Fishbowl question....?

Question

I asked this earlier, but no one really answered it.

I used to keep my betta in a 1 and 1/2 gallon jar, and performed a 100% water change every week to ten days.....it never got cloudy. Even when I went on vacation, and my roommate didn't change the water - didn't get cloudy

So I decided to move "Mojo" over to a deluxe retirement home - a three gallon aquarium with carbon/floss and undergravel filtration - gravel and heat - and 24 hours later the water is looking a little hazy.

How come the bowl never got cloudy, but the aquarium is?

Should I move him out - and put snails in until the aquarium cycles?

The only reason I put him in there is I figured I never had a problem with the bowl getting cloudy.....Does it have something to do with the gravel? He never had gravel before....
(and yes, I washed it well.....)

How come an aquarium has a cycle, but a bowl doesn't?
thats the part that really confuses me.

I guess I should add that I got plenty of answers about the nitrogen cycle - but no one answered the part about why a bowl doesnt have a cycle when an aquarium does....

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Answer 1

You don't have a problem, and you sure don't need to do anything as drastic as 100% water changes, unless you want to kill your fish and never have clear water! It's OK for the water to be hazy. We know it hasn't had time to have anything wrong with it such as amonia. Therefore it is just a breakdown of some of the zillion things in water, but nothing bad except to the eyes.

If you will do about a 20% water change every 3-4 days, it should go ahead and clear up within a week or so, if not sooner. Then, do bi-weekly water changes for the next 6-8 weeks, then montly will be sufficient. Don't feed the fish but every other day either, and no more than the fish will completely consume in 5-10 minutes. With a Betta, that's not much food. The direction of food containers say 2-3 times a day. They want to sell more food. I am a former fish store owner/operator and I never fed but every other day, and as far as I know, I didn't have anyone die from starvation. Also, a fish fed every other day will live approximatly 30% longer than a daily fed fish.

Good luck, and I promise you will be emailing me in a week and saying, "Hey, it worked!" Merry Christmas.

Answer 2

You're correct that the gravel is the key. The Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter bacteria that are what are responsible for cycling the fish wastes adhere to surfaces. In the jar with 100% water changes, you were probably wiping the inside of the jars as well. This never allowed the bacteria to develop, since each week it was back to zero after the water change. These bacteria are also aerobic, so if you didn't have a filter or airstone in their jars, the bacteria lacked the dissolved oxygen in the water that they need to survive.

In the tank, you're using undergravel filtration (which disturbs the surface creating circulation of dissolved oxygen), and have gravel.

You shouldn't need to move him or get the snails - just be aware that during this time, there's a greater concentration of ammonia and nitrite in the water. As long as you do partial water changes of 10-15% twice a week, or 25-30% once a week, you should be able to keep the levels low enough for your fish to tolerate (if you have a test kit, try to keep both ammonia and nitrite under 0.5ppm). Also, be sure you aren't overfeeding which will increase the ammonia production (from increased wastes and decomposing food).

If you rinsed the gravel and filter plate well before you added them to the tank, and didn't add any plants (not the best environment with an undergravel filter), ammonia or overfeeding are the most likely cause for your current water cloudiness, as long as what you're seeing is white/milky. Driftwood can cause a yellow/brown tint to the water, and one-celled algae can cause a green cloudiness. See these links for more about cloudy water, cycling, and ammonia/nitrite poisoning:

http://www.fishlore.com/CloudyWater.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ammoniapoison.htm
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm

Also, it's fine to feed your fish twice a day. It's not the number of feedings you give, but the total amount fed. I give my bettas 4-5 pellets at one feeding, then frozen bloodworms or daphnia (rarely brine shrimp) or live mosquito larvae in season at the second. I also give a bit of cooked green pea once a week, and fast one day a week.

Answer 3

Cloudy water is a sign of a bacterial bloom to do with the filter. Your bowl never did this because you didn't have a filter in it. Instead your fish languished in water that was burning him like acid. Ammonia will build up daily in ANY tank or bowl that is why we do water changes daily or every 2-3 days on smaller tanks/bowls.

Keep your fish in his new tank and do a 100% water change if it is cloudy. Then change 50% water every few days and THIS will cycle his tank - not snails.

Remember to remove any food he has not eaten after a few hours because this will contribute to bacteria etc and he will end up with fungus.

The new tank is still very small and you will need to do water changes of 50% once a week. Leaving it 10 days is no good because the buildup will be too much and your filter is not going to be fully cycles for several months. Even then you will have to do this because a filter does not filter out neglect.

Join a good forum (I am on SNBA) so you can learn and avoid making expensive mistakes. You need support and friends to share this with. It's a great hobby and if you do it right you will get addicted!

Answer 4

The bowl may have had mini cycles, but that went unnoticed since it was cleaned enough or just so small that you could not tell. Now there is finally room for a real cycle to take place. Good job on getting him a nice home:) I have no experience in cycling with snails. If you do keep him in, just test the water and be sure it stays in a range the betta can take. Good luck!

Answer 5

the aquarium is new. that might contribute