How much aquarium salt?

Question
Hey Stephanie,

I have a betta in a one-gallon tank. I change the water every four or five days, and put in about a quarter teaspoon of aquarium salt. However, I'm still getting bacteria bloom in the water, and I don't know why. I bought the aquarium salt to solve this bacteria problem, but it hasn't seemed to help. This goes for my other betta in a one-gallon and the other in a half-gallon too. Could you tell me what's a good amount of aquarium salt to use per gallon? (There are no instructions on the salt I got.) What else can I do about the bacteria?

Also, just on the side: when I'm changing the water of my bettas, there is always some gunk on the bottom (sort of like black specks) that I assume is uneaten food or something. However, when I change the water, the gunk doesn't get poured out with the rest...it kind of stays in the bottom half of the water, so I'm basically just pouring out the top, relatively clean half of the water. Is there any way I can sort of "vacuum" the dirt off the bottom without having to empty all the water out of the tank?

Thanks.

Answer
Hello,

The amount of aquarium salt you are adding sounds just fine. Aquarium salt alone is not 100% effective against bad bacteria. I also recommend either a product called Cycle or a waste control product designed for betta bowls. These help to break down excess waste in aquariums/bowls without filters.

As for the cleaning. There is a product you can buy called a gravel vaccuum or gravel syphon. You can use one of these to syphon the gunk out of your bowl. Alternatively, you can try stirring the water up (assuming your betta is not in there) so that the waste is distributed in the water and pouring out the water you want to change. In this case you probably would not want to add your betta again until the remaining waste settles.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Stephanie