AboutLynda Expertise I can help you with cichlids, african cichlids, betta fish. I have bred most of them, including the Discus, and Angel Fish, and Rams. I have also bred many african cichlids. I have bred bettas too...well I am a fish nut! I can help you with most diseases, and have experience in setting up a tank. I can tell you tricks on keeping your water alkaline without products. I also speak and write french. I have experience with salt water fish, but would rather not get into that field.
Please when writing to me, give me detailed information. The size of your tank, your water chemistry, etc. The more I know, the more I can help you. I cannot guess at what you have, so please give me information and I will do my outmost to help you with any question you ask me.
Please do not ask me questions on Goldfish, mollies, platies, and guppies. Lynda
Experience I have worked in Petshops in the fish department...was Manager in two...and alot of my experience came from my home where I had 26 aquariums from 20 gallons to 200 gallons.
Publications I have a MSN group but it has nothing to do with fish
Education/Credentials I have finished high school, and went to college, in accounting
Question Betta has increasingly large lesion on back. I have been treating it with Bettafix
and aquarium salt. I change water completely once a week and partial change
mid week. I feed every three days. Am I just torturing the poor fish? What else
can I do.
Answer Hi Linda,
Treat him with Tetracycline. This is an antibiotic, and should help him. Follow the instructions on the package, be careful not to overdose.
Bettas should be fed a varied diet everyday. He should have Betta Pellets one day, Betta Flakes the next, mealworms the next, plankton flakes the next, bloodworms the next, and glassworms. Feed him 2 or three times a day in small amounts. Example: 2 pellets for one meal. He should also have one cooked frozen pea with the outer layer removed once a week. Cut the pea into small pieces, and feed them to your betta one piece at a time making sure he eats it. On the day you feed him the pea, feed him nothing else. This is so he can clean out his system, and avoid Swim Bladder Disease to which Bettas are prone to. Feeding him every three days is keeping him weak, and when fish are weak, they get sick. They need vitamins to keep them healthy, and they get the vitamins in food. This is why it is best to vary his diet. Small meals, and not one big one, as his tummy is the size of his eye, and we should always remember this when feeding him.
A Betta should also have 5 gallons of water. Keeping them in small tanks, and vases, is not good for him. In his habitat, the betta may live in shallow water, but he has lots of room to swim. He should also have a silk plant in his tank that he can rest on, and some little toy that he can go through. He is a tropical fish, and needs heated water. He live in 78 to 80 degree water. When kept in cool water, he gets sick, and stressed. When heating a Bettas tank, this must be done very very slowly. Heating his water too fast would cause death. We put the betta in the same water temperature we find him in, and heat his water one degree every two days.
The Betta is one of the most mistreated fish on the market. The fault falls on the vendor who is there to sell gadgets to the customer knowing full well that the fish will eventually get sick, and this causes grief, as we get so attached to our bettas. It is a money making machine, and it just breaks my heart to see this.
When Bettas are well kept, they rarely get sick, and they can live up to 7 -8 years when bought young. Unfortunately we don't know their age when we buy them.
If you would like more information, write me, I love Bettas, and breed them.
I hope the little man pulls through.
Lynda
