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Betta Fish

Betta Fish: Please Help!

Hi, fish mom stressing out herešŸ˜­ I just posted on a planted tanks page and I figured Iā€™d say something here as well. I've had my tank and fish for about 6 weeks, and I'm completely new to all of this! I want to give my fish boy a good home and I did everything I could to make his home flourish, but this past week it's been crazy. The plants are melting and turning brown, l've had algae begin to grow on the decor and tank walls, l've had a surplus of detritus worms appear, and my betta has even started to swim around a bit more aggressively. I use tetra 5-in-1 test strips and the parameters are all falling within range, I added a bubbler to increase some of the oxygen flow in the tank, l use Fluval stratum substrate, seachem Flourish, and I condition my water with every water change. I've done 3 water changes in the past 2 weeks, the most recent 2 were 50% to reduce the amount of detritus worms and algae. Iā€™ve just ordered some stress coat to at least keep my fish boy relaxed, but I need to get to the bottom of this before it gets worse. What else can I do?

Also I'm not sure what plants I put in the tank outside of Java fern, I realized recently that it was probably important to keep up with that. I just bought fully submergible plants in the betta aisle in my pet store so if anyone can identify them for me that'd be nice too.

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ejno7u

Posted by BudgetKey6088

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  1. occultoceans on

    My first recommendation would be to ease off on your Flourish dosing for a while. It sounds like you have excess nutrients in your water that the algae and worms are enjoying. Stratum is so packed with nutrients that for this many plants you shouldn’t need a ton of extra fertilizer. My experience with planted tanks is relatively limited, but I had these issues in my first attempt too and laying off flourish for a while solved it. Keep a close eye on your water parameters, and as long as they’re safe, you can relax.

    Planted tanks are really tricky to get the hang of! Best of luck!!

    ETA: I would strongly recommend investing in a liquid test kit if you’re able to. I use strips to get a general idea of what’s going on in established tanks, but I trust liquid tests much more to give me exact results, which is important while you’re getting established.

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