# Normal behavior or something wrong?



## JenM2020 (Jul 6, 2020)

I just got my betta a week ago. For the first couple days he seemed to leisurely swim around his new tank, with occasional sprints around the front glass. Then I put a heater in and now he is more erratic. Swims up and down the glass a lot. Before the heater was installed the temp was around 75-76 degrees Fahrenheit, and now 79-80. He is a Galaxy Koi, so (as far as I can tell) the white scales he has are normal and I don't see gold dust. What else could be wrong? Or is it just normal behavior?


















Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5 gallons
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 79.7 degrees Fahrenheit 
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? Just 3 Marimo balls

Food:
What food brand do you use? Fluval Bug Bites and Hikari Bloodworms
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? Yes, the bloodworms are freeze dried.
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 2 times a day. Morning is 4-5 pellets of Bug Bites, Night is 2-3 small bloodworms.

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? I have only had him a week, I have not done a water change.
What percentage of water did you change? n/a
What is the source of your water? Tap water with conditioner listed below.
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? n/a
What additives do you use? What brand of conditioner? When I set up the tank I used Fluval Betta Plus tap water conditioner and Fluval EnviroClean Betta aquarium cleaner.

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7.2
Hardness (GH): 0
Alkalinity (KH): 80

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? The day I added the heater, which was 3 days after the initial setup of getting my betta. 
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? His appearance is the same.
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? He is more active. But I am not sure if its energy or something is stressing him out. 
Is your Betta still eating? Yes.
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? No. 
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? Not that I'm aware of.
How long have you owned your Betta? 1 week.
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? I don't think so.


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## Sergeant Betta (May 16, 2020)

Welcome to the forum! 

My Betta dose the same. It is called glass surfing! They do it for fun! ( Or that is what I heard )


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Give him a bit of time. Sometimes Betta continue glass surfing but most of the time it's just an adjustment. Does he surf continuously or occasionally?

Adding the heater was coincidental. But did you change anything outside his tank? Or inside? You can try taping matte paper outside the side where he does the most surfing. It is believed they glass surf because they see their reflection and think it's another Betta. This is extremely stressful so if he continues I would try the matte paper.


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## X skully X (Mar 17, 2020)

You’ve had your betta for a week with no water changes and all your water tests came out 0?


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## JenM2020 (Jul 6, 2020)

Thank you both. Nothing outside of his tank changed but I did have to rearrange a silk plant in order to put the heater in. He does it consistently for about 20-30 minutes at a time, and then disappears to the back of the tank for 15 minutes or so before coming out to do it again. I will add the matte paper and see if that helps because it is almost always on one side of the tank.


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## JenM2020 (Jul 6, 2020)

X skully X said:


> You’ve had your betta for a week with no water changes and all your water tests came out 0?


Yes, I just have the strips and then the separate ammonia test. All the colors appeared as the zero result on those parameters. Is there something else I should use?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Here's something else which will help you to keep his aquarium well maintained. When you run out of the strips, try to budget in the API Master Test kit. Do two 25% water changes and vacuum of the grave per week even if parameters indicate 0. The only "safe" parameters are 0 Ammonia; 0 Nitrite and under 20 Nitrate.









CYCLING: the two-sentence tutorial


Change half the water when either ammonia or nitrite approach 0.50ppm (alternately, 25% at 0.25ppm), or weekly, whichever comes first. Add Seachem Prime at 2-drops per gallon of tank size every day until cycled. That’s all you have to do. You can stop reading now. But there’s a lot of...




www.bettafish.com


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## X skully X (Mar 17, 2020)

Any test works fine I was just asking 🙂 if it’s a new tank you would probably have some ammonia just from feeding. If the tank was cycled before you got your fish then is should have at least a little nitrates after a week of having a fish in there without water changes. I hope your strips are working ok.


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## JenM2020 (Jul 6, 2020)

X skully X said:


> Any test works fine I was just asking 🙂 if it’s a new tank you would probably have some ammonia just from feeding. If the tank was cycled before you got your fish then is should have at least a little nitrates after a week of having a fish in there without water changes. I hope your strips are working ok.


Thanks. I ordered the master test kit that was suggested to make sure. I want to make sure he has the best living conditions.


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