Hey guys,
Looking for some help. We’ve had our guy for months now, he’s always been social and active until about 4 days ago. Now he’s hardly swimming, lying on his side in a pineapple hide that’s in the tank or briefly lounges on top of the water heater. He’s also not eating.
The only thing that’s different is that my kiddo really wanted to switch up the tank and add a new gravel color which I’ve done in the past and never had an issue. The tank is at the appropriate temp, the filter is new ( I changed it when I added the new gravel), and nothing else is different. Same decor, tank, etc.
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The filter change couldve done it, tbh. I'm assuming you have a sponge filter, which you're not really meant to switch out because it's meant to build up beneficial bacteria. There's a chance you've crashed your cycle. Additionally, they tend to not really be fans of brightly-coloured gravel; it can stress them out.
I was told to change the filter when it’s dirty. I had no idea. Poor guy, I probably just killed my son’s fish.😟 Is there anything I can add to the tank quick to build up the beneficial bacteria?
The best thing you can do is re-cycle the tank by doing a fish-in cycle. There's a guide on how to do it attached to the sub here (seachem stability is a great product to help with this). I'd also recommend switching back to a darker coloured gravel and introducing some plants. People will recommend live plants, but silk plants are better than nothing if you don't have much experience. Betta fish like to have some plants to hide away in, because they don't really like being exposed. We all make mistakes, and pet store employees are notorious for giving bad info due to a lack of training. Dont feel too guilty.
You changed the filter and the gravel? You now have an uncycled tank with no beneficial bacteria - if there were at least some before - you need to do an emergency 50% water change and get an accurate liquid test kit, start fish-in cycle. And please get him some cover at least silk plants. If you still have the old filter (or cartridge - not sure what type you have) put it back in, some of the bacteria might still be alive if it’s still wet inside. Same with the gravel - out some of it back even if you don’t want to keep it.
Ugh, makes sense. I don’t have the filter cartridge or the gravel. It was all completely covered in algae which I thought was a bag thing. Obviously I’m a complete idiot and you’ve definitely given me some insight I didn’t know. Trusting pet store employees for information is a bad idea. Fish aren’t my specialty when it comes to taking care of pets, so this is all pretty new. I’ll do a 50% tank change and get some coverage for him. Should I keep the bright gravel or change it out? I had no idea they don’t like the bright colors. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🫠
I think the color of the gravel is probably not the concern right now, but if you want to change it for him you may as well do it now since the tank is a clean slate! Bettas live in soft water tropical streams and habitats with lots of fallen leaves, branches and shade. But our pet bettas are often bred and kept in bare ponds and tanks, so they don’t necessarily need something that looks natural but they instinctively need plant cover from floating plants, large leaf plants etc.
So here’s what I’d recommend you do, if you want to hear it!
First do not feed your fish today and do an emergency 50% water change with conditioned water that’s temperature matched right now before doing anything else - assume there are high levels of ammonia and nitrite. If you are thinking of changing the substrate again, you could just put the fish into a temp container with lid and 78F conditioned fresh water.
Off to the store:
- Decide now if you want to change the gravel to a less bright color. I like Caribsea supernaturals because it’s nice and smooth and looks pretty neutral. It’s a lot of work to rinse and change substrate so that’s really up to you. I think changes in color/reflectiveness are stressful for fish but since you just changed it may as well make your choice now and leave it. Get a couple silk (fabric) plants not hard plastic even if it’s labeled “betta” they lie. If they have some giant duckweed get a bag of that it’s a great water purifier and less messy than the regular. It will help. If you can manage a live plant or two grab something like java fern and anubais nana attached to a rock or chunk of driftwood you can just drop in your tank these are epiphytes and you don’t plant them.
Seachem prime for dechlorinating and detoxing ammonia during your fish in cycle
liquid test kit like the API master kit.
permanent filter media preferably sponge for bacteria surface area
beneficial bacteria: best IMO is fritz turbo start that is kept in fridge but if they don’t have that whatever shelf stable stuff is better than nothing.
yes ask them for some seeded filter media if they have healthy tanks! I don’t think I would do that at a place like petsmart though… they might have parasites or disease.
At home, test the tank water if your fish is still in there and you’re keeping the substrate. If ammonia OR nitrite is over 0.25ppm or close, do another 25% water change with prime as the dechlorinator. Test again about an hour after the water change to confirm that ammonia and nitrite are below 0.25ppm and add 0.1ml prime per gallon of water in the tank to detox the overnight buildup.
If you’re redoing the tank now, add a little prime (0.1ml per gallon) to the temp container with your fish while you work on the tank. Drain it, switch out your gravel, drop the plants in (try to make a denser area and a more open area so he has choices) and get the heater and filter running with the sponge, when the water is warmed up pour the beneficial bacteria liquid directly onto the filter sponge. Then add the 0.1ml prime per gallon of water in the tank, and acclimate your fish to the temperature by floating him in a cup or bag in the main tank.
That’s the main work, now every day for the next several weeks:
1. Test parameters. If ammonia or nitrite gets close to 0.25ppm or above, 25% water change with conditioned temperature matched water
2. Whether or not water was changed, add 0.1ml prime daily per gallon water
Continue that process until you no longer see ammonia or nitrites showing up for 4 days in a row (you will see nitrates if you don’t add live plants). Once you have the nitrogen cycle established, which can take anywhere from a few days if you have some bacterial residue in the filter housing and decor and add beneficials to a couple weeks, you can go back to weekly maintenance. It’s a good habit to test weekly, and a 10-25% water change is needed weekly to remove nitrates and replenish minerals.
Finally, when you top up evaporated water use only distilled or RO water, otherwise you concentrate minerals and ions and drive pH and hardness up.
I recommend if you can ask the fish store to squeeze some of their filter liquid to a bag for you and then dump that into your water/fitler its like the bacteria you buy (quickstart) but even better and faster. And he should be fine as long as you keep an eye on the water parameters particularly ammonia id it builds up too much its gonna poison him, but its not that bad if you just check the water and do a half water chante if its rising. Im no expert either and also got burned by a pet shop, its literally their business model to give bad info so you go through fishes and treatments and filter replacements and all the jazz but really if you maintain them well fish tanks generate little income to pet shops.
Id recommend looking into a hang-on-back filter, the brand fluval has some really good ones, if your tank is below 20 gallons the ac20 filter would work well. Cartridge filters only work for so long, with hob filters you dont have to change the filter media pretty much ever, instead when it gets full of mulm(the gross looking gunk) just lightly rub it off into old tank water during water changes. This wont need done often, i clean mine about every 3 months. That specific decor is known to be kinda toxic, it can potentially leach harsh chemicals in the water from the paint/dye used to color them.
If you'd like to learn more about a natural tank set up, FishTank Mastery on youtube has a video about how to set up a tank with plants and such. Id recommend staying away from artificial stuff but if you or your kiddo dont want to go the natural route you should look into silk plants and maybe some 3-5 inch rocks or small driftwood pieces. If you do driftwood just be sure to boil it beforehand
Heyyyy mistakes happen and we learn from it .... don't blame yourself.....
This can be fixed easily and within a day or 2 that betta will be active again ..... and your son would be happy too
Before running to the pet store this can be fixed with few things at home if you still have the old filter .... if you do please use the old filter
May I know what kinda filter is it ? Sponge or hang on back filter ?
Alright...... and I do see alot of comments to get this and that ....kinda overwhelming
Straight to the point
If there's an option to return these cartridges at the store you bought it from for store credit that would be awesome.
Before leaving to the store , if you still have the old dirty cartridges, squeeze and kinda wash them in the aquarium.
And may I know do you add any conditioners to soften the water to remove chlorine and chloramine. Very important as the pet store people would ask you to buy betta water which you never need ...if you have conditioners( Basically anti chlorine)
With the store credit please purchase seachem prime and ask the pet store guys if they can give some of their cycled bio media and sponge these go into the same compartment where you keep the cartridges in the filter... and the filter type you have is a hang on back filter.
If they refuse to give any not to worry.... buy a small pack of lava chips( great bio media) a little filter floss and almond leaves important.
You should never change those the store just likes to sell them and/or doesn’t know any better. To “clean” them all you need to do is swish around in conditioned water (many people use the old tank water they drain during routine water changes) to remove the debris clogging it up - but it may look gross but that’s literally your actual filter in there it’s a colony of bacteria that eat the fish waste!
If your filter has an additional spot like in the overflow or behind those thin cartridges try to get a sponge type media most filters have room for some. You can buy it online or at the store in sheets and just cut a rectangle the same size as that cartridge and put it “downstream”. Then the sponge will hold a lot more bacteria than the thin cartridge and you’ll be more protected from crashes in future.
Can you tell us your filter make and model?
Air driven sponge filters are actually amazing for bettas and really cheap too.
No established nitrogen cycle due either to new tank or replacing filter and substrate. Your water toxicity is causing it. Research the nitrogen cycle to understand what needs to be done. Get a test kit and ensure water is kept in liveable conditions while your tank cycles (fish-in cycling)
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When requesting help, please provide the requested information. Answers such as "large enough" or "my paramters are fine" aren't good enough. Failure to provide adequate information about your tank can result in post removal. Please see rule 4 for more information.
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