OPENING: Three Big Lies: The King is alive somewhere in Memphis, Big Foot is real, and everyone handles water replacement for their betta fish the same.
We all know water changes are critical to success with bettas. No doubt. But there is little agreement on how one goes about prepping the water to use as replacement - if you prepare it at all.
Naturally some of this depends on the quality of water from the tap. Yet it's hard to account for other variations in approach other than personal preference. Wait! What? So does that mean it's time to get out your magic lamps and chants? No. Just appreciate that there is no one right way and go from there.
So with the understanding there is NO perfect way to about this, let's quickly look at different ways to approach replacement water. With the usual choices being to add a water conditioner or just to let it sit for like 24 hours. Additional considerations may be some sort of additives. (Oh and the names have been changed to protect the innocent.)
Heather uses water that has been reverse osmosis filtered. But knowing the RO strips out beneficial metals, trace elements and the like she uses FreshTrace by Seachem to condition it. Given how she adds back the good stuff taken out she feels since it's been filtered it is better than normal tap water.
Jaime takes water straight from the tap and once it has reached room temp he does his thing. His thinking is he's only changing out maybe 20% of the water so any chlorine won't matter much if at all. Which is one way to look at it. The beneficial bacteria might not appreciate it however. Not so sure the fish do either.
Emerson aerates his new water for 24 hours and preheats it as well. He uses Atison Betta Spa - an almond leaf based product. It will also bind ammonia and adds calcium. That's a pretty popular additive actually.
Some prefer to use AquaSafe by Tetra as their dechlorinator and conditioner. Fans feel it works great as a remover of chlorine, chloramine and metals from tap water.
Carl uses aged tap water supplemented by NutraFin Betta Plus water conditioner. Similar to Atison Betta Spa it conditions the water and add a bit of almond leaf extract. He also adds a bit of aquarium salt plus changes out his ketapang leaves when he does the water change.
Angela uses aged (24 hours), heated water to which she has added API Stress Coat. She too replaces her IAL when she does her weekly water change.
Whatever your approach know this. Distilled water is out. That's right, you never want to use straight distilled water. Bottled water is okay but why spend the money if you don't have to, know what I mean? Unless the water from the tap is super hard or something it should be okay for the most part.
CONCLUSION. Admittedly this isn't earth shaking stuff. But it was somewhat surprising. And maybe I mentioned too many products here. As you can see however there are many options and some go all out with stuff they add. Others not so much. But all do the water change thing with great regularity. So should you. At least for the betta fighting fish you want to enjoy a long lifespan and look good living it.
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