Umm..

[Roxyluvsme13]

I don't even think there's any ammonia in our water.. . I'll just use the Novaqua plus and hope for the best.

[K9soul]

Almost all tap water has some level of ammonia, and of course the fish waste creates ammonia. That's why it's important to change the water often, especially if they are in small containers. The ammonia levels can build up and become toxic or cause illness very quickly in small containers. There are ammonia test kits (and nitrate/nitrite etc etc). But again that stuff is not cheap. Fishkeeping can actually be a very expensive hobby if making sure they will have good conditions and live the longest life possible. Unfortunately a lot of people get fish thinking they are "cheap" or "easy" pets. But if a person wants their fish to live longer than a few months, more investment and effort needs to be put into it. Betta fortunately are still easier than most fish since they can tolerate higher ammonia and nitrite levels than many other fish, but they still often get fin rot and other diseases if not in good conditions.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Ok, thanks . I'll just make sure to watch them and change their water often until I can get some Amquel Plus. I normally change it once a week, but would 2 times a week be better? Most are in one gallons, 3 in 1/2 gallons.

[K9soul]

Twice would be good, especially the half-gallons, and also make sure you don't put in extra food that they don't eat because that also converts to ammonia as it breaks down in the water. You are probably fine without Amquel or any other ammonia removing agent as long as you do that. In fact I believe those ammonia removers advise to only use in tanks/containers with filtration. At least I know Ammo-Lock does. Some people recommend every other day even for containers less than a gallon but they could probably get by with twice if they aren't overfed and aren't too messy (it can vary from fish to fish).

[Roxyluvsme13]

Well, some of my bettas have been home about a week and they still haven't eat.. Well, actually that's only Melody. I've offered her Pellets, peas, and cucumber, but she won't touch any of it.. :/. But what they don't eat I've been removing from the water, since it bugs me to death when they have all this food gunk on the bottom .

[bckrazy]

I use Amquel & Novaqua plus together, to keep the water optimum. It's my understanding that Amquel aids in binding ammonia. I also add IAL extract which helps to bind ammonia and keep the water at blackwater condition. I've had a lot of success with using both, but Novaqua plus used alone is great too. StressCoat can also be used alone as a dechlorinator, and works very well... I just get annoyed because of all of the added stuff, and how it causes my tanks to get a film on the surface after a few days.

Honestly, I started off using them together because when I ordered my BettaTalk pair, Faith advised me to use it. It worked so well that I haven't changed since. I also buy the HUGE bottles (and I'm thinking of buying the powder form) so it is much less costly than buying small bottles of other, less reliable dechlors.

[K9soul]

Yeah my tanks are filtered so I don't have any problem with a film on the top. I had both before but when I decided to cycle my tanks I went to using just Stresscoat. Course I only have two bettas, if I had a bunch in smaller/uncycled containers I might go back to using both. Fortunately I was able to keep myself from getting in too deep (for me personally anyway ) and just stuck to my two. I've had them since March 2005.