# switching to bottled water



## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

I have read that when you are changing from tap to bottled water you need to do it slowly like make a slight change and leave it like that for a week then add a little more every week. well i do a ten percent water change per day and a full water change once a week. how should i go about changing to bottled water? should i mix the bottled water with the stuff that i put in there every change so he is getting a little bit of the bottled stuff and the old stuff so the change isnt so fast or should i just put bottled in every day. he has had fin rot so that is why i am changing. we have sulfur in our water and his gravel is actually getting rusty colored spots on it from the sulfur. during my next 100% change/clean i plan on removing his gravel and getting some more becuase it is getting ruined by the sulfur. i may not get some for a while. will he be okay without gravel?
my first steps toward helping his fin rot was to give him meds but those were expired so they did nothing but i got the money back for them. and i also started the daily small changes. 

Okay so out of that rambling i wanted to know if i should mix the bottled water with my water i keep in a jug and use to do his daily changes or should i just put bottled water in every day. i think i will do the mixing it just to start so i dont send him into shock. unless someone thinks i should do it differently. And also should i get new gravel since it has been in the sulfuric water. the water is horrible. so bad my boyfriend says i might as well put him in a bowl of acid or something because that is about how good our water is. except our water is very basic. sorry more rambling. i tend to do that. well if anyone could tell me how i should do the change that would be great as i dont want to send him into shock


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## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

i am going to start out with ten percent of his water being bottled i will probably eventually get up to fifty percent only and see how he does with that. i just realized i will need like twelve bottles a week if i make it all bottled. so i am going to see how mixing it will go so that it will be cheaper. otherwise i would have to buy two cases a month if i just do a weekly change forget the ten percent daily changes. that would only be ten dollars a month but i would have to stop doing my daily changes and i worry about that. i could probably get by doing every other day ten percent changes then doing full changes once a week but i would still need to buy a lot of water to do that. so i will try fifty first and see what happens. if he needs more than that i will of course change it to full bottled water.


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## ChaldoChris416 (Aug 19, 2005)

make sure the water is not distilled it lacks the minerals


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## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

does bottled water even require as many changes as tap would? i know the bottom at least needs to have all the food sucked up. but maybe i will try getting a ghost shrim eventually. they are only like twenty five cents so if he eats it it will be okay. it would just be there to clean the bottom of his tank. i wouldnt get as attached to it as i am to him. but i should definitely research shrimp to make sure it is healthy before i buy one. i would hate to put it in there and then make him sick. does anyone know any good sites about ghost shrimp? this is deinitely for the future not right away. my focus right now is to get him to a fifty fifty mix then we will see about a shrimp.


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## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

no it is not distilled it is natural spring water. i did a ph test and everything. it is good quality water and i know to always buy the same brand


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Yes bottled water will need the same number of water changes. You do know most bottled water is nothing more than well water from the area tthe water is bottled


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## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

well it is bottled spring water. but what i am worried about with my water is that there is a high sulfur content. it is turning some spots on the gravel rust colored. and he has tail rot from it. so i wanted water that wouldnt be so sulfuric


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I doubt the fin rot is from the sulfur water. I know a guy that had sulfur water so bad you couldn't drink it, but his 2 pet Bettas did great in it.


RC


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

I'm a little curious. How long have you had the betta? If you've had him a long time, and have been using your water since you got him...then that wouldn't make much sense for him to get fin-rot from the water. If you've only had him a short time, he could have been sick from the start. The bottled water is a good place to start, but be sure to think about other things that might have caused him to become ill too.


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## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

i have only had him for like two weeks or one and a half i cannot remember anymore.

i dont know if he even had rot. the pics i have seen look way different. he just had a hole in one fin and a rip on the tail and a few rips on the top. he likes to hang out under his filter so i think the suctioning and the little slits were doing it. also since i have been doing small water changes daily he is better. i have added a little bottled water so far. maybe i will keep him in his other water if he stays as well as he is doing now. he is actually doing great. then i will just drink the bottled stuff i got him. i dont like our water from all the sulfur.


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

He could have injured himself on something. When I had my first betta, I had a couple of plastic plants in with him. I got up one morning, and he looked like he had been through a war. I'm pretty sure he got his tail caught on something, and flipped out over it. The only thing you want to be sure to keep on top of is: if his fins look infected or anything turns red. I'm glad he's doing better, though. That's great news.

I can't blame you for not liking your water. My grandparents have a ton of iron in their water, and even with the filters you can still taste it. Your mouth will taste like metal for hours after you get a drink...YUCK!


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## BettaMommy (Aug 20, 2005)

Is bottled water better for bettas? I have seen at Petco in the Betta section I think it was called Betta Water...me and my friend looked at it and started laughing...we couldnt believe they had actually put water in a bottle and called it betta water...pathetic if you ask me.


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

I know. All it amounts to is dechlorinated tap water from some factory. They stick a fancy label on it and charge you $3 a bottle.


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## BettaMommy (Aug 20, 2005)

lol...I know...pretty pathetic...


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## lwstinkinsweet (Aug 2, 2005)

well i saw betta water for four dollars for one liter. that was pretty pathetic, especially since a case of twenty four half liters (so twelve liters) was only five dollars. a dollar more for eleven more liters of water. i am just going to stick with my water as he has not had any problems since i first noticed it. i think he was also depressed a little. he seems to be doing better


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