RIPBreathing from the surface allows them to utilize that air, but they are still swimming in the water. If CO2 is too high it will poison them.That sucks, I would also think very unusual with bettas, because they breathe from the surface (Mostly) Either way he was a beautiful fish, I'm sorry
Now that you mention it, you're right. That would have created a drastic drop in pH, I forgot about that. Well that just raises further questions! 2 of my shrimp have died since my last post too, but I still don't know why. My parameters are still perfect. I don't know what to doMy friend, please don't blame yourself for his death... Trust me. It wasn't your fault.
Without going into gas diffusion across membranes, partial pressures of dissolved gases and also the fact that these stagnant and muddy streams are Bettas' natural habitats, I can assure you that you DID NOT gas your fish with CO2. The only way to really do that is to inject pressurized CO2 into a system. Even completely stagnant water (see the photos, where Bettas have been collected), can sustain labyrinth fish quite comfortably.
If your CO2 was too high, your shrimp would have died way earlier. Also as CO2 would turn into carbonic acid when dissolved in water, your pH would drop and you would have seen that in your testing. There was another reason for this tragedy, and it was not something of your doing...
Not being a smart@$$, I just don't want you to beat yourself up over his death...
May your fish rest in peace, brother.
Now that you mention it, you're right. That would have created a drastic drop in pH, I forgot about that. Well that just raises further questions! 2 of my shrimp have died since my last post too, but I still don't know why. My parameters are still perfect. I don't know what to do
I don't think that's necessary. Beast is right, you have to really try hard in order to gas your fish. It is possible, especially in planted tanks with high CO2 dosing because plants start releasing CO2 at night when they rely solely on cellular respiration, but in most tanks that won't happen.
I killed off most of a tank by suffocation, it's not impossible. (Tank was neglected and evaporated to the point canister filter output was splashing a lot. Meanwhile my juvie geophagus had grown a lot. Water change and refill to the topbefore bed. Bodies all over in the morning. Water parameters were fine. Necropsies showed no obvious disease. And once Iadded an airstone the deaths stopped.) I do however think it would be next to impossible to do that to a betta. If every single fish *but* mr betta died i would suspect O2 depletion.
Sorry for your loss
but we sure do.