I have two fishes -- a betta and a cory cat in a 3-gallon filtered aquarium. The cora cat died while I was on vacation and I didn't notice until just now! :( I removed the fish promptly but there is this cloud of white mucous floating about in the water now. What is it? Should I take my betta out and scrub down the aquarium and start anew?
2006-08-01 11:37:30 · 8 answers · asked by Brian C 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
No just use a gravel vacuum (siphon), and/or net to remove the gunk. (If you don't have a gravel vacuum you should get one any way.) Then change 30% of the water. In 2-3 day do another 30% water change. I'd add about 1 teaspoon of table salt (1 per 2.5 gallons) to the tank over about an hour. (Dip a glass into the tank, and dissolve the salt into it. Add 1/3 of the water back every 20 to an hour.)
PS- I'd be concerned that the ammonia and nitrate/nitrite levels are too high. Bettas are less effected than most fish by water water conditions. (Which might explain why the cory died.) With the addition of more fish goo to be converted into ammonia thing might reach lethal levels for the betta. I might add a water treatment like prime to deal with any excess ammonia then be sure to keep up the 25% water changes twice a week for 2 weeks.
2006-08-01 16:04:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Just get a piece of air line tubing and siphon out the cloud of mucus. Take out up to 50% of the water. How big is the tank? Does it have a filter? Actually the filter should remove the cloud of white stuff. Still, you need to do 25% water changes weekly even if you have a filter. Bettas are much more tolerant of poor water quality than corys, that is probably why he survives.
2006-08-01 12:30:38 · answer #2 · answered by 8 In the corner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you definately do not want to change the water and scrub everything, you will wipe out your whole coloney of benifical bacteria!! then you will have to deal with new tank syndrome all over again!! do a 20% water change, chances are the betta wont come down with anything or it would already be visible, it he does, go to the pet store and purchase a remedy for it, the cat could of died of a number of causes that are not contageous and it is just not worth killing off the bacteria established in the gravel in case this is a "what if" situation good luck
2006-08-01 14:32:10 · answer #3 · answered by twiggy2151 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO! Fish don't always die of a dirty tank, or do the other fish die of the dead fish's germs. If the dead guy's been sitting there for over 4 hours, i would suggest a 20% water change. But if it has mucous, I would do atleast an 80% water change, and if u can, scrub it.
2006-08-01 11:46:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The cloudy stuff is what happens to a fish when it is stressed or has passed away. Generally if you just treat the water with something like ick treatment and change out half to 3/4 of the water to clear it up...it should be fine.
2006-08-01 12:04:23 · answer #5 · answered by peacemaker 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should NEVER remove all the water from the tank. Right now it is full of healthy bacteria that destroy the fish waste. You want to keep it that way. You should never remove more than 1/3 of the water.
2006-08-01 16:59:00 · answer #6 · answered by Lynn 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the bacteria would spread to the other fish if you dont and they could get sick and possibly die also the sickness that the other fish got(if thats how it died) could either spread to the other fish and kill them, or it could still be in the water and then kill the other fish
2006-08-01 11:51:09 · answer #7 · answered by Leo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes because the germs that fish had on its body can effect the other fish and he or she can die from that.
2006-08-01 11:43:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋