Start
spreading the neeeeeeeews... I'm going aaaaway... I'm gonna be a
paaaaaart of it, New YoooOoork, New YoooOOoork... These vagaboooond
shoooooooes ...
...
? huh ? Oh, yes, the betta
question... So sorry, I got kinda side tracked for an (ever so
darn brief) moment... It's just that when I saw the address of our
reader, it said "New York, New York" and so I had this
automatic, instinctive, uncontrollable urge to sing: "Start
spreading the neeeeeeeews... I'm going aaaaway... I'm gonna be a
paaaaaart of it, New YoooOoork, New YoooOOoork... These vagaboooond
shoooooooes ... "
See? There it goes again! LOL.
Kinda hard to focus on a betta question under such adverse
conditions... LOL.
So, Dave, your betta is turning
pale every time you do a water change he? You ask if it is normal?
Well, yes and no (I sure am being very helpful today :P). Let's
take a closer look at your problem.
Do bettas sometimes change
colors temporarily? YES. When?
-
when a betta is scared:
Fear will cause bettas to turn pale until the fear subsides.
This defense mechanism would allow a betta to
"blend" in better with its environment, allowing him
to hopefully escape his predator. Granted, not a lot of betta
predators in a fish tank located in New York New York, but
your fish doesn't know any better.
-
when a betta is stressed:
a sudden change of environment will cause a betta to become
pale, until the adverse conditions subside (bettas adapts to
his new environment - for ex water PH change, water temp
change etc...)
Should your betta change color
every time you do a water change? NO. If it did, then we would
call it a 'color change' and not a 'water change'
LOL!!! In fact if you do your water change properly you should
never run into this problem. The fact that your betta is turning
pale indicates one of two possible scenario (and we need to fix
this asap!):
-
you are not doing the
water change properly. It is IMPERATIVE that a water
change be as little of a 'change' as possible. And by this I
do not mean to not change the water, but rather to change it
as smoothly as possible. The goal: We want the betta to not
even noticed his water was changed, except for the fact that
it is now super clean. It is VITAL that your new water has the
SAME temperature as your jar/tank water!!! If the new
water is colder, it will cause the betta to go into shock and
lose his color. How do we achieve the trick? You need a good
thermometer, to measure water temps in both his jar/tank and
your bucket (or whatever you might use to store your clean
betta water). Compare the two. The bucket water must equal in
temp as the water in the jar. A MUST. Sometimes people
make the mistake of assuming that if they put both jar and
bucket in the same room, they will end up at the same
temperature. This is not so. There are some rules to how
water heats up or cools down and to help you here are a few
parameters to keep in mind: A)-
The smaller the body of water the faster it will cool down or
heat up. B)- the higher the shelf on which your body of water
is placed, the warmer it will be. (if you have central heat in
your place, that is). Hence let's take an example: Say you put
a 5 gal bucket with clean water on the floor of the room, and
your betta is in a 1/2 gal jar on the top shelf of the same
room. In the morning you come to change water and dump your
betta from the jar water to the bucket water. Problem!
the water temps may be
as far off as 4 whole degrees!!! That is why a thermometer is
a must. This way no miscalculations.
Another problem with water changes is the actual water
properties. That too, must be consistent (constant). Any Ph
change or water hardness change will cause a shock to the fish
and Mr. Betta will go pale. Make sure to always use the SAME
type of water, treated with the SAME chemicals in the SAME
amounts. for more info on this see my water
page.
Other possible problem: You are changing a large amount of his
tank water and replacing it with water that is not aged (for
ex: adding water directly from the tap and then adding the
chemicals to his tank). This is oftentime a problem and will
cause the fish to lose color because they become stressed.
Hence it is best to prepare/treat your water ahead of time
(say 2 days) and store it so it becomes a bit more similar to
the water your fish is currently living in. Remember: Fish
live in constant osmoses with their water! Another good way to
go is to make small, frequent water changes as opposed to
large, but rare, water changes. The later are a lot more
stressful for the fish.
-
you are being too rough
while handling your betta. (if you are at all handling it
when doing your tank cleaning) A problem common amongst men
betta hobbyists. Men tend generally to be rougher when
handling their fish. Remember your fish is a very tiny
creature, vulnerable and defenseless while in your fishnet.
Treat Mr. Betta with the utmost gentleness. By this I mean
when you net him, it must be very softly (no chasing him
around, scaring the heck out of it, or getting him stuck
between the glass and the net's wire frame, etc...). In a jar
situation, if you are not actually catching him but rather,
pouring the jar's water into the net (which is what I do),
then be sure to pour water slow-ly. So Mr. Betta will slide
gen-tly into the net. Be quick to do the water change so you
can SOFT-LY let him go into his new clean home. Don't let him
linger too long in the net. Always use soft nets. Never grasp,
pinch or touch your fish with your fingers while doing the
water change. Your fish is SACRED ;) and cannot be touched by
your mortal hands. OK? :)
If you do all above I think you
will notice that your betta will not lose color anymore. If it
still does, then it could be that you own the most cowardly betta
in New YoooOoork, New YooooOOOoooooK!! 9shooooot here it
goes again!) LOL...
Note: (visualize (or should I
say "earualize"), (hey, is a parenthesis inside a
parenthesis, legal??) if you will, all above references to the
song "new York, New York" performed with the most
ANNOYING Broadway voice you can possibly imagine...) (cause that's
just about how I am singing it right now LOL)
|