BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish well water

Hi everyone! Some really good advice here, so I thought I would ask, everyone talks about the proper water to use for their betta, I have been using distilled because I have well water, but he has gotten ick twice now, have treated with an ick medicine, waited, cleaned the tank he got it again, so at the moment the poor baby is swimming in green water! Is it the distilled water that is causing this problem? The first time he was really really sick, this time I caught it as soon as I saw a patch on his face. Also, how often should I change the water in a 1 gallon tank if I don't use the filter? Would like to keep him healthy and happy, they are such clowns! OBTW his name is Prince Albert, LOL
thanks alot in advance for your input. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

With a 1 gallon tank like we both have, you should clean it and do a total water change once every 2 weeks or as needed. There are times he will be fine waiting the 2 weeks and there are other times where once a week is best. Of course if you wait the 2 weeks be sure to do partial water changes during those 2 weeks. Atleast 3 times and between a 1/4 and 1/3 per water change.


In this case of you having a re-accuring ich problem I would do a full water change and clean the tank, gravel, plants and anything else in the tank with steaming hot water and a tiny bit of bleech. This will kill all of the bacteria in the tank and on the things in the tank. Be sure to rise very very well! When I resort to cleaning with bleech I rise things with gushing water atleast 7 times for 2 mins at a time.

I have no idea why your water is green though... that's a new one to me.

Good luck. Hope this helped.
Fantails and Betas

Thank you so much for the info, the water is green because of the medicine <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. But I would assume I should not use well water at all, I will have to purchase drinking water and treat it yes?

People have always said that purchased drinking water is better for beta fish. However where I am I just treat tap water for cholorine and metals and let it distill at my apt for a week and it works fine. You can of course buy the water though I would do this only when he is sick. It did occur to me that perhaps you should add some aquarium salts also this his tank to help speed his recovery. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Fantails and Betas

Oh my gosh, don't use distilled water! Not to scare you, but fish need ions that are normally found in tap water (and well water too) and distilled water has nothing in it. This could be why he has been so prone to illness.

I'm pretty sure I've seen sources say that well water is find for a betta fish, maybe even better than tap water because there are no chemicals in it. If you have access to it, I would get some test strips for aquariums and test your well water to see if there could be problems. I would do a little research on the internet and see what you can pull up regarding well water. Otherwise, maybe you have a friend that would let you fill up a big bucket with water from his tap once a month or something?

I'm off to Pet Smart to gather my supplies! Thank you all for your input, I will pursue the well water, like I said we have a filter on the well and it does put a lot of calcium in the water, but I will test it to be sure there are no harmful metals for a betta, that sure would be easier than buying all those jugs of water. Again thank you so much, saved him from that nasty little cup, sure would like to give him some quality of life.

That's strange I've never had any problems using distilled water. Though what I mean by distilled is letting tap water stand in a well cleaned milk jug for a couple of days being treated for chemicals. I've only bought water from the store to use for my beta when he was sick for over a month.

Distilled water (the kind you buy in the bottle) is extremely bad for fish, as elisaboo said. It strips their slime coat off, basically leaving them with no immune system. Using well water will be fine, BUT you should still treat it with a water treating product, like prime, stresscoat, or start right. This will take care of any hard metals that will be in there. I used to have a well, and it seems like I remember that the concentration of hard metals can change, but I'm not sure. In general, I would treat any kind of water, except drinking that you buy in a jug. I feel like the distilled water is what is causing all your problems. Good Luck!!!

Amber