# God what was I thinking?! -sort of an emergency-



## KuroKyoto (Dec 9, 2008)

I did something stupid, I think. Really stupid and I need to know if I can correct this. I had to do a complete water change in my betta tank. It's one of those little plastic ones as I haven't gotten to finding another tank yet. I had gotten the tank from my mother and she refused to tell me how to change the water, because she said there was a way to do it but she was just too damn lazy to show me.
So, the water change was overdue and I got half of the water out and there was still a mass of food and other stuff underneath the ..thing. I couldn't get it out without taking all of the water out. Well I did. Rinsed everything off and then put water back in. It was non chlorinated water. We have jugs of water we let sit for a while until the chlorine is gone from them. 
But I filled it up all the way and because of this instead of putting the fish's old water in with it which I think I have to do, I just put THEM into the water. I really am not experienced with bettas but I know that a cycle has to be established with aquarium fish. Uuugh what do I do? D: Did I kill them?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Watch the fish carefully for the next few days. Your rinsing the bowl may have been worse. If you have a nitrogen test kit, use it to test the ammonia and nitrite levels. You can go buy Seachem Stability or a similar product to see if you can restart the cycle quickly. 

Don't worry about it too much. The fish should be fine as long as the chlorine is gone. Just watch the tank for the next week or so and see how your fish are doing.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

Something else to consider. If your water is only treated with chlorine, it is ok to allow the chlorine to evaporate and then use the water for the tank. However, if your water is treated with chloramine (many water companies are using chloramine now), then you must use a water conditioner on the water such as Prime or Amquel. Chloramines do not evaporate.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Just a note, we have never put our bettas into "cycled" tanks. We dechlorinate the water, dump it into the tank, and put them in. 
None of them have died or shown any signs of distress so far.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

yeah all the bettas I have kept have been in unfiltered, uncycled tanks for the most part. I usually do a 100% water change on their tanks every week.


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## Hibiscus (Apr 21, 2010)

I do 100% changes with my Betta tank about twice a week. Bettas are pretty hardy. In the fish store, the betta gets a 100% change every three days.


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## timmo2009 (Jun 10, 2009)

Hibiscus is right, the fishstore here does 100% change on bettas twice a week, just remember conditioner for the bettas, thats more important


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## Guest (May 26, 2010)

betta doesnt breath like other fish does. betta breath from air like we human do.

betta dont need to be put inside water that been cycle.

what u need is stress coat when doing water change.

i have keep betta over 5 yrs and never ever use any cycle water for them.

i also do a 100% water change every 5 days. 

all they need is fresh clean water. 

if u can get a hold of some java moss, use them, ur betta will thank you for it.


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

When I used to keep lots of bettas I did 100% water changes and added a Dechlorinator, still do. But the tank did not have a filter, if there is no filter it's okay to do a 100% water change. I have a betta in a 3 gallon now with a filter so I only have to clean the gravel and add the Dechlorinator.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

dechlor, yes. Stresscoat? in general avoid any oily/slimy water additives with betta as they can interfere with them breathing air.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

everyone is right you are completely fine we do the same thing at the petstore keep them in big plastic containers not the small ones like petco and petsmart and we do 100% water changes every 5-7 days and they never show signs of stress or ever die. its the way its been done with bettas a long time now


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