Jack's DEAD =(

[3fsh]

R.I.P. little Jack

The only things I can think of are A. the water was too cold and shocked his system B. the water parameters of the new water that you added were completely different than his tank water, so that shocked his system (how long has it been since he has had a water change?) or C. natural causes.

DO NOT get mad at yourself over this, you take excellent care of your bettas, so I am sure that it wasn't your fault he died. Heck, if I were a betta, I'd rather live one day at your house than spend my entire life in a little cup!!!

 

[BettaMomma]

Awww thanks you guys.

I don't think he got stuck in the plant cuz it's a very spindly little cabomba sprig. Just big enough so it bent over when he laid on it. The little strands of plant weren't enough to hold him in, I don't think. Also, now that I think about it - he was upside down once he got into the plant so he was going crazy before that, I think.

The temp was matched perfectly to his tank water.
His water change went identically to every single change he's ever gotten til now.
It'd been about 6 days since his last change - and that's a tad bit longer than in the past, but he's not a messy fish so 6 days isn't out of the question.

All I can think of is natural causes.
If it was an illness or anything that poisoned him he wouldn't look completely healthy and normal. He looks so peaceful.

Maybe he decided it was just time for some other poor little betta that needs to be rescued to come live with us, so he moved on and made room.

I don't know, but whatever the cause - you can bet his tank won't remain in need of a rescued occupant for long. *sigh* Poor little Jack.

 

[daudy_dojo]

sometimes its hard but i would name a new betta jack jr. just for comfort and memories of all the good times!

just member this:

you loved him
he loved you
you fed his tummy
he fed your heart
you changed his water
he changed your life
you gave him a place yo live
he gave you another life to take care of


its all good just think of all the great things you did for him good luck with the future betta boys

buh bye

 

[BettaMomma]

I just can't help but think I did something wrong.
To see him so completely perfectly healthy and half-flaring at me just half an hour before.

It makes no sense.
I keep going back in there thinking he will be up and swimming around.

He's not.

 

[Kiarra]

Maybe he suffered something like a heart attack or a stroke. That would explain why he'd be perfectly normal one second, and then dead the next. Especially if it was an aneurism. If it was, I'm sure he suffered very little.

 

[daudy_dojo]

*hugs* i know how you feel i have had the healthiest fish die on me before.. makes me want to cry just thinking about it!

 

[BettaMomma]

Well the thing was that after I shook his tank - he wasn't completely dead.
He flopped around - swimming upside down, even went around the tank top with his nose in the air like he was trying to jump out for about 10 seconds. Then he stopped and sank down to the bottom, and that was it. He twitched a few times and bam he was gone.

I suppose I'll just have to chalk it up to something natural, but it will always haunt me that it was something I did because it happened right after his water change.

It's such a shame, too. After all he'd been through at WalMart - covered in fungus and ripped up fins, he had come to be a beautifully healthy vibrant fish.

RIP, little Jack.

uugh, this just makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[Kiarra]

He was definitely very beautiful.

That behavior is common in dying fish, though. They are like seizures...it is the body's way of trying to jumpstart itself back into life when something fails, like the heart or the lungs.

 

[BettaMomma]

Thanks.
That at least makes me feel a bit better knowing that his behavior was somewhat normal, and if he did in fact die from something like a heart attack or something he'd not have just sunk to the bottom and landed.

I just looked him over really good and the ONLY thing I can see that's odd about his body is that his bottom lip was really red. But my guess is that he slammed into something in his flailing and bruised it. His eyes, skin, fins, ventrals, lips, head, EVERYTHING look perfectly normal. It's hard to look at such a beautiful fish being that perfectly still.

Just doesn't seem fair.
I STILL feel like it was my fault, somehow.
And I also feel guilty cuz we didn't pay as much attention to him as we probably could have, just because he was SO not a needy fish. I know this is all ridiculous but it's haunting me. Ya'd think if the death of one fish bothered me so much I'd stop rescuing them. The rescues are a little easier to take - because you kind of expect it.
This was just - wow. So out of the blue.

 

[fishmom]

Sorry about your fish. The same thing happened to me about 8 months ago. I looked at our fish Twilight and he was fine and a couple hours later I looked at him and he was on the bottom of the tank --gone. I still wonder what happened with him.

 

[BettaMomma]

It's definitely something I'm going to wonder about for a LONG time too.
And I'm always going to be so conscious of EVERYthing I do during water changes now, even though that probably had nothing to do with this.

it SUCKS!!!

 

[WeeMan]

Sorry to hear about Jack from the pictures he as a beautiful boy but on the plus side you now have a tank and so you can rescue another.

At least he went in a warm loving home than a cup.

RIP Jack

 

[eudielynn]

I'm so sorry about Jack. That just breaks my heart. I know how it drives you crazy trying to think of what you could have/would have/should have done. I went through all of it with Jericho even though his was over several days. You just have to believe (and I really do) that it was his time. His body just shut down and there wasn't anything you could have done for him. Just try to be thankful that it was quick for him and he didn't suffer long. You won't ever forget him any more than you will little Amos. Siam died in 1976 and I still haven't forgotten him. And people say they are "just fish". **Big Hugs**

 

[Jessica13]

I posted on here a while ago about my HM dying. It was exactly the same thing, he was just floating upside down, when i tried to net him out thinking he was dead he started darting around for a bit! He died within about 20 minutes I never found out what caused it..

Really sorry to hear about Jack though, its awful losing them when you dont know why

 

[jols]

I'm very sorry for your loss BettaMomma. I'm positive you were a wonderful mother to him, as you are to all of your bettas. He had a better life with you, no doubt...keep that in mind. If someone else got him, or passed him up, he wouldn't have lived this long for sure, unless they were experianced with sick bettas, but he probably would've been in a cup until something bad happened to him. So with you, he was 100x better. Keep your chin up, you have worked wonders.