BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish A little note on water temperature and Betta illness...

Now, I know everyone here has at one point or another battled and worried about Fin rot. I and my lil' fishy friends are no exception.

First, I think it's important to tell this little tale of one of my most recent experiences, to give reason to my conclusions.
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It began shortly after the loss of my husband's (and I) fondly, adored betta, 'Tude.

About a 2 weeks before he died 'Tude and Twinky both had mild fin rot as well as Ick. Neither of them had ever had Ick before so it was new to us all. After treating them for that, 'Tude began his slow decent toward davey Jones' locker.

After the loss, I thought all was well, when I began noticing what I took to be Ick coming back for a second round on Twinky. I treated him with warmer temps, salt and BettaFix. Up to this point both my boys had heaters set to about 82F. This is widely concidered the appropiate temperature to keep bettas at.

It wasn't until about a week later that I discovered Twinky had a bump on his forehead. I assumed it was the Ick causing this and I ignored it. The next day, the bump had gotten bigger.

A few more days later poor Twinky was acting much in the way 'Tude was before he left. Darkened colour, moping around the tank either laying on the floor or floating listlessly in one corner not even trying to swim. The next day I noticed an ulcer on Twinky's mouth, in the area of his nostril. That's when i did some research.

In short, it turned out not to be Ick. At the time I couldn't find anything deffinietive as to what it could be but, obviously I had to do something for him or I would lose him too. Not knowing for sure what it could be, I decided to treat it as though it was a case of Flexibacter Columnaris.

Now, Flexibacter Columnaris is concidered a very fast acting bacterial infection most always leading to certain death. It is said to kill within a few days. In doing research, part of the treatment regimine is to bring water temperatures to below 76F and aerate heavily.

It has now been about a month since all this. even after full recovery, I have not returned the temperature to the 80F that is concidered right for bettas.

Along with both my male bettas (Twinky and the late 'Tude) I aquired a female. I never put a heater in her tank and the temps in my home hover around 72F - 74F. She has never had finrot nor algae.

Twinky has fully recovered from his ulcer and bacterial infection with water temps continuing to hover around 73F. He is back in a one gallon tank (after thorough sanitization of ALL fish equipment), with a Nano filter and very little gravel. No unecessary additives to water besides salt and water conditioner. He has not had any fin rot since (he susally is very susectible to it).

So, after much thought and reflecting on all the fish (and one ADF) I've lost including events leading up to the losses. I have made these conclusions.

1.) water temperatures of 76F and higher encourage bacteria and algae growth and the more dangerous "blooms".

2.) if tanks need to be covered, it is best to nsure a very gentle but adequate airflow between water level and cover medium. it's been my experience that having a cover on a tank slows water evaporation and provide a humidity level in the air space that air breathers need.

however, it also can be a breeding ground for molds and bacteria. the warmth contained within the air space, along with high humidity levels and inadequate venitlation creates a perfect environment for disaster. even if noticable growth is lacking, it is there. these bacteria and mold microbes harboring on the underside of the cover, get into the aquarium's water through condinsation. water condenses, collecting to form water droplets. then these droplets will fall into the tank water, releasing microbial yukkies to wreak havoc on your fish.

3.) if using a heater is a must, be sure to clean it thoroughly every 2 days. it has been observed a slimey film or fungus looking patches may grow on and around the in-tank heater. this usually occurs in water temps of 77F and higher.

as tropical fishies and friends tend to enjoy hanging out or sleeping on or near the heater, it may be another source for concern. bacteria can begin to develope in as little as 2 days. a good scrub down every other day and weekly sanitizing may seem like alot of work but well worth the trouble.


i hope some of this helps others become better suited for battle with fishy nasties. feel free to add anything i might've missed. don't hesitate a question if you're not clear something.

ENJOY!

Mel..

I have to say that I have been coming to the same conclusions concerning the temperature of my betta's water. I lowered the heaters in their tanks to about 76-78 at this point..but have been considering lowering them even more.

I do have all my tanks covered..but one of the things I do regularly when I do a major cleaning of my tanks is to wash off and clean the covers as well. Especially those one gallon "AquaTanks". They have metal screws holding the clear plastic light cover on which rust after awhile. I would suggest replacing those screws with stainless steel screws.

I do have a few fish in tanks that I have never heated and they too are doing very well and have never been sick with finrot..though FruitPunch did have a bout with "ick" when I first got him..most likely from my inexperience with aclimating a fish to a new home and he was probably weakened somewhat from being in one of those dang 'betta cups' at purchase.

However, Teal is in an unheated tank and I am always keeping an eye out for finrot on that fella! I think his whole problem started when I shifted him over to my 10 gallon divided tank. He is now in the unheated 1 gallon aquatank I had him in to begin with..back when he was very healthy and happy....(one of my first lessons in changing bettas around when they are obviously happy where they are)....He still has one area on his anal fin that is a bit red and irritated..constant clean water changes keep it at bay, but can't seem to get rid of it.

So, should we nix the advice on warmer temps for bettas? Are we at that point yet?

Maybe so. It's a fact that bettas are from very hot, very humid climates with no water current at all. In the wild.

But in a tank environment, the water is only as good as we give them...and changing every tank every day is probably asking too much. I certainly don't do it. Those high temps that are natural in Thai rice paddies might not be so good here...in the wild, weak fish are selected out. But we have cultivated fish here, and we love them. And the high temps seem to encourage parasites, fngi and bacteria.

So, I think Mel is correct with the approach, but people should still experiment to see what works for them. wildly fluctuating temps WILL bring about ick, so the key is to not allow this. Low, low temps will make your betta miserable and he will stay clamped at the bottom.

So what do we think is the best range?

Jilly,

I'm finding that most of my tanks are hovering around 73 degrees right now, and they all seem pretty happy. I turn the light on in the day time for Sweetie and my new pale blue guy. Their tanks go up to about 80-82, then drop to about 76 over night. Sweetie ends up brown with her big black stripe overnight, but the other seems fine, and the ADF seems more active when the water temp is lower. I think Mel and Emg may be onto something. Sweetie may need the higher temp, but the others in unheated tanks are all good.

Nan

yeah, on the whole i might say temps for bettas should be about 74-76F, with slight variances for individual betta's needs.

i have also found that my tanks are pretty clean longer from algae and more importantly slimey growths. i do have a nano filter on them currently though but still, i find myself having to clean less often.

perhaps these conclusions should be an added note to one of the ebooks?

oh and a note on those metal screws...

i had the same problem so i decided to cover the screw caps with hot wax hoping to seal it off. however i forgot that salt (wich sometimes accumulates under the lid from evaporation) eats at the wax. so now i've covered them with a dab of aquarium silicon.

i think it should noted that it's a good idea to silicon seal any metal parts on aquarium equipment coming in frequent contant with water. just to be safe.

I put this information from our experiments into this article:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art17131.asp

Eventually these betta articles will make it into the betta care ebook.

Hello.
I'm not a new Betta owner but I a new cold-climate dweller. The first Betta I owned was when I lived in Key West. Needless to say those three and I never had to worry about the water temp. being too chilly. However, I now live in Virginia. The temp. outside is currently 66 degrees and my family tends to keep the windows open during the day until it gets much colder. Therefore, my Betta (in a fishbowl 1.5 gallons that hangs from the ceiling in a net with a live plant, a fake plant, and a small cave-rock inside) is in cool water. He's inactive, hovering towards the surface or lying near the bottom with his fins tucked in. This means he's cold and annoyed that he is. I've read on several occasions: recommend temperatures from 64-82 degrees F. Obviously I've reached the low end of the recommended temp. My question is if anyone has any suggestions on how to warm the water with a lamp or something if I want to keep him hanging in that net.

By the way: he hangs from the ceiling in the net because it's the only place his friend the cat can't get to him at...

You could try a small, clip-on lamp if you must continue with that set-up, but drafts from the window are not good for his health, either. There has to be another solution because there sound like there could be so many negative issues with your fish hanging from a net with the windows open.

Yes, the temperature range should be more like in the 70's. The 82 degrees is more for when administering medicine in a hospital tank.