Retrieving
Jun. 5th, 2004 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaSchool's over where my mother works, so I finally got my beta back. Poor thing. I think he's got a mild case of velvet. His head has discolored spots and his neck is almost white. His tail has rotted, his colors are dim, and his side fins are translucent. They took horrible care of him. Even the plant that was in there was sick. He's in with my baby goldfish now, so he finally has a warm temperature and room to swim. If he gets worse, I'll take him out and put him in a separate tank for treatment.
My mother said she saw a beta at another pet store. They're kept in tiny cups, and always sick, but this one was fine and perked up when he saw her, like he wanted her to buy him. She almost did, but stopped. It's so depressing. I hope he doesn't die, but I kind of hope he does too. Unless someone buys him for a community tank, he's just going to suffer for the rest of his life, however long that might be.
My mother said she saw a beta at another pet store. They're kept in tiny cups, and always sick, but this one was fine and perked up when he saw her, like he wanted her to buy him. She almost did, but stopped. It's so depressing. I hope he doesn't die, but I kind of hope he does too. Unless someone buys him for a community tank, he's just going to suffer for the rest of his life, however long that might be.
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Date: 2004-06-08 10:56 pm (UTC)Water conditioner can be bought at pet stores. If you buy it, make sure it's an easy to use kind. Anything that requires measuring is bad. Get the kind that says something like one drop per gallon.
Water changes should be a good idea, but be sure not to change too much. Water changes are themselves stressful on the fish, so it could just make it worse, especially if the water you're using isn't good. Maybe change a very little daily. If your local water is of reasonable quality, you could fill up a jug with tapwater and leave it to sit for a day to settle the chemicals out, then try that.
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Date: 2004-06-09 12:46 am (UTC)I scared my mom and sister into buying a tank. :) They're setting it up right now :) The tank is 10 gallons ^o^ Thanks for the help! It has a filter, oxygen thing for bacteria growth, a plant, rocks, and water conditioner.
On the sad side, when i went to the pet shop today i see what you were saying about betas. they were keeping them in absolutely tiny bags that had about 1 cm of dirty bluish water on the bottom and the broken spines of the fish (and sometimes part of its back)were sticking up out of the water. They looked ill (even to the untrained eye) and it looked like someone had mauled their spines with a razor. It was *horrible* :(
::sigh:: well, anyway, thanks for your help. My fish will be happier now at least.
-Katie
PS-i sent you a drawing of eon. haha enjoy.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-11 12:01 am (UTC)Yeah, betas get the most abuse because they can't die of stress within a day like other fish. And it's legal to do that because they're lower animals and despite obviously possessing a nervous system, can't feel pain or otherwise suffer.
And thanks again for the picture, it really was great.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-16 05:26 pm (UTC)- just guess