Why I will never have another divided tank

I currently have 3 divided betta tanks with spaces for 8 bettas. When I set them up, I was really proud of myself. They looked good, had loads of plants and caves and where all over filtered and heated.

However, since I started keeping bettas in divided tanks I've had no end of problems. One betta gets sick, so I treat or move to hospital tank and do what I need to to get him better. Then he dies, and his tank mates get sick. I've had such a high attrition rate on my boys - never managed to get one to be older than about 12 months. I've done everything I can but every time one gets better or dies, another one shows signs of being ill. Now Sirius and Goliath (both in same tank) look like they have internal parasites and Azrael (who I temporarily moved in with them a couple of weeks ago) isn't looking 100%. I'm just so sick of the worry.

I'm never going to set up another divided tank and when I get the money and space, I'll be closing my divided tanks down and getting them all 5 gallon tanks of their own.

This isn't a moan at anyone with a divided tank - if it works for you and your bettas are healthy then that is great. I'm just sick of doing everything I can and still losing a betta every month or so.

Hi
You have had a run of bad luck recently If I remember correctly, you lost the first one to columnaris? Apart from fish TB, which doesn't occur very often any more, columnaris is probably the next worst disease. The columnaris bacteria are ever present in the water, but its only when a fishes immune system is lowered that these bacteria will affect the fish. The main cause of a lowered immune system is stress. As we know, there are numerous causes of stress like Injury, Illness, Water quality/parameters, shipping etc etc. Obviously a new fish can can come in with the disease from the lfs too.
I dont know about you, but all ours are kept at 28 degrees. These higher temperatures accelerate the condition, so deaths with normally be quicker. Cooling the water will only serve to slow it down, but the result will still be the same.

The best way to reduce the chances of a columnaris outbreak is to - Quarantine new fish, Maintain high water quality, Use high quality foods and Disinfect nets, buckets, syphons etc etc.... The columnaris bacteria thrive on waste matter, so regular routine water changes helps to reduce the number of these bacteria in the tank.

When ever we have one of ours show symptoms of disease in a divided tank, we treat the whole tank as a precautionary measure.

I am so sorry this has happened to you

Columnaris was the start but it's just been downhill. I've had columnaris, internal parasites, dropsy, fin rot, body rot (which I cured, go me, only to lose the fish to dropsy), unidentifiable bacterial infections . . . and a lot of it has been passed between tank mates.

I'm just tired of it.

I've had similar problems with females in a sorority,dropsy and random deaths with no apparent reason.Although scarlet who had dropsy appears to have recovered now shes on her own.Once they have all died off they wont be replaced,i will have something else.

so sorry assaye,
i felt the same to i could never
get rid of fin rot with my two.
when they were in their own tanks
they were fine,but when i split my tank
and put them in they had fin rot,
i treated this i did reg water changes
filter in one side air stone other
so movement at all times
still couldnt get rid of it.
i actually blamed myself in the end
i thought they were stressed being next to one another
i felt maybe they sense each other???
who knows but in the end i gave them to a friend who
has themseparately and luckily they are fine,
so i do understand how you feel,
im only sorry i cant give you the ans,
as others have no probs?? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I must admit I am not a lover of divided tanks. I have 2 girls in a divided at the moment but I have lost fish in divided tanks so only use them as a last resort.
So sorry you are feeling cut up about your fish you are going through a very bad patch but you can only do your best. Some folks (not us) wouldnt even try to help the fish, probably wouldnt even notice there was anything wrong. Chin up xx

oh i hate divided tanks, esp. after the columnaris outbreak.

good choice not to have devided tanks again!

What you have to remember is though??? A divided tank is just the same as a community tank without barriers All the same rules apply

Vandraco aka Bronzecat wrote:What you have to remember is though??? A divided tank is just the same as a community tank without barriers All the same rules apply

ahah yes! true!

But... i think its because all bettas have an individualness about them, then with the dividers it does kinda seperate them too.

(ok, i know i made no sense what so ever.... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] )

I have a divided tank with 5 sections. I currently only have 4 boys in there as i have experienced the one gets sick then another then another problem. The tank will be fine for a couple of months then bam something goes wrong! I lost 3 boys in one week once through illness spreading.

My husband is going to set up new filter system in there to see if that makes a difference, if not he has agreed that i can get individual tanks for the boys. I never really get any problems in the girls tank??

I'm sorry you've had the same problem with your divided tank

I guess it's because (and this sounds nasty) but I care more about my individual bettas than I do about say, individual neon tetras. So I guess if a tetra gets sick and takes two with it, I sigh and buy some more. If a betta gets sick it's a real blow.

Also, apart from one nasty outbreak a few months ago, I've not really had many problems with my community tanks.

*touches wood*

actually thats true. my tropical tank has 2 cories, an algae eater, and heaven knows how many mollies or platies. If I see one look sick I throw some salt in and let them get on with it. They thrive, whereas if one of my darling bettas get sick its a crisis!

I kep one 25G ceparate tank and I lost two boys..One died first and after 1week the other one died as well but I want to give it another try for a ceparate tank and if it doesn't wotk I will never set up ceparate tanks again because I want my bettas to live 3years

timkel wrote:I've had similar problems with females in a sorority,dropsy and random deaths with no apparent reason.Although scarlet who had dropsy appears to have recovered now shes on her own.Once they have all died off they wont be replaced,i will have something else.

Well so much for that theory,went out and bought 2 more today [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

oh oh where from just noticed you are same area as me??

Fish rus at Wellingborough,also got a nice ct male reserved that i'm picking up today. :-)

the one thing I have done with my divided tanks was I always kept pairs together...if I was planning on breeding them or not two particular fish become room makes for life and I never switched that up. (I have very nice non see thru dividers) so they are in theory never exposed to other pairs of fish.

still possibilitys of illness, but instead of spreading it from all the males to the females it would just take out one pair. (that is unless your spouse brings home guppies and contaminates every tank you own in the process)

sorry to hear about all your problems.
instead of having to save up and buy them all 5g tanks you could just divide the tank with glass and silicone it so there all completely diffrent sections not using the same water but still in the same tank.

Good idea kizno1! I had sort-of considered it but not given it much thought. Thanks for remidning me =)