Andrew Geiger

Seems like it may have been bad luck... Also they sometimes live for months with no food or water changes, in stores. And before that raised at horrible fish farms that keep them in tiny living conditions. When you buy a full grown betta there is a chance that they are 3 years or older, in which case in bad water conditions that is most of their life. Look for one that flares up nicely and keeps his fins fairly raised even when not flaring.

I wouldn't chase ph, I cannot speak for endlers specifically, but all fish can adjust and live comfortably in a wide range of ph. Especially if you get them locally; they will be adapted to water similar to yours then. If you do want to raise your alkalinity you can add crushed coral to your filter or use as a substrate. It can also be hidden in media bags and buried under your desired substrate. I use this even with hard water out of the tap with all my live bearers and if I had African cichlid I would use with them.

Ive never had rainbows, so take this as a grain of salt. But I would bet that if its behaving like a male that it is a male, you'll find out when they go gravid with eggs which are which. Alot of subdominant males will have less color, also I know that some egg scattering fish have early maturing males that wont have good color and sometimes smaller in size too.

Haven't had one but I really like the look of some of the north american darters! Second thing that comes to mind is ember/green flash/glowlight tetras. They are too flashy to not like. Pricey for a large school that amounts to one medium size fish though. edit: I guess I need a 3rd; so pygmy corydora is my choice 😁

It may be something to do with the water source, currently the city water that is supplied from the lake near town is melting algae from seasonal changes. So there is a spike of nitrites currently. (biofiltering my water before changes) -This might not be your issue though. Its also possible that its just a new tank syndrome of some sort, you could try flourish or microbe lift to balance it if it is caused by some bacterial bloom. You can try laying a well rinsed/then dried towel, or paper towel on top for a second to absorb some of it. It might help.

Were you testing your water parameters before the death? If you were, and the kit was reading everything fine, then its possible the kit was giving false readings. A second kit or bringing it in to compare results with a lfs is a good idea when seeing problems. How long has your tank been running? Is it possible that you didnt have a strong cycle? Or that your cycle crashed if you had one to begin with. What type of flow is in the tank? I normally would use a tiny low flow filter, tiny submersible pump, or a air-stone turned way down located close to the surface. A feeder ring (air tube with a coupler is a easy way to make one) helps to keep high surface tension at a minimal in his hang out areas. ~my first betta in a community tank didn't make it due to flow (I was to dumb to know at the time) The reality is some fish just aren't going to make it, and its possible he was doomed from the start. Since he seemed in good health its possible that something else that you couldn't know happened. Such as he was raised in high ph water, and you having a normal ph for bettas was a bad idea. Its hard to say but we all try to prevent such things from happening.

I just plugged in a nano pump in an IBC tote, over 4 feet deep and it pumps like a champ for a large sponge filter

Are you asking about the swelling/color near the vent/anus? It could be a gravid female. I would keep an eye on it though, parasites are possible. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion of an internal parasite until you familiarize yourself with that breed though. Gravid females my first guess. Not the easiest pictures to diagnose (a good quality one wouldn't even help me, but others might appreciate it. I wouldn't zoom so much; it makes for a low resolution)

I personally would try salt (possibly epsom/marine if aquarium salt doesn't work), see if you cant get him to work through what ever is blocking him up. Co Op has a great video on the steps that can be taken. You'll have to remove plants if you don't want them to suffer through it. (beware that this might increase nitrates if too many plants are removed) I would start with 1tsp and go up after 2weeks if no improvements have been made.

I would treat it the same as a heater in an aquarium, the more on/off cycles it goes through the harder it is on the components. I have used larger heaters for reservoirs in outdoor conditions that are fairly cold. I always get the coated metal ones so that they cannot shatter, and didn't burn any of them in two winters of running. Just and idea: It may be more efficient to boil water and pour in to get up to temp though

@Streetwise oh definitely microbes and bacteria in soil! A lot of “regular” substrate is inert and sometimes man made stone. Soil could be one of the best starters.

All things outdoors, but as far as my obsessions. Plants and aquaponics (kind of fish related), I have chickens and quail for eggs, I guess health in general. So mostly keeping things and myself alive and thriving consumes a decent amount of my time. I'm extremely passionate about living soil and the carbon/nutrient cycles work! Phasing out mono-culture, and normal conventional farming with salt base synthetics is key to eliminating many of our current problems.

@Daniel Thanks! Very good response and explanation. Yea, I was thinking back on the first aquarium that I established with no added organisms, didn't add plants or anything. It took a good 2 months to get good hold... thinking back I should have reached out for some established media. It is a bacterial world, our bodies wouldn't function the same. We cant even digest food without them. @KBOzzie59 I think hands makes sense. But depending on the decor they may have some as well. Most substrate is intert, then we clean the heck out of it, so id imagine that has to reestablish if it had any to begin with.

No war needed, we can have different opinions, doesn't bother me any. I'm speaking from my experience of customers complaints/pictures. Our business shipping out nationwide and receiving a few packages. We ship out of OK, CO, CA. And definitely still use fedex and ups as its a lot cheaper most of the time. I cant speak for the length of time it, or mistakes in where its going, (havent had too much issue with that) BUT the way carriers treat the boxes seems more tender with usps than any other in the last year or two.

I guess its just like the rest of the world, more tech and more options available... in the 90's it was exciting to have a big ole box tv. Now you get these bright sleek, thin flat screens for a reasonable price. The new tv's look way better, but the old style will still serve the same function.

I'd start with quarantining and a treatment of salt. Hold off on food for a while, then see if you can get it to eat some crushed boiled peas or crush canned green beans. It will most likely take around a month to see any improvements though. Hopefully not an internal parasite that is the cause of this (don't want to worry you more, so I wouldn't jump to this conclusion but its good to keep an eye on their poo holes😄) if so, extra treatment would be needed to give full relief from this issue.

I personally think we have to give WAY more credit to our postal service. USPS is pretty much the gold standard over the other "privatized companies"... I wont go into detail about the other two big ones but very rarely do I see crushed boxes from USPS. I still give some credit to the co op, they get it done right! ☺️

This is just another topic of discussion and a commonly heard question to people in this hobby. Unfortunately finding an answer with key words that relate to aquariums is nearly impossible. I'm sure there have been youtuber's and such that have mentioned it...but its never the main point of discussion. Quoted/Sourced from livescience.com: "The air you breathe is teeming with more than 1,800 kinds of bacteria" The most logical and best answer I've found is from the air, or an introduction of a species (fish/snail/crustacean or seeded filter) to the water. Please let me know if you have other info on this. Before I researched nutrient cycles I was always curious about this. With fishless cycling and no seeded media its a legitimate question in this hobby. edit: I know we can buy "bottles of bacteria" to jump start our cycles, meant to specify natural ways it appears.

So you just have the 3 under 20L? or 20gal? Unless you have a ton of tanks, and want to run them all on air driven sponge filters, I would just get a 2 output eco-air, or any regular 2+ air pump. You can put a 1/4in barbed T and split if you want, with smaller tanks you will not need it fully on anyways, also the screw in valves can adjust the amount of air down. I personally have found the cheaper (example: sunsun brand) 1.5L/min or 90L/hour is more than enough for a small tank with low depth. The ecoair2s are 240L/H each output, so quite a bit stronger.

Ok, I learned today that each store can choose if/when they want to do the promotion. Or the employees are just misinformed. But it is always active if you order on the website for in store pick up. The lady on the phone had an accent but I think she said it goes until December 21st if they have them in stock.

Worth a try, they are probably conditioned to the live foods, and prefer to hunt. Yes, I just sprinkled in by tapping a little spoonful. It takes a minute or two to sink. If you want to direct it you can use a turkey baster or a feeder ring. (I made one out of 3/8in tube, danios are mid to surface feeders) If it lands on a surface, I’ve seen my molly fry and even the danios pick at it. If you have shrimp/snails they go nuts over it too. edit: Cory’s point is true, if they go after spirulina powder, they probably would go after rapashy in powder form too. Hard to say, I just had spirulina on hand for smoothies.

Thanks, yes it should. I think most of the trouble people are having is they need fine food, not all flake is created equal for crushing. Then there isn't always natural food happening in the grow out tank/box. I had to throw together a 10 after bringing them home and seeing action, the spirulina powder works, and seems like a good tip/trick. Hopefully someone finds it useful.

I'm slightly confused. So his fin rot is going away and his pop eye is clouded over? Are you still treating with antibiotics? Are all of these symptoms you were talking about still present? Not much you can do, but I've seen fish go through a lot and pull through. I don't think there is a time to give up on him. Just keep a close eye on his eye, wounds. In case you do need to keep treating. If you don't want to continue with medication, clean water and minimal stress is the best option I suppose.

Impossible to identify. An internal parasite or genetic issues would be my best "first guess". It could be stress or something else though. Do you see any small red spikes or strings hanging from the vent of any of your fish? Are others showing any similar signs? Or signs of bloat. Tank size? What are the other inhabitants in the tank? And how many of each and of guppies? A picture of the tank and or the fish would be very helpful

Yup, they think that they may have originally derived from similar or the same exact species. And that selective breeding brought them further apart in characteristics. I too, have personally never seen it. But they are in the same family, so I'd imagine its possible. From a compilation of what Ive heard, "It's more likely when a male doesn't have a female of the same type. Not many live. Probably sterile fry. And chances are that they have weakened immune systems."