Water 

Water is water, right?  WRONG!!  While your water may be suitable for drinking, it may not be suitable for fish.  In addition to toxic chlorine and chloramine, your drinking water may also contain nitrate, phosphate, iron, calcium, silicate, and other chemicals in varying quantity.  Poor water quality creates stressful and toxic conditions that weaken even robust fish and result in improper growth, lack of coloration, susceptibility to disease, etc.

So how do you know what is in your water?  The best way is to contact your local water department to request a water analysis. You may also purchase special test kits or strips at the fish department at your local PetsMart or Petco, which are able to check for nitrate, nitrite, total hardness, total chlorine, total alkalinity, pH, etc.  Depending on your test results, you may need to add conditioners or pH adjusters/buffers to achieve proper water conditions.  While bettas are able to adjust to less than ideal water conditions, they will be much happier and healthier with proper water parameters.

So what are proper water parameters?

•  You want there to be no chlorine and chloramine.  These common tap water disinfectants can kill.  There are several commercial dechlorinators available to remove chlorine.  However, not all of them remove chloramines, so make sure you read their labels carefully. 

• Nitrate should be less than 20 ppm (mg/L).

•  Nitrite should be less than 0.5 ppm. 

• Total hardness may vary between 75 to 120 ppm with no problem. 

• Total alkalinity may vary between 120 to 180 ppm with no problem.

•  The pH range is best if kept between 6.8 to 7.2.  Bettas should not be exposed to a change in pH greater than 0.3 in a 24-hour period.