Betta tank - bacterial bloom

Question
Hi Christy,

I have a male betta in about a gallon of water, with about an inch of glass marbles at the bottom and a real plant, just added today (I'm not sure what kind of plant it is.) I have two questions:

1. My tank acquired some pretty bad bacterial bloom today. I did a 100% water change today, before the plant was put in (including rinsing off all the glass marbles) but it didn't help. I suspect this was because I didn't clean off the walls of the tank. When should I do the next water change in order to minimise trauma for my betta, and how much water should I change? Is there anything else I can do to remedy the bacterial bloom?

2. The new plant I got is in a little plastic pot and is planted in some foam. Although I haven't actually seen this happening, I think some of the foam may be floating off and out into the water. Is this dangerous for my fish? What if he eats it?

Thank you.

Answer
Hi Melissa
How often have you been doing water changes up to this point?  The smaller the tank/container and no filter, the more often you're going to need to do water changes.  I have one female betta that's injured/deformed and doesn't swim well.  I have her in a shallow, about a gallon bowl with no decorations.  I change her water 100% every other day.  I'd recommend the same for you, about 75-100% every other day, and be sure to let the betta adjust to the new water in a separate container for awhile as well.  I still have the original "cup" mine came in, and just keep her in that and pour a bit of the new water in with her for awhile to adjust.

You may also consider getting rid of the marbles, or at least only using a few of them.  They'll trap any uneaten food and poops, which will cause ammonia if it's not cleaned out regularly.  This way, you want have to remove all the marbles for each cleaning.  That along with the increased water changes should help keep the tank from cycling=no bacterial bloom.

As for the plant, he probably won't eat the foam-my opinion.  I've watched some of my fish grab and eat something they shouldn't, like poop, and they spit it out if it's not something edible.  But if it's disintegrating and floating off in the tank, that may end up in a mess.  What you could do, is there any dirt for the plant in the pot?  And, is it a plant that requires dirt/substrate?  If not, try to use some of your marbles to plant it in instead of the foam.  For my pond plants, I used the dirt to plant them in a pot, then used some aquarium gravel to pack in the top to keep the fish from digging out the dirt/dirt floating off.  Or, certain plants you can tie or rubber band on to a tank decoration or rock, and they'll root on that item.

Hope that helps, and let me know if you have more questions!  

Christy