Moonbeam Continues To Change Colour

Dear All
Just thought I would let you know moonbeam continues to change colour . He now has red bits, and sort of skin Color . Sometimes it fades , then returns to blue ! It's completely weird ! I wonder if it's because he's reaching sexual maturity . He's building fabulous bubble nests in his floating plants which he loves to hang out in protecting his bubble empire !
I'm also so pleased I changed my substrate to sand as it's so much easier to see where the poo is to clean it properly . When it was black substrate it was very hard to see . The zebra snails does make a hell of a mess !
I'm also doing twice weekly water changes and maintenance now. Still unsure for my 22 litre what amounts I should change . Currently doing 5.5 litres twice a week . But wondering if I should do 5.5 midweek , then 10 litres on a sat/Sunday ? What do people think ?
Ally

It sounds as though Moonbeam does have the marble gene. Marble bettas can change colour quite dramatically. My last betta was bought as a blue and white marble but within weeks he was plain blue.

5.5 litres is 25% of 22 litres. With just a betta and snail this is fine. That is a low bioload so s25% is plenty.


Nerites do make a mess, especially if they have wood to scrape clean 

Do you mean the plain white stuff that looks a bit like pillow stuffing and doesn't cost very much? Or Poly Filter with capital letters that is about 1 cm thick and stiff and very expensive?

The first needs changing when it gets clogged. You can try washing it but after one wash, maybe two, it'll go all shapeless and holey. It isn't a very good home for the filter bacteria so even if it was left in there for months it wouldn't have many bacteria on it so you won't throw many away when you change it.

The second kind, the expensive one, needs changing when it gets used up. The instructions say what to look for.



And yes, always wash filter media in old tank water. In an emergency you can use dechlorinated tap water, but never clean it in untreated tap water straight from the tap..

Where have you got the polyfilter in the filter?  To be as effective as possible it should be first in the direction of the flow.

There are two schools of thought on the filter floss type of polyfilter. Juwel puts it first in the direction of water flow so it catches the big bits of debris before it gets to the sponges. Almost everyone else puts it last in the direction of water flow as they use it to remove the fine bits that go through all the other media and it oesn't clog as quickly in that position. The latter type use mainly sponges to catch the big bits.


The other Poly Filter, the expensive one with capital letters that removes chemicals from the water, should go last.