Putting together a new betta tank from old supplies

[RachelElizabeth]

Hello fishy friends!

This is my betta aquarium that I am working on.

A few months ago I brought home a pretty blue female betta to live in my 75 gallon community tank. Within two days she developed some sort of mouth infection, I think bacterial. She had white growth on her mouth/face, and seemed like she was struggling to even take a breath of air. I immediately moved her to the quarantine tank for treatment. I honestly did not think she was going to make it because the infection of the mouth was so bad she was not able to eat. It actually looked like her mouth/face was rotting away. I finally got rid of the mouth infection with a combination of doxycycline and aquarium salt, but then she ended up with fin rot immediately after. Over several more weeks treating with salt and Maracyn, I still thought she would pass. Finally two rounds of treatment with Maracyn 2, we kicked the fin rot. Her fins are slowly, slowly recovering. My plan was to put her back in the community tank once she was healed, but the original mouth infection seems to have permanently altered the shape of her mouth. It almost looks like half of her lip is missing. I tried to include a picture of what I'm describing, but it doesn't show up on camera. She can only eat if I take betta pellets and crush them into teeny tiny pieces, or put in a few baby brine shrimp at a time. I'm not sure if she will ever get back to normal. So I guess I now have a special needs fish! Because of this, she will not be returning to the community tank. Since she can't live in quarantine forever, I decided to see what I already had that I could put together to make her a forever home. My goal was to not purchase any new equipment!

The 10 gallon tank was just an extra empty one. The heater was just laying around also. For substrate, I used a mixture of Fluval Stratum and Eco-Complete, both were surplus from previous tank set ups. The sponge filter and air pump were being used in another tank just as a secondary form of filtration, so I transferred those to the new setup. I had plenty of fake plants/decor left over from the days before I used live plants, so I put those in there for now, too. I checked to make sure they didn't have any sharp edges. I have a bit of java moss that I pulled from another tank placed in the front, and I will be adding more live plants over the next few weeks. Now I am monitoring the pH to make sure it stabilizes. I have previous experience with Stratum, and it tends to lower my pH from 7.8 (from the tap) to 6.8-7.0 over several weeks. Also monitoring the tank's cycle before Miss Betta moves to her new home, and hoping it won't take too long since the sponge filter was seeded in another tank!

I wanted to share my "journey" of getting this little tank set up for basically free. I guess it pays off to keep your old supplies in the garage!

Thanks for reading!

[Fish Folk]

On 3/11/2022 at 4:40 PM, RachelElizabeth said:

Hello fishy friends!

This is my betta aquarium that I am working on.

A few months ago I brought home a pretty blue female betta to live in my 75 gallon community tank. Within two days she developed some sort of mouth infection, I think bacterial. She had white growth on her mouth/face, and seemed like she was struggling to even take a breath of air. I immediately moved her to the quarantine tank for treatment. I honestly did not think she was going to make it because the infection of the mouth was so bad she was not able to eat. It actually looked like her mouth/face was rotting away. I finally got rid of the mouth infection with a combination of doxycycline and aquarium salt, but then she ended up with fin rot immediately after. Over several more weeks treating with salt and Maracyn, I still thought she would pass. Finally two rounds of treatment with Maracyn 2, we kicked the fin rot. Her fins are slowly, slowly recovering. My plan was to put her back in the community tank once she was healed, but the original mouth infection seems to have permanently altered the shape of her mouth. It almost looks like half of her lip is missing. I tried to include a picture of what I'm describing, but it doesn't show up on camera. She can only eat if I take betta pellets and crush them into teeny tiny pieces, or put in a few baby brine shrimp at a time. I'm not sure if she will ever get back to normal. So I guess I now have a special needs fish! Because of this, she will not be returning to the community tank. Since she can't live in quarantine forever, I decided to see what I already had that I could put together to make her a forever home. My goal was to not purchase any new equipment!

The 10 gallon tank was just an extra empty one. The heater was just laying around also. For substrate, I used a mixture of Fluval Stratum and Eco-Complete, both were surplus from previous tank set ups. The sponge filter and air pump were being used in another tank just as a secondary form of filtration, so I transferred those to the new setup. I had plenty of fake plants/decor left over from the days before I used live plants, so I put those in there for now, too. I checked to make sure they didn't have any sharp edges. I have a bit of java moss that I pulled from another tank placed in the front, and I will be adding more live plants over the next few weeks. Now I am monitoring the pH to make sure it stabilizes. I have previous experience with Stratum, and it tends to lower my pH from 7.8 (from the tap) to 6.8-7.0 over several weeks. Also monitoring the tank's cycle before Miss Betta moves to her new home, and hoping it won't take too long since the sponge filter was seeded in another tank!

I wanted to share my "journey" of getting this little tank set up for basically free. I guess it pays off to keep your old supplies in the garage!

Thanks for reading!

Very kind of you to take care of your fish this way. So sorry to hear about the sickness and resulting damage. You’re going to make an awesome long-term nurse!

One thing we do is add a black backing to provide fish with a calming place to back up to. Just a thought. It will make your tank colors really “pop” too.

[Jennifer V]

Wow! What a great first parent you are! I have a special needs dog, which isn't quite the same, but my point is sometimes taking care of special needs beings is more rewarding than if they didn't have any challenges. Excited to see your journey with her!