carbonate hardness and bettas?

[susanp]

I've been having trouble with my goldfish tank and low carbonate hardness.  I'm treating that tank with a buffer, but now I wonder if my betta water needs treatment, too?

My betta is in a 3 gallon tank.  I do 100% water changes about every 5 days.  Recently I had to treat him for fin and tail rot, but otherwise he has been healthy for over a year. 

Our tap water carbonate hardness is about 18ppm.  When I tested the tank water my goldfish were in, it tested zero.  So I'm wondering if the Seachem Prime I treat the fish (goldfish and betta) water with affects carbonate hardness, and if so, if my betta is suffering from acid water too.

The brochure that came with the carbonate test kit lists optimal goldfish levels, but doesn't say anything about bettas.

What levels are ideal for a betta, and do I need to be concerned about this?  The Petland guy said since I change the water often, not to worry, but I am not sure I believe him. 

What should I do? 

[ruthcatrin]

Betta's in general prefer softer water, but I have no idea what their "ideal" standards are.  I've had lots of trouble with the opposite problem, my water is so hard it causes health problems some times. 

In theory the Seachem should only be affecting the cholorine, chloramine, and ammonia levels (or so their package says).  To find out if it really is the Seachem prime, test your tap water, fill a bucket (or jug or whatever you use) add the appropriate amount of the Seachem prime, & test the water again after mixing it in.  If it turns out to be the Seachem I highly recommend switching to the API Stress Coat or Tap Water Conditioner, I've used both & neither affects my hardness or PH. (I currently use the Tap Water conditioner cause I go through so much of it, if you don't then I'd recomend the Stress Coat).

Is your 3gallon tank cycled at all? Bare bottomed or graveled?

[susanp]

Bare floor now, but lots of java ferns and a cave.  No cycling, since I do 100% water changes so often.

[ruthcatrin]

Since you just had a bout of fin rot you might want to do some daily checks on the ammonia, just to be on the safe side, otherwise yah, sounds good.  If the ammonia starts showing up on the test then you'll want to change your water changes to the day before it showed up (frequency wise). 

just a side note, water that's to hard will often cause fin rot in fish that are used to much softer water.  When I bought Thai bred bettas on a regular basis I had a fish safe water softener I used to soften 25% of the water than went into their tanks.  The plakets I could gradually work over to 100% straight tap water, but the long finned halfmoons proved to have to tender fins most of the time to make the switch.

[susanp]

But how soft is the correct softness for a betta? 

[ruthcatrin]

Fishbase says a dH of 5 to 19 for bettas

according to charts found here: http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/water/hardness.htm  and here: http://www.petstocksouthmelbourne.com.au/fish/water_hardness.htm  It looks like your water may be a bit on the soft side for the betta, especially after whatever it is that's softening the water.