Thanks! As a note my bowl takes 3 gal of actual water AFTER I put in some round stones at the bottom and the ornament and plants. Plus the water only comes up to 1-1.5 inches from the top (yes, I have a lid with holes) so it is BIG. Never tried filling it empty, but volume wise it must be something from 3.5 gal to 4gal.
Help! Betta About To Die ...
- Thread starter Galanta
- Start date
Curiosity101
Is now at University! :D
I thought you were going to bed!
And I wasn't trying to criticise you (It seems like you're trying to justify yourself). The only reason I'd go for 5gal and no less is for the physical swimming room, no other reason.
I'm sure your boy is very well looked after and very happy in his bowl.
And I wasn't trying to criticise you (It seems like you're trying to justify yourself). The only reason I'd go for 5gal and no less is for the physical swimming room, no other reason.
I'm sure your boy is very well looked after and very happy in his bowl.
they sell small heaters that would fit into a 3 gal bow. and you can make a sponge filter out of materials that you most likely have laying around the house...it just MIGHT make all the difference to the little guy.
good luck with him...as mentioned above, just keep clean water and try to keep it warm the best you can.
good luck with him...as mentioned above, just keep clean water and try to keep it warm the best you can.
tibby25731
Fish Herder
Just to clarify what I said earlier - I only medicate my fish when I am sure there is something wrong. I have learnt that the anti internal bacteria meds work well for a variety of ailments, so when I am sure something is wrong but cannot quite put my finger on it, I use this medicine, as there is a good chance it will help. I wouldn't medicate just because a fish may possibly be getting ill - I would need to be sure there was a problem! In this particular case, as he has lost his colour and clamped his fins, I would have treated immediately to be honest. And it is this sort of situation I have had before, with rescue bettas, and other rescue fish, that Wilder has advised me with. I have taken on so many sick fish that I feel quite well qualified to advise myself now, and I wouldn't give advice unless i was sure it was good Not trying to cause any unrest here, I just want to be sure the OP is taking on my advice and considering it - it's up to them what action to take, and sometimes it is intuitive in these situations
Forestpisces
Fish Herder
It's great to see someone so willing to try for their fish. Well done and keep at it 
Ok people... UPDATE: I came to work at lunch today and he was in floating in the bowl with his gills moving, but faded again with stress stripes. I had left 4 blood worms at the bottom (my "hospital bowls" don't have anything at the bottom, so I can easily see if the fish is pooping, etc.) and they were untouched. HOWEVER, when I walked back into the office 10 min ago I noticed that his color was better and he was swimming. In fact he was diving to the bottom, which he has not done in days. I stepped closer and lo and behold all four bloodworms were gone. And he kept diving down repeatedly, searching. I soaked and dropped in a few betta bites, but he ignored them. So I got out the blood worms and he just gobbled 3-4 more right off the fork. He was snapping them up so desperately that I fed him a total of 6 or so. At which point I finally noticed how stuffed he looked and I stopped. I hope I did not overload his system... I will definitely give him 24 hours to process all this and feed a pea as needed tomorrow if it is not going through the system. I really think we are over the hump!!
Curiosity101
Is now at University! :D
That's fantastic news! Really you should be congratulating yourself for persevering. I know alot of people that would have given up before now. I bet you'll see him come on leaps and bounds now he's eating.
Though it sounds like you'll have a new problem...trying to wean him off bloodworm! But hell, at the mo it doesn't really matter so long as he's eating.
Though it sounds like you'll have a new problem...trying to wean him off bloodworm! But hell, at the mo it doesn't really matter so long as he's eating.
Forestpisces
Fish Herder
Thats great!
Hopefully he will be back to normal from now on
Hopefully he will be back to normal from now on
OK, the saga continues.... Now that he got more of his color back, I inspected him more closely and it looked to me as if he had tiny little white dots on his face and top. This is where he is the darkest and while he was faded to silver I could not see them. Since I had never seen ich and he seemed well enought to travel, I took him to the LFS and talked to the two guys there. One said there was nothing wrong with him, the other looked more closely and then said that he looked like in the final stages of ich. He first said that I should just let it "run its course" as long as he keeps eating. He said that Betta are very hardy and he should be fine. When I asked him why it is said that ich is dangerous and needs to be treated right away, he said that I could try something mild. He sold me Aquari-Sol which says it is "ideal treatment for sensitive fish". He recommended to start at 1/2 the recommended strenght and watch the fish. Has anybody ever used this stuff? What is the most gentle way to cure ich in a Betta? I am specifically curious if anybody ever treated ich in a betta bowl fish. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. I bought the stuff, but have not tried using it yet as I don't want to unnecessarily stress the fish. The guy seemed to think that if the betta was isolated and the water changed twice a week, he would be able to recover on his own.
Syphoniera
Fish Herder
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,048
- Reaction score
- 0
Edit - don't know about British meds, but anybody who says ich should be left to 'run its course' shuld be regarded as suspect - and DON'T buy fish in his care.
Re-edit - each little critter will produce THOUSANDS of offspring - early treatment saves lives - and treatment should continue past the four day cycle possible ONLY at a higher temp - in unheated tanks, the life cycle can take a month or so to complete.
Heat speeds up the cycle for faster treatment - if heat is increased but no treatment given, it worsens the infestation VERY rapidly.
Re- RE-RE-Edit - hiked temps around 84-86 degrees used to often prevent ich from multiplying, but apparently heat-resistant types are now fairly common - life is just unfair...
Salt is an alternate treatment - personally I'd treat ASAP.
Re-RE EDIT: thought it would be faster to Google than dig through my notes for a sensible link - much not good online
This is good: [URL="http
/www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/ich-explained.php"]http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/ich-explained.php[/URL]
Thanks to you, he has a life where someone can worry about him being spoiled.
I and many others have had the odd reluctant eater started on bloodworms who has later accepted other things - sometimes it's a question of triggering the appetite, once it's been 'turned off', as you know.
Tibby has a very valid point regarding at least the various fish she, I, and various others have rescued, not that I've rescued anything near the numbers she has, or could afford/bear to, or have her expertise in dealing with these.
Once fish (or any of us) get run down, they become susceptible to illnesses, and, apart from exposures at large fish farming facilities, even bettas kept separately in containers in pet stores may have water added from a communal supply, such as a plant tank in which other fish have been kept.
Not only infections but parasites may be present and have gained ascendency in any rescue fish - I recently lost two once-greatly improved little bettas (bought because of very obvious health issues, which turned out to be secondary) after 9 months, to encysted parasites which were unaffected by medicated foods.
And I was so sure the by-then-beautiful little male was all right, after several months of symptomless improvement in colour, finnage regrowth and other respects, that I exposed my precious rare-find giant otos in a tank shuffle and later watched two of them die in convulsions as parasites ate their way out of their bodies.
By this time, my lovely little male had suffered a sudden, rapid weight loss and partial paralysis and the same-source, evidently related female developed large, fast-growing lumps - all at the same time, within days - and they were all lost at once.
The stricter quarantine procedures observed in Britain may well spare pet-owners there the worst effects, but not all effects are immediately noticeable, although they may be sudden in onset, triggered, perhaps, by lengthening days as I suspect occurred in the example given.
Where symptoms are present, as Tibby points out, intuition must come into play - and some diseases often considered less prevalent simply tend to go unrecognized, especially when imported into areas where they previously did not exist.
The more aware we are of such possibilities, the more likely we are to deal with problems before it's too late for our pets.
Hopefully, the little betta you're aiding will make a complete recovery and have a long and healthy life.
But it's always best to be aware and sometimes better (where symptoms are present) to try something rather than nothing because of uncertainty in what is usually anyway an uncertain situation.
Re-edit - each little critter will produce THOUSANDS of offspring - early treatment saves lives - and treatment should continue past the four day cycle possible ONLY at a higher temp - in unheated tanks, the life cycle can take a month or so to complete.
Heat speeds up the cycle for faster treatment - if heat is increased but no treatment given, it worsens the infestation VERY rapidly.
Re- RE-RE-Edit - hiked temps around 84-86 degrees used to often prevent ich from multiplying, but apparently heat-resistant types are now fairly common - life is just unfair...
Salt is an alternate treatment - personally I'd treat ASAP.
Re-RE EDIT: thought it would be faster to Google than dig through my notes for a sensible link - much not good online
This is good: [URL="http
/www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/ich-explained.php"]http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/ich-explained.php[/URL]Thanks to you, he has a life where someone can worry about him being spoiled.
I and many others have had the odd reluctant eater started on bloodworms who has later accepted other things - sometimes it's a question of triggering the appetite, once it's been 'turned off', as you know.
Tibby has a very valid point regarding at least the various fish she, I, and various others have rescued, not that I've rescued anything near the numbers she has, or could afford/bear to, or have her expertise in dealing with these.
Once fish (or any of us) get run down, they become susceptible to illnesses, and, apart from exposures at large fish farming facilities, even bettas kept separately in containers in pet stores may have water added from a communal supply, such as a plant tank in which other fish have been kept.
Not only infections but parasites may be present and have gained ascendency in any rescue fish - I recently lost two once-greatly improved little bettas (bought because of very obvious health issues, which turned out to be secondary) after 9 months, to encysted parasites which were unaffected by medicated foods.
And I was so sure the by-then-beautiful little male was all right, after several months of symptomless improvement in colour, finnage regrowth and other respects, that I exposed my precious rare-find giant otos in a tank shuffle and later watched two of them die in convulsions as parasites ate their way out of their bodies.
By this time, my lovely little male had suffered a sudden, rapid weight loss and partial paralysis and the same-source, evidently related female developed large, fast-growing lumps - all at the same time, within days - and they were all lost at once.
The stricter quarantine procedures observed in Britain may well spare pet-owners there the worst effects, but not all effects are immediately noticeable, although they may be sudden in onset, triggered, perhaps, by lengthening days as I suspect occurred in the example given.
Where symptoms are present, as Tibby points out, intuition must come into play - and some diseases often considered less prevalent simply tend to go unrecognized, especially when imported into areas where they previously did not exist.
The more aware we are of such possibilities, the more likely we are to deal with problems before it's too late for our pets.
Hopefully, the little betta you're aiding will make a complete recovery and have a long and healthy life.
But it's always best to be aware and sometimes better (where symptoms are present) to try something rather than nothing because of uncertainty in what is usually anyway an uncertain situation.
Syphoniera
Fish Herder
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,048
- Reaction score
- 0
Thanks, me, too - hope it doesn't happen to anyone else's.
That link I FINALLY found and re-edited in is good - have a peek at it - although I boobed and it's hundreds, not thousands, of offspring per organism.
That link I FINALLY found and re-edited in is good - have a peek at it - although I boobed and it's hundreds, not thousands, of offspring per organism.
Thanks a lot for the link! My only question now is, has anybody heard of/tried this "Aquari-Sol" stuff? The active ingredient is copper sulfate and it is supposed to be able to be used for prevention or treatment of Ick, Protozoan and velvet. Does anyone know if this is safe for me to use and if I should use it at the strength indicated on the package or less? I would like to start treatment tonight, but don't have any way to get anything else at this point in time.
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
440 -
220 -
180 -
151 -
137 -
134 -
122
-
121 -
106 -
100 -
100 -
92 -
90 -
A
81
-
64