How do you decrease the amount of bad bacteria in your tank?

Question

My fish keeps getting sick and I don't know what I am doing wrong. He had tail/fin rot and lost a lot of his tail and a little of his fin. It went away. A few days ago it started again. Then, it appeared to stop. Now, I looked at him a few minutes ago and it looks like it is again starting. I don't see him biting his tail. Any suggestions? I have a 3 gallon carbon filtered tank. I change his water every week about 25%. He has two tall silk plants and two small ones that cover the gravel. Also, there is a heater in there and a thermometer. When I clean the tank I notice white flakes coming off of the heater suction cups and the thermometer suction cup. No idea what that is. My co-worker said it is salt because I use aquarium salt in the tank. I had the since the first week in June and there is only one betta in there. When I clean I can't absolutely get every piece of waste I see, but I try to get most of it. Little particles are hard to get at when I clean they come up and float around

Flakes look like coconut flakes. Hard to explain. They are underwater. They are not tail parts because they don't look like that picture on the link. I siphon the waste, but can never get all of it because there are little flakes that are too small to be siphoned. So, after I clean they float around the tank. I think that is the problem but I can't get them all out of there.

Answer 1

Are the suction cups on which you're seeing the white flaky material in the water or out? If they're out of the water, it could be a number of things, including salt, but if they're underwater, any salts should be dissolved. When wet, is the white material flaky or slimy? If slimy, it might be a bacterial growth - I see this on my heater suction cups sometimes, but I haven't had problems with fin rot in tanks with this.

Are you using a siphon to clean the gravel in the tank? This is the only way to effectively remove material in the gravel on which wastes collect. If the plants prevent you from cleaning down into the gravel, you should remove them when you clean. Any wastes that build up can contribute to ammonia and nitrite in your tank. If your three gallon isn't big enough to accommodate the gravel vacuums that you can find in pet stores in your area, see if they will order a mini vacuum (http://www.aquariumpros.com/p-LEE11552,LEEwc.html ) for you. You can also use a piece of airline tubing to siphon the wastes, as long as the diameter of the tubing is too small for the gravel to enter (if you have small gravel, put a piece of netting over the end to prevent the gravel from being sucked in). I've found it helps to use a piece of rigid tubing at the end to be put into the tank - it lets you press the end down into the gravel better and doesn't have the "curve" that flexible tubing has.

It's also possible that the "flakes" you're seeing are parts of the betta's tail that have come off - see this photo: http://www.fishjunkies.com/images/finrot2.jpg The color of the particles may be different based on the color of your betta's tail. These would have a texture similar to your betta's fins.

Answer 2

cut the feedings in half, the more the fish doody, the more amonia you get. also, instead of 25% water changes, go for 50%. it shouldn't stress them too much. another suggestion is to take a water sample to a pet store, they test for everything. there are types of bacteria that your tank needs so i'm guessing that you have high levels of something in the water, not a bacteria problem. good luck!

Answer 3

A diatom filter will polish your water. It can catch very small particles, and will even remove ich, velvet, and other disease particles. I assume it will remove some of the bad bacteria. You could also add an anti-bacterial remedy, such as Mela-fix.

~ZTM