I am sorry to say that my little juvenile crowntail betta, Spudinski (Spud for short, and also nicknamed French Fry), passed away this morning. I got him at a reptile expo in May, and had about a month with him. Last night I realized that he had developed dropsy, which is an often fatal fish disease. I hadn't noticed until then, but it was already too far along to be treated. It was late at night, and so I could not pick up the stuff needed (clove oil) to humanely euthanize him. Swim in peace, Spud. You will be missed.
I am currently working on a post about filter cycling, but I decided to post an update on Forte, my metallic delta tail betta first.
Forte was adopted from Petco. I knew that he had an eye disease called popeye when I bought him, and was willing to treat it. Forte was pretty lively at the time, swimming around his cup, despite the filthy water he was in and the painful swelling and slight cloudiness of his eyes. My wonderful grandma bought him for me, and I appreciate that more than I can say, for I had no money at the time. Forte went into a 2 gallon tank that was heated to the proper temperature and dosed with two teaspoons of epsom salts to treat his eye. He did well for the first week or so, but he slowly became lethargic. He stopped eating, and didn't swim much. I asked the bettafish.com forum what could be wrong, and they said that he probably had a bacterial infection from his cup at Petco, and they suggested medications that I could use on him. I asked my dad to pick the meds up on his way home from work. That same day, Forte started floating onto his side and had serious trouble swimming. I didn't know if he could hold on until my dad got home, but he did. I hurriedly changed his water out with medicated water, and acclimated him into it. When I released him into the tank, his behavior didn't change. He floated back up onto his side, and wouldn't move unless I stuck my finger into the water near him. I honestly didn't think he was going to make it through the night. When I woke up in the morning, I procrastinated on getting out of bed because I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to see his little body at the bottom of the tank, the body of the fish that I couldn't save. After a while, my mom came to wake me up. I was already awake, of course, and she asked me what was wrong. I told her what I was afraid of, and asked her to go and check if Forte was still alive. He was. I got out of bed, and walked to his tank. Forte wasn't floating on his side anymore, he was upright. He was still lethargic, and wouldn't eat when I dropped food in, but he seemed a little better, and when I tapped the lid of the tank, he swam a around in a feeble circle for me. This was this morning. I made a little cylinder out of plastic mesh for him to sit in, so that he could be closer to the surface. In the beginning, he didn't understand what it was. After about ten minutes though, he got the idea. I went downstairs to eat something, and when I came back upstairs Forte was lounging in his "hammock". When I walked up to his tank, he swam out to greet me. He is still not back to full energy yet, but he seems to be doing much better than yesterday. Here's a photo of him lounging in his hammock this morning:
Here is a video of him yesterday, when he was floating on his side:
And today:
I hope that Forte continues to improve, and gets to experience what it feels like to be healthy, and have a home.
My name is Elora, and I am a betta fish fanatic. I currently own 7 bettas, all of which I love very much. On this blog, I will write step-by-step posts about proper betta care, and about what's going on with my own bettas. You see, there are many misconceptions about betta fish, and a lot of people don't know it. This leads to bettas being unintentionally mistreated, and many of these fish live shorter lives for this reason. But with a little guidance, proper betta care can be as easy as pie!
Here are my current bettas:
This is Peach, my orange male veiltail betta.
This is Winter, my multicolor crown tail female betta.
This is Merlin, my royal blue crown tail male betta.
This is Pi, my wild-type crown tail female betta. This photo was taken when she had fin rot (a fin disease), but she is now cured.
This is Spud, my multicolor baby crown tail betta. I think that he is a male, but I cannot be sure until his fins grow out.
This is Brisinger, my salamander halfmoon male juvenile betta.
This is my newest betta, Forte. He is a metallic silver delta tail male. I adopted him yesterday, knowing he had an eye disease called popeye. (That's why his eyes are swollen and cloudy.) I just bought the medicine needed to treat him, and I plan to start treatment tomorrow. Forte means "loud" in Italian.
I hope you enjoy this blog, and that it helps you on the road to proper betta care!
