Alkalinity and parameters in tank

[Rachel0825]

Hi.  It’s me.  Again.  Lol.   And good morning or day to all. 
 

Now that I have my new betta and pleco and zebra snail in my tank that has been active since January.   I have noticed my water parameter changes.   They have been in a week now.  
 

I have read to increase the alkalinity to add baking soda……. But of course I am turning to the experts for the confirmation and help.  
 

Below is my test strip from this am.   
 

Is this an emergency situation that can harm my betta?

 

thanks!!!!!

[Tony s]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:04 AM, Rachel0825 said:

Hi.  It’s me.  Again.  Lol.   And good morning or day to all. 
 

Now that I have my new betta and pleco and zebra snail in my tank that has been active since January.   I have noticed my water parameter changes.   They have been in a week now.  
 

I have read to increase the alkalinity to add baking soda……. But of course I am turning to the experts for the confirmation and help.  
 

Below is my test strip from this am.   
 

Is this an emergency situation that can harm my betta?

No. Definitely not an emergency. Kh is mostly used to stabilize your ph. There are many places that have no kh to speak of. It’s usually just fine. As long as you’re aware of it. And keep up on your water changes. It’s best to just use the water you have. 

[face]

The betta is fine they like soft water for the most part I’d be more concerned about the snails but I’ll leave that to people that have more experience with them 

but baking soda isn’t a great way to raise kh imo it’s hard to measure exactly so it can be unstable it’s doable but a pain 

Edited May 29 by face

[Rachel0825]

Ok thanks so much!!    I’ve been testing my water and when I saw a change I couldn’t send to the forum quick enough.  Haha.  
 

so I will continue to monitor it.  And basically make sure there are no hard spikes and for now don’t add anything.  Ok.  I do plan to add some easy green today and was going to do a minor water change Friday.  
 

thanks.   🙏🏻 I feel more at ease now.  👍🏻♥️🙏🏻

[Tony s]

 For your snail. Neutral ph or higher is best.if it’s reading around the 6.8. It looks like that’s what it reads? It should still be okay. Kh is not an issue. Gh should be higher than 140 for shell strength. You could feed calcium supplements if not. 

It’s a bit difficult for me to tell exactly what your strips say. But appears to be okay 

 

Edited May 29 by Tony s

[Kunersbettas]

I bred Bettas with my dad with 8.0 Ph water with some almond/banana leaves, and they did fine.

[Tony s]

On 5/29/2024 at 12:01 PM, Kunersbettas said:

I bred Bettas with my dad with 8.0 Ph water with some almond/banana leaves, and they did fine.

Right. Bettas and other fish are very adaptable. as long as we're consistent. There are a few species that have trouble with hard water and high ph. but really not that many. most do fine.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed with the others that it’s not a problem. Use the water you have instead of chasing parameters the internet says you should have. 
 

kH is like money in the bank. As long as you have enough for all your necessities, you have enough and don’t really need more. 
 

My water naturally has very little kH, and it hasn’t been a problem for me over 4 years with 14 tanks. As long as you have enough to prevent pH crashes, and you do regular maintenance it’s not a problem in my personal experience. 

[Kunersbettas]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:11 AM, Tony s said:

Right. Bettas and other fish are very adaptable. as long as we're consistent. There are a few species that have trouble with hard water and high ph. but really not that many. most do fine.

Fun fact: When we bred them, we found that higher temp and low Ph yielded more males, and low temp and high Ph yielded more females. We bred the Halfmoon Plakat Candy Koi/Nemo Variety. My favorite part about that type is the marbled color gene. If you have an all-white, leucistic-looking one, give it a month or two and BAM: Blue and Red. A mystery betta! A friend of mine received a male, and she showed me a picture months later. Her white one was now covered in splotches of black and even pink!

[Rachel0825]

Thanks all.   I am so glad to have your experience to count on.   I just want to give my babies the best I can.  
 

@AllFishNoBrakes ok I do have hard water and I do have some calcium rocks I can add but I haven’t.  He seems to be ok but I will keep a lookout.  🙏🏻

 

@Tony s  I will attach closer pics of the strips and the little cheat sheet to see if that helps.  But everyone does seem to be doing well.   The snail has been in there since January.   The Betta and Pleco a week so I expected it to eventually move one way or another.   
 

@Kunersbettas ahhhhhh.   So super cool info.   That’s actually what I have.  A Candy Koi Plakat.   He’s super cute and he’s learning me quickly.   It’s hard to not feed and give him treats he’s so cute.   But I stick to maybe (hard maybe) 5 of the 1 mm Northfin Betta a day.    
 

thanks all!!!! 🙏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Kunersbettas]

On 5/29/2024 at 11:34 AM, Rachel0825 said:

Thanks all.   I am so glad to have your experience to count on.   I just want to give my babies the best I can.  
 

@AllFishNoBrakes ok I do have hard water and I do have some calcium rocks I can add but I haven’t.  He seems to be ok but I will keep a lookout.  🙏🏻

 

@Tony s  I will attach closer pics of the strips and the little cheat sheet to see if that helps.  But everyone does seem to be doing well.   The snail has been in there since January.   The Betta and Pleco a week so I expected it to eventually move one way or another.   
 

@Kunersbettas ahhhhhh.   So super cool info.   That’s actually what I have.  A Candy Koi Plakat.   He’s super cute and he’s learning me quickly.   It’s hard to not feed and give him treats he’s so cute.   But I stick to maybe (hard maybe) 5 of the 1 mm Northfin Betta a day.    
 

thanks all!!!! 🙏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Beautiful! Just like some of my favorite females that we raised. I can tell it's a male, and they really thrive in planted tanks. Do you also live in CA? I know the water here is pretty hard. Also, you may never know, your betta could randomly get some new color splotches.

I wouldn't worry about the little guy. I've kept several bettas in 8.0, very hard and alkaline water just fine. Of course, by the book, more neutral is preferred, but you'll be alright. Looks bright-eyed and healthy to me!

[Rachel0825]

Thank you 🙏🏻 @Kunersbettas no I live in GA.   My first betta I imported from Indonesia and he was so beautiful.   Broke my heart when I came in to work and he was passed.  So.  It took me over a month to get ready for another.  This one I bought from CA.    So I’ve had him for a week.   Supposedly 4.5 months old.  He definitely is smaller than my other.    He’s bright eyed and loves to chase the pleco and pick at the snail.   So he’s active and seems relaxed.   I wish you could have more than one in a tank.  Haha.  They’re so cute and fun 🥰🥰🥰😂👍🏻♥️ you no longer breed? 
 

He’s shy.  Is not fond of a log cave.  And is not amused by his mirror.   Haha.  I toss it up to him being such a baby.   ☺️

[Kunersbettas]

No, unfortunately we don't anymore. My mom wasn't too thrilled about having a brine shrimp hatchery and racks of male bettas in our laundry room, not to mention three tanks in the garage. Love the red bits on your betta though. I found that teaching bettas to gill flare on command is fun, and a good way to interact with them. You can keep more than one betta, actually. I hope no one debate me on this, but we raised all of the female bettas in grow-out tanks in the garage. We had anywhere from 25 to 100 in a tank. We bred all sorts of varieties. I'm thinking about breeding another batch. We did ship around a dozen bettas to someone here in the U.S... he received them and just straight up refused to pay us for no good reason. The fish were fine!

[johnnyxxl]

Pretty Betta, I would just leave your waters pH alone, many people try to chase numbers.  Your numbers are pretty good, you might want something for calcium in the water like maybe a wondershell but that's something someone more versed in snails can answer.

[Tony s]

On 5/29/2024 at 3:20 PM, Kunersbettas said:

but we raised all of the female bettas in grow-out tanks in the garage. We had anywhere from 25 to 100 in a tank

Yep, can absolutely do this with females. still bettas though and can still be tricky. I think the best strategy there is to overwhelm their pecking order and confuse them as to who's supposed to be picked on. We do this with livestock all the time to prevent them from fighting

one of my favorite sorority videos. I would like to try this someday

 

[Rachel0825]

That definitely would confuse them.  I’ve seen the online videos and such with the sororities and thought “oh I could get him a female” Just not let them breed buuuut it seems unless they’re breeding a male won’t even allow a female with him.  Idk.  He’s too cute and sweet anyway.   He finally displayed some flare at his mirror yesterday for 10 Seconds.  Today it was longer.   I’ll try to connect and see if I can teach him some tricks.  We will see.  
 

I do hate someone bought a batch but didn’t pay for them.   I couldn’t live with myself doing that.   
 

@johnnyxxl I do have these I haven’t used.    It’s individual “rocks”….. I’d have to calculate for 5 gallons.  Will this change my water parameters?   So even if I have hard water with a low alkalinity Snelly might need some help?

 

or try something better than this? 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

[johnnyxxl]

On 5/29/2024 at 5:06 PM, Rachel0825 said:

That definitely would confuse them.  I’ve seen the online videos and such with the sororities and thought “oh I could get him a female” Just not let them breed buuuut it seems unless they’re breeding a male won’t even allow a female with him.  Idk.  He’s too cute and sweet anyway.   He finally displayed some flare at his mirror yesterday for 10 Seconds.  Today it was longer.   I’ll try to connect and see if I can teach him some tricks.  We will see.  
 

I do hate someone bought a batch but didn’t pay for them.   I couldn’t live with myself doing that.   
 

@johnnyxxl I do have these I haven’t used.    It’s individual “rocks”….. I’d have to calculate for 5 gallons.  Will this change my water parameters?   So even if I have hard water with a low alkalinity Snelly might need some help?

 

or try something better than this? 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

The rock's you have will adjust your hardness specific for Mg and Ca.  For the shrimp and snails it might be nice someone else can chime in on that as far as if it's needed or not.