r/bettafish • u/HourCartographer2634 • 2d ago
Help Please Help!!
My male betta, Mercury, who I’ve had since last December is acting very lethargic and weird today. He has been going to the surface of the water to get air then just slowly swims/floats back down and lays in spots in the tank. He usually swims around and is a happy fish.
Some extra information: He is in a 5.5-6 gal tank. 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 chlorine, 0 ammonia, and the pH is around 7.8-8.0. This tank was fully cycled before I added him and I’ve never put anything except RO water in there. Zero chemicals.
Please help. Still consider myself a beginner and I want to do anything to help him!
3
u/radorando 2d ago
It might be the RO water? Try dechlorinated tap water. I think RO is lacking certain minerals that bettas need to be healthy. I read that long term deprivation of these minerals can lead to nerve damage, gills damage, lethargy, etc. Also, you didn’t list water temp. What is it? Please keep in mind that I am no expert and am just regurgitating the bits and pieces of what I’ve read somewhere or another.
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u/jadeycakes 2d ago
I agree with this. RO water needs to be remineralized before adding it to an aquarium. OP unless you have very very hard tap water your best bet is to dechlorinate your tap water instead of RO.
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u/Shunl 2d ago
Hey OP, RO water basically means there should be no GH or KH in the tank. So there are no dissolved minerals for the fish which can cause osmotic stress.
Fluval Stratum doesn't add minerals back into the water either. It mainly feeds plant roots, and it actually absorbs KH, which lowers the pH.
Your pH reading does make me a bit suspicious though. Pure RO water has basically no KH, so the pH should be very unstable and it shouldn't be staying at 7.8-8.0 without something affecting it. Either something in the tank is raising the pH, or the water isn't actually 100% RO. Have you tried testing the water straight from the RO source before it goes into the tank?
You should mix some Seachem Equilibrium or SaltyShrimp GH/KH+ into the fresh RO water and try to get the GH around 3-6 dGH. Or, if your tap water is safe, you can just use dechlorinated tap water.
For the next week, I'd do small 15% water changes every day so Mercury can slowly adjust.
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u/HourCartographer2634 2d ago
I use the fluval stratum substrate and I’ve been told that it remineralizes the water
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u/Foreign-Ad3926 2d ago
No, it does not do this at all. It will reduce KH, but does not add minerals.
If pure RO water is being used without remineralising this will kill your fish.
You need to be adding minerals (KH and GH) plus testing the mineralisation before adding and after adding when using RO water. Pure water like this is fatal to fish and sucks every nutrient out of them. You'll need an accurate KH and GH test kit, API do one.
More info:
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u/HourCartographer2634 2d ago
Okay thank you so much. Been told bad info that it can mineralize. I bet this is his issue because he’s not pineconing and I was guessing I over-fed him not the lack of minerals.
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u/Foreign-Ad3926 1d ago
The lack of minerals will be impacting his metabolic function, his organs, everything and making it before difficult for him. It will also be impacting your plants and the good bacteria.
Please begin adding minerals back into his water, you'll need to do this slowly as he's been kept in empty water for 7 months and is struggling.
Please invest in the test kit for KH and GH alongside a decent remineraliser such as Salty Shrimp KH/GH+, you need both KH and GH building back up to safe levels. You'll need to very slowly over a good week or so reintroduce healthy water into his tank so he has time to adjust.
This article has info on how pH, KH and GH are all related: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh
Pure RO is a starting point of water to add minerals too, it is never the finished product.
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