Saving the dam*ed

[fiss]

All right, I know I'm gonna get laughed at, but this has grabbed at my heart & I've made it my lil mission...  I was in giant as* Walmart awhile back & there were these two bettas in those barracks, except you couldn't really tell they were bettas because the sides of the boxes were completely brown with filth.  I bought them on the spot to liberate them from their plight, but not until I scorched a few behinds    no, these were not my first bettas!)  one, awash with awful colors & badly torn, died within 24 hrs.  The other continues to this day, despite bad fin tears as well... spunky lil bugger & he's turned about five shades darker heh.  I tried it again today, this one was REALLY badly torn, there was virtually nothing left of his tail at all.  Despite very careful & gentle acclimating, he died within 10 hours.  Am I hastening death, hurting instead of helping?     :what:

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Hello and wlecome.


As it sounds they'd be dead anyway so your not making it worse. Some fish are beyond repair, try and pick the ones you think will have a chance.

The worst part will be the transfer from there holding tanks to yours. This is where there stress goes through the roof.

What treatments do you use on them

 

[fiss]

They're going into water that has been conditioned with Amquel, Stress Coat, Aqarisol, & a little aquarium salt & is room temp.  Their bags have been properly floated, & eventually punctured to allow the water to comingle.  I've tried to keep the lights low & even sound to a minimum.      :what:

Thank you for the welcome by the way, & for not laughing at me publically at least Just something about these down & out guys & the way my one boy has recovered so well from such awful circumstances has just motivated me to keep trying.

 

[Davy Reynolds]

We wont laugh. Most people take pitty on fish and buy them.
I think what your doing is right. but just some of them are on there way out and thats it

 

[William]

Really vent your anger each time you buy otherwise they will think it is acceptable and people will buy fish kept in these conditions.

 

[fiss]

Thanks guys!  I was worried there was something I was missing...  I have & had fancy boys too & have tried to learn everything I can about keeping them properly...  I'm gonna keep rescuing my street boys too though  

Heh at this point anyone who works anywhere near the fish dept books in the other direction if they see me coming... its really amusing :laugh:

 

[adeyc]

You did the right thing. But we all know walmart and the like has the same problem all the time and has done for years.

 

[fiss]

I keep hoping I will have some kind of impact at my local level at least... I don't have grand hopes of changing the world... I've toyed with the idea of a throwing up a web site w/ before & after recovery shots however, cripes I wish I'd had a "before" shot of Curmudgeon... this fish went from silvery blue with red tints on his caudal & anal fins to a midnight blue body & full dark red on same fins... & the attitude to go with that name    

We're getting a Petco in the near future I hear...

 

[Great Lakes]

Just a word on buying from Wal-Mart and Petco and the like. I always seem to see quarantined tanks in these places. The fish are generally small and and the inventory is pretty bland. I always try to go to the local pet stores. Even if it costs a little more, I would rather have the "Mom and Pop" stores around, and support them when I can. One real good reason? They appreciate your business, will come to know you, and can special order stuff for you.

 

[slt]

hi,
thats how i aquired my betta, these fish are beautiful,
but i was told not to put one in a comunity tank as the water
probably wouldnt be warm enough and because of there
traling fins would be harrased, anyways i was looking in a
shop out of town and in a small tank with blue groumies
dont no how to spell it ther was this purple & blue betta
been so cruelly harrased by them , its fins were torn,
i felt so sorry for it i bought it. at first my fish chased it
and i thought oh no things are the same for the poor fish
now as they were in the shop, it hid for a couple of days
then started to come out my other fish got use to it and
thankfully left it alone, that was about 4 months ago.
my bettas fine & grown loads his colours are now very impressive so i am glad now that i bought him.

thanks slt

 

[Alien Anna]

Hi,
I haven't tried this myself as I'm a relative newbie to tropical fish, but I've rescued various creatures over the years and this is what I'd do (maybe someone could try it and tell me if it's successful):

Firstly, no matter how disgusting their water, it's water they are acclimatised to, so put them in a small bowl with all of the shop water and some extra, conditioned water at the suitable temperature (try to avoid them getting chilled in the journey). Keep the water shallow initially, as they will not be in a fit state to swim to the surface.

Don't use any tank furniture or gravel in the initial stages, except maybe a plastic plant, but put black paper around the outside to reduce stress on the fish. Add an air-stone that produces very fine bubbles (bettas hate currents and large bubbles) and keep the temperature constant (no more than a couple of degrees higher than in the shop). I believe a slightly higher temp will produce a higher metabolic rate in the fish and aid healing, but that's just my personal theory.

Treat the water with Melafix, a tea-tree based natural remedy which is good for fungus, bacteria and viruses and boosts the immune system. Don't treat for anything else unless the fish has symptoms of frank disease (and even then, give the Melafix a couple of days to do it's magic first).

Keep the betta as quiet as possible (the small bowl or tank will reduce swimming about which might tire him) and feed on the best invertebrate food-stuff you can get - live brine-shrimp, frozen bloodworms etc. If he's very sick, you might have to make sure it's dead food, since he may not be able to catch it.


A vitamin supplement such as eSha's "Optima" may help.

Then change no more than 20% of the water each day, being careful to keep the pH and temperature steady so as not to shock him. If he recovers, you could gradually add a little more water each time until he is in the normal depth of water. Only when he is fit and fins are growing back should you even consider a proper betta tank or a community tank.

I'd value comments on my cunning plan, for any of you.
:love:

 

[fiss]

*scribbling furiously*  Melafix.. gotcha...

 

[fiss]

Well Anna I'm putting most of your plan to its first serious test tonight... I am SO mad at freakin Walmart... did I say I was mad??  Yep I'm pretty freakin po'd... I've even got it down to when they get their new shipments in, today one store had the gonads to put their new bettas into barracks that were filthy brown with algae from OTHER fish.  The other store had an outbreak of fungus that killed one of my favorite little rescues just recently... I'd had him a week or so, & raised the temp in my apt by a few degrees as its starting to get cooler here... it was enough apparently to trigger this dam* fungus & I didn't catch it in time *sob* he was a sweet little boy... Well this other Walmart is apparently afraid to put their bettas back in the water, so they let them sit out on the counter in their tiny tiny cups.  I watched two die as I stood there.  Whoever is passing themselves off as a breeder & selling to this monstrous company is sending fish who are missing big chunks of fins, have open sores, etc.  These fish are SICK!!!!  They have no business being anywhere near a sales floor!!!!!  I've heard tales of whole fins just falling off of these fish!!!  I picked out two & brought them home to hospital bowls, Melafix at the ready...  ooooooooh if I EVER get hold of that "breeder" he's gonna wish he never heard of a betta fish!!!  

 

[Rose]

most of us feel the same way. :grumpy: lol :hehe:

 

[adeyc]

what to do is go into the store. somewhere near the customer service desk will be a pile of complaint slips. just lif a couple of hundred or so. get all your freinds to fill them out then the store should do something about it. Over here we have Asda(owned by walmart) and thats the way they work. I know I did security for them for a couple of months. You could always make a banner and stick it on top of a shelf so a security camera can see it. Walmart head office has a link to all security cameras in all store's world wide. I knwo this as I helped install the stuff for our local store.
Just don't get caught doing it.