Vervo Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Heya, so far I have 2 of my betta females die after another, then my male ram die last week like after the last betta female die. Now the last male ram looks sick... what shall I do? what happened was the first female betta got attacked or something, it had a very bad white spiky/fur like fungus on its anus, then it has white patch grown behind on one of her fin, then it keep eating her away... I did treated her with furan 2, and some melafix the whole time in a coke bottle, she was in there more than 2 weeks. during that I put the other female in a floating breeding trap as it keep teasing the the sick female, and I think she maybe caused the wound of the poor fish. So it will stop stressing the sick fish. after the first betta die, I let the fat female better out, not long after, she had some fungus /white patch sign on her chin (where her gills meets). Then it just getting worse, and during the time, I treated her as well in a coke bottle. but it die not long after. then, one of the male ram stayed at the bottom corner of the tank, breath rapidly, and I could see some mouth fungus was on him. My boyfriend said it cannot live in a small container like bettas, so may as well treated the whole tank, as we didnt set up the spare tank water, it is not that suitable to use as a hospital tank. So I treated the whole tank with furan 2, and we got some advice from the shop to drop 2 drops of methalene blue directly on the fish (we did that on the last female betta, seen to be kinda late), but it still pass away in 3 days. from last night, I can tell the last ram we got start to do the same thing, but can't really see any fungus on his mouth. we ran out of the furan 2 ( the Animates in Mt Eden said they have to re-order them), we are using tonic instead for the whole tank.. Maybe there are just some disease needed to be treated in the tank water, is there anyway to do this than do water changes?? I do my water change like twice a week for 25~30% water each time, sometime delayed but still will be 4 times 2 weeks. I saw there are UV-light filters, will it helps?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 UV filter wouldnt do anything. Immediately do a 50% water change (not less) then the next day do a 50% water change. Make sure your tank has got surface agitation, either from a good airstone or a filter. Do a full check on everything - temperature etc.., clean any gunk out of your filters while your at it too. And get your water tested. Only then can you start looking for the problem, and treating it. Golden rule when treating diseases - water change and aerate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted October 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 got some white spot happenning with my male betta, so I have raised the temp up to 29.6 c for the last 3 weeks. from the method you described, will it lose any good bacterias in the tank too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 got some white spot happenning with my male betta, so I have raised the temp up to 29.6 c for the last 3 weeks. from the method you described, will it lose any good bacterias in the tank too? So long as any filter cleaning is done in tank water (eg in a bucket of water taken out during a water change) then you wont lose bacteria. also with raising the temperature, there becomes less oxygen in the water (i think) so make sure you have good aeration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted October 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 yeh, I've make sure I got air stone in there 24/7, still awaits for my boyfriend to finally clean the filter... he set the filter up, he wouldn't want me to touch it. cos people told us no need to clean the filter as there are good bacterias in there, so we never change the filter media and clean it so far we got those big external filters with big tubes. but thanks for you advise, I'll do the 50 water change, and make my boyfriend clean the filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 yeh, I've make sure I got air stone in there 24/7, still awaits for my boyfriend to finally clean the filter... he set the filter up, he wouldn't want me to touch it. cos people told us no need to clean the filter as there are good bacterias in there, so we never change the filter media and clean it so far we got those big external filters with big tubes. but thanks for you advise, I'll do the 50 water change, and make my boyfriend clean the filter. What type of filter is it? Nearly all filters have a sponge, a sponge traps debris, poo etc.. before it can be broken down in the tank creating ammonia - the same thing happens if left in the filter too long, so youve probably got high ammonia too. You can clean you filter media as often as you like, as long as its not under tap water as its the chlorine that kills your bacteria. hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted October 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 something like Fluval 105?? my boyfriend already throw away the box and manual :-? We also have Bio Chem Zorb Large instead of carbon media in it (for 8 months now). it has been well, we never got high ammonia but nitrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 something like Fluval 105?? my boyfriend already throw away the box and manual :-? We also have Bio Chem Zorb Large instead of carbon media in it (for 8 months now). it has been well, we never got high ammonia but nitrate. Bio chem zorbs dont do anything for the nitrogen cycle (ammonia/nitrites/nitrates) they are chemical filtration for removing potentially harmful chemicals and tannis from driftwood (yellow water stain) After 8 months continous use you should probably bin it and replace it - give it a rinse, and if the particles are still brown then it cant even be recharged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 I only clean my filter out once or twice a year. No need to do it usually unless the water flow is reduced. The only way to know is to test the water. Can you tell us the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Also, how long has the tank been set up? I gather it has not been running for long (the 8months?)? What size is it and how many fish were in it and how many left? I hope you did not mix your meds. Always only use one at a time and use carbon in between to make sure it has removed all the first med before adding another. 99% of problems are caused by poor, or incorrect, water conditions. White spot is also a sign of stress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted October 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 about 110L, haven't check the PH so far, cos the tap water we have is always pH7, but we put a little bit of PH down for the rams. most of the time we tested the water, ammonia, nitrite always at 0, only the nitrate would be around 5 to 10 if we got lazy change the water. we got some real plants in there with light hood, and it is no way that it is over stock. we also put cycle* in every 2nd time we change the water. Sometimes may over feed a little, but we do twice a week water change. we haven 't been using the carbon media at all, and sometimes I do mix a little bit of medicine the filter is really powerful that even if I treated the tank with medicine, the 2nd day the tank water is almost colourless again when we got the most of the fishes in this tank were like 4 bettas, 5 rams, 4 rammsy noses, 2 medium clown loaches, and 1 bottom feeder. now we have 1 betta, 3 rams, 3 rammsy noses, 2 medium-large clown loaches and 1 bottom feeder. some fish die much earlier than what I have describe in this thread earlier, we think the female betta were picking on each other for the 1 male left, that's how they got stressed. not sure what's up with the ram that die earlier. Maybe the loaches were stressing other fishes by bullying others, even tho they r funny, but we may consider selling it and get smaller ones. p.s. we started fish keeping since earlier last year, not on this tank, but others. We are still are not so good on treating diseases, but we do know the basis on setting up tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 if you still have bio chem zorb in your filter, it will remove any medication. it is essentially a mixture of other things, and a very very high grade carbon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted October 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 that is a really good thing to know thanx, would you know if it is a good media to put in if I have to go away for a month, risking not changing water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 if you are confident that your filtration is a lot more than what is recommended (recommended = at least 3-4 times the volume of the tank per hour) (I for instance filter about 20 times the volume of my tank in an hour on average) then you can go away on holiday for a while without worrying too much. I know when I go on holiday (which is usually for 3 months over summer) - there is no one to take care of the tank, but because of the filtration, and the abundance of plants (old tank) - The tank would happily handle about 1 or 2 small water changes over that period. water would be added as it evaporated. It is advisable to remove any carbon for periods over 4-6 weeks. try getting "purigen", but i think most of the "zorb" products work for well over 2 months without needing attention. If your external filter is an eheim - see if you can train someone how to qucik clean the cannister filter without having to disassemble the whole thing. - it involves disconnecting the output pipe,from in-between the filter and the tank (where the joint should be if it is assembled correctly); and then running the filter as normal into a big bucket until most of the gunk comes out. It literally takes 2 minutes. (*imagines whetu saying "see now you can't do that in a fluval 04-05 series"). :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted October 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 That is really helpful information you got there, my bf and I donno what brand was it, as he already throw out the box and manual, his dad demanding a cleaning room without many stuffs :roll: so he throw it away, I cant see the brand on the filter anywhere. My bf was the one who bought the filter and set it up while I was at work, so I am not too sure about the water filtration volume it does. We will get those thing sorted before we going away, I think his uncle is happy to help us to change the water, but we still have to put those holiday food block in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.