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Post by Betta MVP on Jul 9, 2003 16:08:54 GMT -5
I found a great article at the Aquamaniacs website about Amquel and Novaqua. It's an interview with the guy who invented them and very informative. Here is the link: www.aquamaniacs.net/jfk.htmlI never tried to feed the pellets with a wet toothpick before, I figured they were too heavy LOL, great idea! I do use this method when feeding my fry their powdered food though, it works great. I also take Bio-gold pellets and crush them with a rolling pin and use a wet toothpick to feed the fry. I feed mainly Bio-gold which my bettas love. Sometimes I give the HBH betta bites too, and once per week they get frozen blood worms. If I am conditioning them to spawn, they get lots of blood worms! |
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Post by Denise on Jul 9, 2003 23:00:26 GMT -5
Sef, this is really getting long and you are getting tons of good info here. What kind of conditioner to use does not have to be so confusing. Even though using bottled water, I still recommend using a dechlor/conditioner. Bottled water is not 100% pure and can contain traces of metals which are not harmful to us but may be harmful to the fish over time. Plus the fact I mentioned about washing things with tap water. You probably don't need to worry so much about ammonia in a cycled tank since you have good bacteria to take care of it. In a bowl, ammonia detoxifier is more important. I think you should continue to use the Aqua Safe (I think that is what you said you had). If it calls for one tsp. per 10 gallons, then in bottled water probably 5 or 6 drops per gallon would be fine and you will certainly not be overdoing anything. You will want to wash you fabric plants and any other decorations probably every week or two. Take them out and run them under hot tap water and scrub with your fingers, then rinse in cold water and drip dry on a paper towel. If not rinsed regularly, these items will begin to grow algae. You will also get algae on the inside glass of the tank and you will need to get a little algae scrubber sponge at the pet store to periodically scrub the inside walls of the tank. I never get algae in the betta bowls since they are cleaned every week, but the goldfish tank gets algae every two or three weeks, more in warm weather, and I have to continually scrub it out. I just get the dark green algae on the plant leaves and cave decorations and I have never had a full-blown algae bloom that turned the water green like I've heard can happen. Please do not use any chemical algae killer products. About Melafix, I'll add my additional two cents. I love it and recommend that no fish cupboard be without it. It is not a dechlor/conditioner, it is an all natural medication for healing wounds and fins. The dose is 10 drops per gallon, but as someone said, it is a little strong and I like to use maybe 7 or 8 drops per gallon. If you ever notice a little tiny hole in a fin, or a little split in the tail, Melafix will heal it right up. It will not, however, cure a severe case of fin rot. It is a great preventative for fin rot by using it with every water change. There was a lot of discussion about it a few months ago and many, many people use it and recommend it. Horatio is doing just fine and I know you don't want to add unnecessary things to his water, so you don't need to start using it for no reason. It would be good to have on hand just in case you ever see a little tear in his fin or tail. Melafix can be used with aqua salt and conditioners in the water, but not with any other medication. Someone mentioned Aquarisol. If you've ever read Bettatalk.com, she recommends using it as a preventative for parasites. She certainly knows her bettas, but she is a breeder and keeps hundreds of bettas in large divided tanks where parasites might be a problem. For the average person keeping bettas as pets, I don't think you need it and I do not use it because parasites are not a common problem. If you ever do have a parasite problem (I bought a betta once who had some kind of invisible parasite), then a copper-based medication like Aquarisol or Coppersafe will work wonders. I feed a variety of Bio-Gold and HBH betta bites on a daily basis with a freeze dried bloodworm no more than once a week as a treat. All the bettas love Bio-Gold and HBH bites. Bettamvp had a great idea about crushing up the Bio-Gold for the fry. When I first got my little girl, Sally, I thought the Bio-Gold would be too big for her to eat and thought about crushing some, but never did. I was giving her the tiny HBH bites which she loves. Then one day I picked out a Bio-Gold pellet that was smaller than average and gave it to her. She inhaled it! So now I give her one or two a day along with the bites and she has no problem eating them. Keeping Horatio and his tank clean and healthy will really not be so much work as it might sound by reading all this stuff. It's when your tanks start multiplying and are all over the house that it becomes a lot of work, but fun work  |
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Post by Emerson on Jul 10, 2003 8:34:00 GMT -5
Actually, I'm using StressCoat, but thinking of switching back to AquaSafe. I used AquaSafe when I first set up the tank, because a packet of it came with the aquarium. When it ran out, I bought StressCoat because it's the only thing our small local pet shop sells. To follow up on what you said about cleaning the ornaments: I have never removed the two large ornaments in Horatio's tank and cleaned them. Do I really need to do that regularly? We don't seem to have an algae problem (at least not yet), because the tank is located well away from all windows. The only thing I occasionally get on the front of the tank is a little line of white film right at the water line. This seems to wipe right off. Will removing and cleaning the ornaments (which are both very large) affect the "good" bacteria? I plan to order some Melafix online, along with the AquaSafe (or Novaqua; still debating) and a few cleaning tools. I have noticed that my weekly partial water changes seem to go faster than they used to, and I don't feel quite as nervous about them. It helps that Horatio is such a good sport about it!  Thanks for all of the good information here. sef |
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Post by Denise on Jul 11, 2003 3:57:22 GMT -5
If you do not see any algae building up, then I guess you don't have to take out the ornaments and wash them. If I don't, I get algae, so I always do. Most of the good bacteria are living in the gravel and filter, so washing off the ornaments and plants does not cause a problem. A helpful hint that I received from an experienced fish keeper is don't change your filter media every month or whatever the manufacturer recommends. Just rinse it in some of your disgarded tank water (the stuff you have syphoned out). That way your filter will be clean enough to continue to do a good job, but you will be keeping most of the good bacteria that would be lost by putting in a new one or by rinsing it in tap water. Eventually you will need a new one when the material wears out. I have another helpful hint about that, but I will write tomorrow night cuz it is way too late now. Take care.
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Post by Denise on Jul 12, 2003 3:54:56 GMT -5
Okay, here's my other helpful hint for keeping good bacteria in your filter. I'm not sure what your filter looks like, but mine is a Whisper Junior and has a white cottony mesh-like bag that the charcoal goes in. I told you about rinsing this in your used fish water instead of replacing it every month. When you finally do have to replace it, you will be throwing out a lot of good bacteria. To help keep more bacteria, take an extra piece of your filter material and stuff it in with the filter that is now doing the work. When you finally have to change your filter, the extra piece in there will stay and have some nice bacteria to spread to the new filter when you put it in. It makes sense to me. Credit for this idea goes to Mickey in Alaska. He was my mentor for changing out my goldfish tank gravel, and everything worked out great. The goldfish, and their water, are healthy and happy as can be. Have a great weekend!
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Post by Emerson on Jul 12, 2003 14:09:06 GMT -5
Denise, Thanks! Actually, I was wondering the best way to do this, so you've given me a good idea. I need to look and see how the filter is constructed. If it's not possible to do this, is there another way to get the good bacteria started on it? The filter seems to be in pretty decent shape, but is getting a little grungy -- better, though, after I rinsed in the tank water. Does your filter encasement have an impeller? For some reason, every time I remove the filter to inspect it, the impeller starts making a slight noise. I think I'm somehow getting some particles of charcoal in it. It eventually works its way out, but is a little annoying!  |
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Post by Denise on Jul 13, 2003 0:47:33 GMT -5
I'm not sure what an impeller is. My filter is the type that hangs on the back of the tank and the charcoal bag fits in a little compartment, and the water intake tube fits in another little compartment. I don't think any charcoal has ever spilled out of the bag on mine. Is yours one of those bio-wheel filters in the lid of the tank, a corner box filter, or the hang on the back kind? I only have the one tank (and numerous betta bowls), so my experience with different types of tanks and filters is very limited. Someone with more tank and filter experience could help you more on that one. Other than adding an extra piece of filter material and keeping it there when you discard the old filter, I can only think of one other thing I have heard of for helping to keep some good bacteria in the filter. That is to put a couple of pinches of your gravel in your filter bag or box or whatever you have. I have not done this, but is sounds like a good enough idea to me. For the record, for many years I replaced my goldfish's filter every month with a brand new one because I thought I was supposed to. I have never, ever had a disease in the goldfish tank. Now that I know about putting in the extra filter material, I think it's a good idea and it's easy enough to do, so I figured why not? |
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Post by Betta MVP on Jul 13, 2003 6:29:03 GMT -5
sef,
Are you turning off your filter when you take out the filter media to clean it? If you are, just add some water to it before you turn it back on so that it starts back up easier. Sometimes, when you turn it off, the water level in the filter goes down and the noise is the impeller trying to get the flow going again.
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