# Clay pot poisoning?



## Jacksmom (Apr 11, 2016)

It's been a long time since I last posted because frankly, after 13 months I feel embarrassed to not be able to maintain healthy fish My beloved betta, Jack, died on December 1, 2016. I've lost a lot of fish since we started in the hobby last year but this one hurt the most. I really loved that little guy. I have updated my profile with my various tank specs and maintenance practices. If you are interested in the long story, I've posted it in the Tank Journals forum. It's long...

I believe I may have poisoned my fish with a Clay Pot over the course of months. It started with a nasty smelling build up on a filter output. I posted here and some other forums trying to identify it but was fairly unsuccessful. A couple of people did they it grew on their filters as well but it hadn't caused any issues and they simply cleaned it off with water changes. I'm not certain because to date I kind of suck at this hobby, it's been an ongoing frustrating journey and every time I think I have it figured, I don't. So this is my current best guess. I have inspected the pot and removed it. I can't see any bubbling on the interior or exterior or disintegration of the pot at all. It looks the same as it did when I put it in there. I have placed it in some water and have been testing daily with a ppm meter to see if the reading goes up but after 5 days it hasn't moved yet. Since the illness that sets into my bettas is so slow moving I'm not convinced it isn't leaching at this time.

My finned friends are plagued with some slow slow slow something that kills them in the end. It starts as hardly noticeable fin rot, so slow that my husband and friends can't see it. A pinhole here, a color change there, nothing blatantly obvious. They think I imagine it since I do tend to be a little obsessive and dramatic. It took 4 months from the first time I saw a pinhole until Jack died. Recently though it has escalated and everyone can see it. Once it really takes hold it happens at an alarming rate. I didn't take action soon enough to save Jack. Currently I have moved my 3 bettas to heated but unfiltered hospital bowls and I've treated them with Kordon Methylene Blue as per bottle instructions. I have other meds on hand but don't know whether I need them or not. Two of the three seem well on the mend but I'm still worried for the third one. My questions are:

1. If the pot is the culprit can the chemicals it's been leaching over the last 6-8 months be cleared out of the sand, gravel, filter and off the plants with lots of water changes? My fish budget is way over spent and as much as I'd like to just start fresh for peace of mind, my husbands wallet would rather I didn't. I will replace what I have to but would really like to save what I can. I have no problem with hard work and re starting the cycle if that's what it will take.

2. If I can flush it out how will I know when it's safe to put my fish back? When the stuff stops appearing on the filter output and I can't smell it anymore? Would that be a solid sign that it's gone?

3. If my bettas have been poisoned is there anything else I should be doing for them besides getting them out of the toxic environment? As stated I feel like 2 are doing well, they both had much less exposure to the pot/contaminant, but one still has a lot of black in his fins and on his body and I can't tell if it is previous damaged tissue that's not all fallen off/finished dying or if it is still continuing. They have been in bowls for nearly 2 weeks now. All three are eating and having bowel movements although the one I'm still questioning only goes every 3-4 days and it's HUGE. I'm not sure if that's normal for some bettas or if it's a sign I should be concerned with. The other 2 go pretty much daily. All three interact excitedly when we say hi to them. They appear fine and for 2 of them I'm certain the rot isn't continuing.

4. If it's not the pot what else can I look into? My ammonia and nitrite readings are always 0 and my nitrates never go above about 10 pmm. My heaters work properly and my filters are all fine. What kind of illness takes months of time to overcome a fish? I don't believe it's external stress but once again, I'm not sure. I'm looking for out of the box answers. I'm convinced it's not my practices. I treat my water and aerate it and heat it at least 24 hrs before I do water changes, I don't have kids or roommates who may be doing something when I'm not around, I do not overfeed them. There is no plant or food detritus in their tanks. I clean but do not over clean their filters regularly. I test weekly for ammonia and nitrite, I complete 25% water changes weekly. I have a separate clean bucket and hose for each tank. I do share dirty buckets. I have learned all those lessons over the last year and have corrected any poor practices I may have had. I'm convinced it's not my methods but I am really out of ideas here.

5. How can I speed up the pot leaching faster to see if that's really it? I don't want my bettas in 1 gallons for longer than necessary so I'd rather not have to wait 4 or 5 months to see if this thing is leaching. Would boiling it or keeping it in hotter water make it happen faster if it's happening at all?

Thanks for any advice


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## troutsniffer (Dec 10, 2015)

Can't harm your fish, don't worry about the pot. You have no detritus at all? do you even have plants? it might be a good idea to get some, bettas like resting on larger leaves, and of course it will suck up excess nutrients and possibly something harmful if anything is present. Maybe you're over cleaning? My best tank hasn't had so much as a gravel siphon in over a year. At one point I did not even do a water change for like 4 months. Do you ever get your hands in the water? maybe something is coming off your hands, like nail fungus? sometimes you can have stuff like that and not even know.


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