bettas sick

[fishlover2005]

I went to walmart two other nights and was looking at the bettas and all of them were sick. they all had green and fungus and all that kind of stuff.. i wanted to buy them all and bring them home and make them feel better... My friend said they needed stress stuff.. i diden't have the money to buy any of the fish..

 

[RandomWiktor]

If you can not afford meds to treat the bettas, do not buy them; they will only suffer more from transport just to die in your home, and additionally, you'll be funding wallmart's abuse of bettas. I know it is sad, but perhaps you could help them more by speaking to the manager of the store or of the fish department about your concerns. Customers have a lot of pull on what a business does with its product, so if people start voicing conerns about bettas and stop buying them, the store will have to reform.

I buy sick and dying bettas and attempt to treat, then refund if they do not survive so the store doesn't profit. Its is a VERY EXPENSIVE, very emotional, and often times unsucessful venture.

 

[BettaMomma]

I do the same thing.

Do call the store, call them EVERY single time you go there and see bettas being treated horribly.

at a price point of $3.84, they really don't give a crap about them, but if they start ticking people off when they cruise past and see how horribly they're treated they'll do something.

Call, call often.
I do.

 

[fishlover2005]

i wish i would have had the money to help those poor fish.. i will speak with someone next time i go in.. its not right for those poor fish to be sick

 

[BettaMomma]

Don't wait til you go in there to speak with someone re: the fish...
generally the "fish people" in walmart don't give two craps about the fish.

Call a manager and raise a rucus. That will get you much farther.

 

[cation]

There's no way in hell I'd give WalMart any money for anything if I had another option. I'd go somewhere else. However, if you can't, if you live in a small town raped and murdered by WalMart, you can try taking it to the management.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - buying sick fish from pet stores sends a message that it's okay to sell sick fish. My choice in those situations is to tell them I think it's wrong, and inform the management that I will not be supporting a business that condones that treatment of fish (I also tell them how much I spend monthly so they know what they're losing.) I also tell them that if they don't fix it, I will spread the word to fellow fishkeepers. If I go back and nothings changed, I would tell them I'll be informing the authorities and the press.

But everyone decides for themselves what's right for them. No matter what advice you get, this is your battle, and you are the one who has to decide what is the right thing for you to do.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

Wow Bettamomma you're not afraid to stick up for the fishees, are you?! You always respond to people's posts like that and it's great!I wish I had your courage to really tell those 'fish people' in Walmart where to go!
Well done, Bettamomma!

fish: ) fishees = "Ahh, help us!"
Bettamomma = "I'll save you, guys!"

Well done!

 

[BettaMomma]

Thanks very much.

I'm repaying my debt to fish everywhere because at one time, when I was in college, I did a horrible thing. I had a 10 gallon tank with 2 bleeding heart tetras, a pictus catfish and some mollies in it. I rarely ever did any water changes and paid no attention to them, not to mention the overcrowding. SO.. ultimately, they ended up with these horrid little worms all over in their tank. I ended up trashing the tank, had to put them all into a brand new 10 gallon and ended up killing them all. I was horrified. I had them in that tank for years, eventually it just got to be too much for them. By the time I decided to try to be a good fishy momma to them it was too late.

So I've made it kind of my purpose in life now to try to head off any unnecessary suffering & pain for fishies whenever I can.

Last night I went to PetSmart and pulled a few bettas off the shelf so they'd get the attention they needed. One of em was covered in white cottony body fungus, one had the beginning stages of dropsy. I pointed them out to a girl working there and she said "I really hate it that we keep these little guys in these small containers, I really do. Thank you for pointing these guys out."

I felt pretty good about having helped them.

 

[fishlover2005]

way to go bettamomma.. I hate it when ppl don't treat there fish or even there pets for that matter right.. if your going to have a animal treat it like you would want to be if you were an animal

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, me too.
And, unfortunately I got hooked up with the single most mistreated fish on the planet (I LOVE bettas). Maybe my strange need for collecting them is for that reason. It's like a major challenge for me to take these little guys home and make them the most spoiled little things on the planet. Give them a complete turnaround in life.