I just have to share my frustration with everyone. I discovered shortly after I got Darby that my sister has a betta of her own! I never even knew, so I went over to her house and found him in the kitchen, in a small vase (maybe 1g), with a bit of rocks and a plant for company.
I examined him closely, it looks like he might have a bit of fin rot, and she said "I've had him forever and never changed the water". Horrified, I explained to her all the problems with that statement, and she has since changed the water.... for the first time.
Long story short, I went over there yesterday and straight away I knew that he MUST have fin rot. His tail is far too short. I explained to her what I thought, and she said "no, he's just a crowntail, their fins are supposed to look like that."
On top of that, she feeds him "maybe once or twice a week", and then just shakes betta bites into the bowl where they fall pell mell, and he grabs a few. His belly is huge compared to Darby, so he's either got the beginnings of Dropsey, is constipated (not that I'd blame him-- I'd hold it too if my tank was already filthy), or is overfed.
It's a little hard to see him properly thanks to the jar that he's in. It sort of distorts everything in the tank.
While I definitely don't have room or money for ANOTHER tank, and the only thing I have on hand at the moment is a 1g quarantine tank, I told her that if she ever wanted I would be happy to take him off her hands.
I'm almost positive that he's going to die soon. When I first took a look at him, he was laying on his side at the bottom of the tank, and I was sure he had already passed on. I just don't know what to do! Even if I did have a proper setup for a new Betta, I'm not sure I could properly treat a sick fish, not to mention it would be like pulling teeth to get my sister to give him to me, I expect.
I dreamed about him last night, that he was swimming alone in a huge tank and his tail was almost 2 feet long. It just made me so mad and frustrated that I had to rant a little. I wish I had a better tank setup to rescue him, or that I had a house instead of an apartment so I had more room!!
I examined him closely, it looks like he might have a bit of fin rot, and she said "I've had him forever and never changed the water". Horrified, I explained to her all the problems with that statement, and she has since changed the water.... for the first time.
Long story short, I went over there yesterday and straight away I knew that he MUST have fin rot. His tail is far too short. I explained to her what I thought, and she said "no, he's just a crowntail, their fins are supposed to look like that."
On top of that, she feeds him "maybe once or twice a week", and then just shakes betta bites into the bowl where they fall pell mell, and he grabs a few. His belly is huge compared to Darby, so he's either got the beginnings of Dropsey, is constipated (not that I'd blame him-- I'd hold it too if my tank was already filthy), or is overfed. It's a little hard to see him properly thanks to the jar that he's in. It sort of distorts everything in the tank.
While I definitely don't have room or money for ANOTHER tank, and the only thing I have on hand at the moment is a 1g quarantine tank, I told her that if she ever wanted I would be happy to take him off her hands.
I'm almost positive that he's going to die soon. When I first took a look at him, he was laying on his side at the bottom of the tank, and I was sure he had already passed on. I just don't know what to do! Even if I did have a proper setup for a new Betta, I'm not sure I could properly treat a sick fish, not to mention it would be like pulling teeth to get my sister to give him to me, I expect.
I dreamed about him last night, that he was swimming alone in a huge tank and his tail was almost 2 feet long. It just made me so mad and frustrated that I had to rant a little. I wish I had a better tank setup to rescue him, or that I had a house instead of an apartment so I had more room!!
