Betta Fish.................PART TWO

[lilacben]

hammerman.....Divagirl....... just an update on Sam. my husband gave the tank three changes of water over a couple of days and put the heater up a bit. today he seems to be swimming more but then hiding in the aztec house. the nitriate ia still high. Should we keep changing the water or leave it for a few more days.? Thankyou for our help.

[divegirl]

Hi, sorry I didn't get back to your other post [had a keyboard breakdown].
Right, back to basics!
Is it the nitrATE or the nitrITE that is reading high?
If it's the nitrATE then don't worry too much but you could consider putting some live moss balls in the tank [you can get them on Ebay quite cheaply]. These will absorb any nitrate which is relatively harmless to the fish.
If it's the nitrITE then you need to keep up with the water changes. What does your ammonia read?
If you can let me know that we can take it from there.

Lisa x

[divegirl]

these are the moss balls

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk...h&hash=item5ad440fae4

They look good in the tank too!

[divegirl]

Right, just as a bit more information!
When you clean the tank you NEVER throw away the sponges in the filter!!!! Just give them a squeeze out in old tank water to remove the poop. Then put them straight back in, you only ever replace them when they are falling to bits and then you run new sponges along side them for a week or so.
This is called seeding, it means that the good bacteria [that eats the ammonia] gets transferred to the new sponges so you don't end up with a ammonia spike.
I suspect that is what may have happened here. He should be fine but if not there is one over the counter product that I do recommend and that is Melafix. Have a read up on it.
Any more questions just ask and I will help if I can.
Lisa x

[lilacben]

Divagirl. many thanks for your advise. The only reson we replaced filter sponge was because it told us to change them every month.? But up until last week we didnt bother. Wish we hadn't now.! Ammonia is spot on.!.Right it is Nitrite N 02 ........sorry if spelt it wrong.trust me! that is very high still. Changing water again now. Sam is a lot better since we turned the temp up. But will it hurt the other fish being higher.? Neons,and a couple of tiny fish.
Thanks again. x

[divegirl]

What temp are you running at now?
If it is the nitrITE that is running high you could be at the end of an ammonia spike!NitrITE eats ammonia and turns it into nitrate [that's the simple way of explaining it....lol], so keep up with the water changes until the nitrite is at 0 ppm.
Remember that as a antiboid your fighter needs to breath from the surface so make sure he has somewhere high to rest on near the surface.

Lisa x

oh and now you know....never change your filter media!

[lilacben]

Divegirl you are a gem , thankyou. the temp is now on 27-28 degrees. So will do as you say and give a water change everyday until it is 0. would 10% water change be enough or qould you do more.?x

[lilacben]

Me again Im afraid, we have both noticed that he has a small bulge on one side of his body, down by his tail. He is eating well though.?

[divegirl]

Hey hun...no problem!
I'd be doing a water change of 50% or more, there's no goodness in the water and as long as you de-chlor the water it will be fine!
Try starving all the fish for two days then feeding a cooked and de-shelled pea [crushed into little fish size bite size bits]. he may well be constipated if he has not been feeling good!
Remember, fish can go a good week with out food so they will come to no harm by starving them. In fact it will help the bacteria to re-seed.
Feed the pea for three days in a row and see how he is then.
How ever said keeping fish was easy eh!

Lisa x

[divegirl]

Oh just to add ....you should of course match the water temps when adding the new water!