Today I channeled the Cory’s hairdresser method with someone

[Birdsnstuff]

A friend’s young teenager has a betta in a 3? Maybe? Gallon tank kit. They asked me about the algae problem they were having. It had about 4 inches of glowing gravel, a large skull with a cap of algae, some small rocks with holes (too small for the betta), algae covered anubias and java fern. The tank was only about half full at best but the hard scape was taking up a lot of the swimming space. It did have a filter running. We talked about the plants, talked about how algae wasn’t bad entirely but it could take over. She said his fins were looking ragged but he’d been shoving himself behind the filter tube lately. She had added a little salt. I suggested doing a 50% water change using the water conditioner she had, cleaning the algae off the skull and the plants, and raising the water level to the top to give him more swimming room . She said she could do that!

I am a known info dumper - I get excited to tell  everything I know about something. While i don’t know everything, I had more suggestions for her but decided  the best thing to do was feed it to her slowly and as she asked. I told her mom to let her have my number if she wanted to talk about fish with me. When she texted me, I sent her a picture of the betta female I have in quarantine. 

Hopefully I make a new fish friend and together we improve her fish’s life. 

[nabokovfan87]

Welcome to the forums! 🙂

It's really nice that you were able to help out.  I know starting out you're scouring youtube for answers, especially on disease questions.  Having someone you can get a hold of, talk things over, it's a relief sometimes.  Best of luck in the future conversations!