Betta fish and Filters

Question
My betta lives in a medium sized filtered tank. Recently he started to loose his color and I soon realized that I think it was because there was an infiltration of hundreds of tiny baby snails. I just today cleaned out the tank, something I dont do too often since the filter keeps it pretty clean. I'm pretty sure this will fix him but I have another question. The tank isn't too big and the filter pushes him around alot. Is it alright for him to be jostled so much? He seems to like it, I often catch him just sitting on the top of it in between the cords for hours.

Answer
Hi Melanie;

As long as his fins don't get tattered from being buffetted around it is probably fine. More decorations like live plants will help too. It breaks up the water current. Avoid artificial plants though. Bettas tend to get their fins caught in them.

The snails probably went crazy feeding on excess food. You might want to cut back a bit since they seemed to multiply so fast. The snails aren't harmful themselves but are a symptom of too much organic waste. Without the excess they won't be so prolific. Even after cleaning so much there could still be some eggs somewhere. Bettas actually eat snails so I'm thinking that if you have been pretty generous with his food he wasn't interested in eating the snails, so the snails populated like crazy and fed on more excess food and on and on.....

Even with a filter you will want to change 25% of his tank water every week. Filters remove the big stuff but the dissolved invisible waste that the beneficial bacteria makes will cause him to fade and get sick. Water changes remove it. Low water temperature can cause fading too. Bettas need it 75 degrees fahrenheit or higher all the time.

I hope he's feeling better......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins