# Soft vs. Hard Water



## IndigoChild311 (Jun 26, 2013)

So I was reading that the difference between hard water and soft water can affect the finnage of bettas. I read that hard water causes crowntails finnage to curl and I had noticed that that was what was happening to the edges of Humphrey's fins. 
My question is: 

*what can I do to help them uncurl?*
*Is is bad for my betta?*
*What else does the water affect? *

My water is very clean, I do a 25-50% wc twice a week. Could the room he's in affect his coloration/finnage? It gets a lot of shade and he's on a cabinet with all my clothes.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yes, hard water and/or high pH levels can cause all fins to curl, not just CT's. Hard water and High pH levels don't always go hand in hand but for the majority if you have high pH then you have harder water.

You cannot uncurl them even if placed in softer water. You can add water softeners like a piece of driftwood to help them continuing to curl but they will never uncurl.

However fin curling can also be caused my high ammonia in the water, or ammonia poisoning like in the cups from the stores. Those can be uncurled a little with clean water, they may never straighten out completely again but they can uncurl a little.

But no, it's not bad for your betta and it does not effect his swimming or health, it just doesn't always look nice.

Other than fin curling the water doesn't really effect much, softer water is preferred by Betta's since they naturally come from a low acidic water chemistry.


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## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

*What can I do to help them uncurl?* I don't think it's possible to uncurl them especially in hard water. Adding natural water softeners like driftwood as lilnaugrim has said, or even IAL will lower the hardness and might uncurl them just a little bit. To be honest, I don't really mind the curls. It just looks like they used a "fin curler". lol
*
Is it bad for my betta?* It won't affect his health whatsoever, it'll just look weird most of the time for you. At times, the ends might weaken and fall off.
*
What else does the water affect? *It won't affect anything else, just the fins.


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## Ilikebutterflies (May 19, 2012)

First thing I'd do is test the hardness and alkalinity of the water. Figure out where you are. You may be close enough that driftwood or peatmoss would fix your problem or you may be so far off that you need RO water and decide to just not get crowntails in the future.


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## IndigoChild311 (Jun 26, 2013)

What's RO water?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

reverse osmosis water, its a way to purify the water.


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## LittleBlueFishlets (Nov 10, 2012)

Hard water contains more dissolved minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, etc. Soft water has fewer of these minerals.

Deionized water is water that has no dissolved minerals. It's just pure H2O molecules, so it's the softest water there is. However, it's not something people could drink, as it would cause electrolyte imbalances in the body. 

We (living organisms, including humans and fish) all require some dissolved minerals/salts in our water. This provides us with electrolytes that are needed for good health. 

However, some areas have harder water than others. For example, some places naturally have a high amount of iron in the water. Other areas have naturally softer water, with fewer dissolved minerals.

NJ probably has hard water. So this means your Betta's fins will curl. But it won't affect his health. 

If you wanted to enter your Betta in a show, you'd need to house him in softer water so that his fins didn't curl. But most of us aren't participating in Betta shows! 

(Since you asked what else hard water does: Generally speaking, hard water means soaps don't lather much. This definitely won't affect fish however, since we don't use soap on them! It can also cause scaling (white deposits) on faucets and pipes. Again, not a problem for our fish....)


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