scraggly and the white tufts are back. I have bought maracyn two this morning and I am going to give him this for 5 days.. and then change his water AGAIN... I'm worried I may not get him well.. Advice?
If the white tufts appear sort of fuzzy, it could either be a fungus or columnaris, a gram-negative bacteria. Seeing as you treated him with maracyn and it didn’t help, you have a couple different options.
You can send me another ask with a photo of the tufts in it so I can get a better idea of what it looks like. If you’re sure that it’s comlumnaris and not just a fungal infection, you can try a new treatment cycle with either kanamycin (SeaChem’s Kanaplex) or tetracycline, both of which treat gram-negative bacterial infections.
If you’re not sure, send me a photo and I’ll reply in private to you. If it’s fungal you don’t want to dose him with antibiotics.
To the anon with cloudy water: If you're using dissolving tablets to treat the water, that could be the cause of the cloudiness. Those tablets have some effervescence to them, which means that as they dissolve, they release millions of tiiiny gas bubbles into the water, and those bubbles remain suspended for quite a while, giving the water a murky look. It doesn't harm the betta, just an aesthetics issue, but liquid dechlors don't have that effect.
What is the best way to make water safe for bettas, dissolving tablets or bettasafe? And how do I get my tank to not be so murky...when ever I clean my fish tank I take out all the water and gravel, so I could clean the gravel. But when I fill the tank back up, it gets a little murky. The first time I moved my fish into his new tank it was clean, but ever since then the water looks a little cloudy.
To be honest, any liquid water conditioner will work well. I don’t have any experience with the tablets, however.
Do you have a filter in the tank? White cloudiness in tanks with filters is usually a sign of the nitrogen cycle beginning. If you’re taking all of the gravel out and rinsing it, it actually takes away one of the places that beneficial bacteria can grow and help along your cycle.
If you’re using just a bowl… well, I’m not sure what that could be, then! Hope that this helped you. :)
i just upgraded my 2.5 tank to a 5 gallon tank and my hydor heater is no longer cutting it. any recommendations for a good heater? and i also would like some ideas of a good filter. thank you!!
They do make small preset heaters for 5gal tank sizes, but a 50w heater of any kind will work well. Hydor makes an adjustable heater that comes in 25w and 50w sizes, located here. :) Good luck!
I was on my way home from college, and the divider fell in my tank. I look back and see my bettas fighting to the death. I got them separated before they killed each other, but they tore each other's fins pretty bad. What should I do to prevent infections/sickness from this?
Clean, warm water is the best prevention for infection. If you’d like you can also add some AQ salt to the tank - just follow the instructions on the box (I believe it is one tablespoon for every five gallons). Good luck! They should be okay if you keep the water clean for them. :)
my betta is nipping the female continiuosly??????
I need some more info here, anon. Are you trying to breed? Did you just throw two bettas in together?
do you breed? i did for 5 years and had to quit cuz i started maintaining larger aquariums :P i just own 3 now :)
I’ve attempted it but not with much success, to be honest. :) I had a beautiful marbled veil tail pair that I wanted to spawn, but unfortunately a new fish contaminated my tank equipment and I lost both of them. On my list, though! I’ll definitely do it someday.
Is this a true website with this such language as the title? How much are your purple betta's? Do you have a few different purple colored betta's.
I don’t quite understand the first portion of the question, but I do not sell bettas from this page. This is merely a photo/ask blog in homage to betta splendens. Where I can find them, I usually link a source to the original image.
If you’re searching for purple, you can try aquabid.com, but you’re going to shell out a fair amount of cash for them if you can even find them there. I managed to get a purple butterfly by chance at a chain pet store that I have yet to photograph and share.. they’re out there, though, you just need to look hard for them. Good luck with that!
how much are the different breeds of bettas
To be honest it really depends on where you’re purchasing them from. At a pet store or a chain store it’s usually anywhere from $3 for veil tails and $15 or so for halfmoons, with different types in-between. Online you can expect to pay as little as $5 or as much as $45+ for quality specimens.
How to you promote fast fin growth/repair?
Clean, warm water and a high-protein diet. When in doubt clean water is often the best remedy.
I'd like to ask your opinion on keeping small shrimp (such as cherry shrimp) with a betta. I've been reading some very opposing ideas on this - some people say you can if the shrimps have places to retreat to, others say they're toast no matter what. I'm still in the process of putting together a tank, no critters have been bought yet... if I put the shrimp in my 5gal BEFORE I got the betta, do you think he'd react differently?
It really does depend on the personality of the fish. I’ve kept bettas that shredded shrimp on me and I’ve also kept bettas that were chased by (large) ghost shrimp. If you have plenty of cover for the shrimp they should be able to hide from potential harm. If you add them before the betta, it will definitely have a different outcome. If you allow him to establish a territory and then introduce the shrimp they will more than likely be subject to at least a little chasing.
Good luck!
I'm pretty sure my betta, Boaz, has fin rot. The entire back portion of his tail has vanished, and what's left is being to look tattered. I changed the water and added aquarium salt, but that didn't seem to fix anything. There's nowhere to that sells medicine nearby, so I'm left with ordering something online. What should I look for or do?
That sounds like tail biting to me, and not fin rot. Fin rot is usually (although not always) as a result of an injury to the fins and doesn’t demolish tails overnight. If you don’t have access to medicine, lean water and AQ salt is the best remedy, but it’ll take a little time. Have patience, keep the water clean and you should avoid infection. :)
Hello! My betta suddenly died about a month ago, I wanted to ask about what might be the cause. For a while before it died, every time I fed him, he would start floating at the top a little & would have a hard time swimming down, but whenever I would see him again after that, (like the next day) he would be swimming around normally, so I didn't think much of it. One day though he was found at the back of the tank on the rocks, dead. : ( Could it have been swim bladder disorder?
It’s possible, but without more info or photos or anything it’s hard to say. If he began floating after feeding I want to say it would be a constipation issue (which can mess with the swim bladder), but I’m not 100% certain to be honest with you. It could also be completely unrelated to that, as well, and just have been something you didn’t catch symptoms for.
Is their anything I can feed bettas besides flakes, pellets, and blood worms?
Of course! You can feed brine shrimp (either frozen or cultivated on your own), mosquito larvae, blackworms… most frozen )or even some live!) fish food you can find is digestible by bettas as long as it is not plant-based.
but all of their baby stocks seem to be veiltails :/ it'd be fun to have mixed in some crowns or deltas
Yes, all of the babies that we got at my store are veil tails.. though I agree, it would be awesome to have some others in there!
I just got a baby betta! he looks about 2 months old! How often should I feed him? Blood worms right?
Yes! Petco is currently trying out offering 6-week old bettas in addition to their adult stock. Younger bettas will benefit from a nutrient-rich diet and warm water.. blood worms are great, but a small pellet food as staple is also great. :)
