I was having horrible "luck" with bettas, thought they just had horrible genetics. Turns out my plastic decor actually was releasing toxins into the water and killing them, I removed them and all of a sudden my bettas fins stopped splitting and he stopped having dropsy symptoms im so glad I figured that out before I lost yet another to dropsy. Now I've been really busy and I usually do weekly water changes but I haven't done one in like 4 weeks and he is freaking thriving bro. his fins still don't look perfect but they look sooo much better than when I had first taken the decor out
https://v.redd.it/peguul87byyg1
Posted by Acceptable_Pilot_749
4 Comments
Honestly I never did any water changes when I first got my betta, I would only top off his water when it’s low. He has a heavily planted 10 gallon and water tests always come out fine so I didn’t feel the need to. But one day I noticed how disgusting his substrate were so I decided to gravel vac it and do a 25% water change. And BOOM few days later he got weird bumps under his chin, he never had ANY medical problems or was lethargic or anything until I did the water change. So yeah take all this with a grain of salt but honestly I feel like if your tank is fully established you really don’t have to do a ton of water change.
What’s that plant I see? Hornwort? If so they absorb ammonia and nitrates like crazy, they are called the ultimate aquarium cleaner.
if i’m honest, i don’t, if rarely, do any water changes on my tanks. they’ve all been established for over a year and are flourishing. i’ve never had any issues, i just top off my tanks when they’re low with conditioned water. here’s my betta in one of my tanks for tax
https://preview.redd.it/r7i0laeukyyg1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9074be18f75f9bfe45da24630dd62cab977d9f62
Plastic decor can have little snags and sharp bits that shred delicate fins too. Bettas habitually swim very close to decor for cover, foraging, and general investigating, and they’re not bright enough to learn that they need to avoid a jagged or irregular zone in their envi – so they can be constantly creating minor injury to themselves. It’s not necessarily toxic chemical leaching (though it could be that too).