Betta health issue... HALP!

[rXcanadensis]

Yesterday I just cleaned my fishbowl just as I do every month and when I put back my betta in the bowl it started to swim like it had mad cow disease and then stayed on top not moving at all and getting air from time to time. Now today it started swimming a bit but still with those weird convulsions and now its fins look extremely thin. In the bowl, I also have a black mystery snail that's acting weird too. Its shell is open but it stays all crooked and it's secreting a thick greyish slime... When I do my water changes 2 times a week I usually use spring water but this time I used tap water though I allowed the chlorine to evaporate by letting the water sit 2 days on the counter... May this be the source of my problem? Should I change the water again using spring water as I used to do? Thanks for your help!

[dan2x38]

don't know much about bettas but could be a big pH difference in each water source...

[plecoL83]

yes spring water would probably have a ph of around 6 where as most people in ottawa have a tap water of about 7.4 bettas do better in about 6 ph also with the change of water the gh and kh would change too, were the temperatures equal that could make a diference as well. changing it back to spring water all at once would be suicidal instead I would do a small 1/10 of a water change every hour switching slowly from tap to spring.
hope this helps...

[babblefish1960]

When you say tapwater, do you mean city tapwater, if you do, tapwater has chloramines in it that will not ever dissipate in our lifetimes, it must be bound with a dechloriminator such as Seachem Prime, or Chloram-X, or even Aquasafe to name a few.

Chloramines will kill your fish, so either treat the water, or use your spring water.

[KLKelly]

OUCH!

I hope he recovers.

[Laura]

Run, don't walk and either get your usual spring water or dechlorinator.  The snail secreting the slime is also a sign of real distress.
Good luck, I hope they recover.

[bettabreeder]

this could be a stress/shock related incindent you should kept to the water that you use. this is why when you change water you only change 45% of the water.

[rXcanadensis]

Just in case you care: I managed to keep my betta alive! Yay! Maurice (its name) just got used to the new pH but I bought "dechloraminator" to put in the water and some stress relief stuff to help him recover faster. I had to buy another snail though cause my other one died yesterday may she R. I. P. Now I'll just stick with the same type of water even if I'm too lazy to get to the store to buy spring water!

Here's a pic of Maurice (sorry for the bad quality though):

[dan2x38]

Awesome! Great to see Maurice made it... he's eating again?

[rXcanadensis]

Yes he's eating again he just ate plenty of bloodworms with appetite few minutes ago!

[Laura]

I'm glad he made it - he's purty.
I would recommend you not get another applesnail in a bowl - they produce a lot of waste and I understand that depending on the species need anywhere from 2-5 gallons for their bioload.
Your bowl water will be in better shape without one.