Baby Medicine Dropper?

[DT]

Hi,
I have a baby medicine dropper now. It says to wash it in soap and warm water, and I know not to do that-to just use warm water-but is it okay to use this to deliver medication to my betta? (I got it for this purpose.) His fin rot seems to be returning; I probably wasn't giving him enough medicine last time, because, unable to get the exact dosage of Melafix, I acted on the side of caution. (I still have Marycin Two available-with teaspoons this time!-if you think I should use that instead.)
He has a plant in there; I don't know if it might be the problem. It's the plant that came with the Aquaview Plus Aquarium. (It's fake, but if he's sufficiently bored when I'm away I could see him playing with it, to the detriment of his tail.)
He's stopped bubbling, but I think that may be because the room is getting colder, and I read the thread on the other dormroom fish and will apply some of those same methods after class. (I have a thermometer I'll install when I change the water, and cross my fingers I'm doing it right because it came without instructions.)
Thanks!
-DT

[Rachel]

I would rinse the dropper really well in hot water and that should be fine.

It sounds as though your guy is doing fine after chowing down on that maracyn? You mentioned in that post that you fed him his "dinner pellet" and I was wondering how much and what you tend to feed him?

The basic rule for determining if your plant is safe is to run all the edges along pantyhose to see if it catches or snags anywhere. If not, the plant is most likely safe and I'd just leave it in there.

Yeah, dorm room temp never seems to be ideal does it? I didn't have bettas then, but mine would have been perfect because it was always 90 degrees in there! Temp can be a problem though, so try to keep him warm and see what your thermometer reads.

How large would you say your tank is and often are you doing water changes?

[DT]

Thank you!
The last time I did a full water change was awhile ago, between three weeks and a month. The tank has a filter which keeps it clean, and I'm partly afraid of overdoing it and wiping out good bacteria and partly afraid of giving him too much stress. (We took a couple of trips over the summer and I felt really bad because I had to bring him travelling, which could not have been fun from his POV-though he did bubble through both trips. However, because his fin rot came on fairly soon after moving him into the dorm, I suspected travel stress had something to do with it, especially since this was fairly soon after one of our family trips. And the dorm room was not cold at that time. My college is in VA, and my dorm does not have AC.)
He did get some very small water changes when I was giving him Melafix, too.
The tank is about one gallon.
I feed him Wardley Betta Food Premium Floating Mini Pellets. I give him three a day, one when I get up, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. (His "breakfast", "lunch", and "dinner" pellets.) He "begs" for it fairly constantly, going to the hole in the tank where I drop the food every time he sees me. ("Mini" is a little bit of a misnomer. They are about the size of his eyeballs.)

[twoluvcats]

DT said:

Thank you!
The last time I did a full water change was awhile ago, between three weeks and a month. The tank has a filter which keeps it clean, and I'm partly afraid of overdoing it and wiping out good bacteria and partly afraid of giving him too much stress.

How can you do this...don't you get poo buildup and algae?!? All of my tanks are filtered and I can only go 2 weeks MAX before I need to change the water...and pretty much scrub the whole tank. I was just out of town for 12 days...and everything needed to be scrubbed down when I got home. Plus, then by waiting that long and having to change most of your water AND your filter pad, you basically crash the tank. If you did small regular water changes you wouldn't crash so hard when you replaced the filter pad.

[DT]

No; I mean, I'd see algae, and when I do clean I'd notice if the poo build-up were really bad (right?), especially with the attention I pay to the gravel. I attributed it to the filter, which is still running.
His getting fin rot right after coming here also lent to suspicions about the tap water, though I am careful enough between tap and tank maybe that isn't a legitimate concern. (Brita filter, Chlor-out, sitting time.) (And I know I have to do it sometime; I guess I didn't want to remove the medication and possibly replace it with the infection!)

[Rachel]

Well, the fin rot may keep returning because you do need to change the water more often. I'd start doing partial water changes every couple of days. As long as you clean the gravel or suck out debris from the tank on a regular basis, I would think partial water changes should be fine to maintain it.

The reason I asked about the dinner pellet was because it sounded like you weren't feeding your guy enough. 3 pellets per day is going to leave an adult betta hungry. I'm not sure what the Wardley pellets look like, but if they're large you may want to consider getting an alternative. Actually variety in your betta's diet is great for him and will help to keep him healthy. Maybe try feeding a few different types of pellets and something like freeze dried bloodworms. I'd feed a few pellets or worms at each meal. Twice a day is enough, but if you still go with three than just divide the servings up more. Here's the HB Food Page for some other food ideas.

What's the thermometer in his tank reading?

I'll send you some Food Samples if you're interested, let me know.

[DT]

I want to follow your advice, but I have lots of questions. I'm sorry if some of the questions are stupid; I would rather ask than get it wrong.
The thermometer; is it safe to assume it goes on the inside of the tank? The water felt too cold to me when I did a partial water change yesterday, but the room is sometimes downright hot during the day. (If the dorm room temp changes are too wild, I can send him home to my parents. I have tried putting a container of hot water against the tank when I think it's too cold, but I don't think it's working.)
How do I clean out the gravel without doing a full water change?
How many pellets per day would you suggest? (The pet store guy said no more than three per day, but I trust you more. I've had my fish since last spring and he's been okay. He hasn't shown any signs of bad health until recently.) I am going to follow your link; thank you!
And is Melafix supposed to get the whole top of the tank bubbling? That really scared me, and I did a partial water change so as to dilute the dosage. I had given ten drops.
My fish is not bubbling nearly as much as he used to.
Thank you so much for all your help. I really appreciate it, and I know there's a lot I don't know, but I'm really trying. I want to do right by my fish.

[abm]

Hi DT,

First, you need to fully change the water in a 1-gallon tank AT LEAST once per week. In doing this you'll remove the betta and rinse everything in the tank thoroughly, including the gravel. I have had 1-gallon tanks before and in my experience it's more trouble to try and siphon off the gunk than it is just to dump it all out and rinse it. Rachel has mentioned partial changes, and they will help, too, but they will not replace full changes. Even if the water doesn't "look" dirty, change it weekly!

Most thermometers go on the inside of the tank; get one and find out where the temp is. Consistent temp is as important as the temp itself: this is why heaters work so well, b/c they will keep the temp within a degree of optimum.

I agree with Rachel, 3 pellets per day isn't enough. I'm not familiar with the brand you're using (but I'm sure someone here is! ) but I use Hikari Biogold Betta pellets and feed about 5-6 per day.

Ack, gotta go! I'll check back in later - have fun!
~abm

[abm]

Hey again DT -
A couple of quick comments (I am running between piano lessons and baseball practice tonight, sorry!) -

One thing is that the pet store guy apparently knows not to overfeed bettas, which is better than some. I think adding one or two pellets per day will make him feel better and less stressed.

About Melafix - if you keep the water clean you may not need the Melafix. I personally am not a huge Melafix fan, and when I have used it in the past I have used way less than their recommended dosage - my fish seemed frantic when I used close to the "right" amount but when I changed the water and backed down the dose by half, they were fine. But again, I never really saw much improvement in the fin regrowth so I quit using it and just stepped up my tank maintenance.

Finally, I'm glad you realize there's lots to learn, but PLEASE don't feel you must keep apologizing for asking questions! That's the only way to learn - heck, I'm still asking what must appear to be "dumb" questions to some folks - but if you don't know the answer, by all means ASK .

"Talk" to you soon!
~abm

[Rachel]

How are things going DT?

Did you figure out the thermometer? Does it have a peel off back like a sticker? If so, you should stick it on the outside of the tank below the waterline somewhere.

[DT]

Yes, the thermometer has a peel-back. On the outside of the tank?
I'm planning on changing the water tomorrow. (I was going to do it today, but, to give you the short version, I'm a bit sick today in such a way it was better to wait, since it's not yet an emergency. I do have his little alternate living space prepped and sitting overnight now.)
He started bubbling again since I added an extra dinner pellet! Thanks, both of you! I'm going to try adding a fifth pellet somewhere soon.
ABM: Thank you very much for encouraging me to continue asking, and for warning me about the Melafix.
Thank you both for all the information...

[abm]

Keep in touch!
One thing I have learned about fishkeeping, is that like many other hobbies, there are many differing opinions about what works. You need to do your own research, both here at HB and elsewhere, about the needs of bettas, to understand why certain suggestions are made, and then armed with that knowledge, read thru threads here on the forum and see what works for others. Hopefully you'll have a while in between betta "emergencies" and you'll be able to research and learn in peace before you have to deal with any other problems.
But yeah, NEVER hesitate to ask questions!
~abm

[DT]

The thermometer reads 78 degrees. He's still definitely got an appetite (now switching to five pellets a day) and he bubbles, and I think I may even be seeing some fin regrowth. I thought I saw some wispy stuff on his skin this morning but upon checking again with a flashlight (and, I think, scaring him) I don't see it, so I hope I was just too sleepy to see correctly this morning.
Thank you so much for everything!

[DT]

Looking again, I don't think I'm imagining the wispy stuff, though there isn't much of it. It's on the top of his body, in front of his fins but behind his head.