So Sad, Its long, But Please Encourage

[sweet_tinuviel]

Well I recently posted about a sudden illness with my two wonderful bettas. Well Dakek died by morning and Nove was just hardly hanging on. Both had completely lost there color all over and since Nova was an opaque celephane with purple "feckles" those had faded to a "poopy" brown and he was labored in breathing.

So I bagged up the fishes and took them to the lfs that I bought the bloodworms at, and they tried to tell me it was my water and they wanted to test it, so I said fine cause I knew my water was fine, I use bottled water and 1/2 tsp of salt and Slime Coat and water dechlorinator. The stupid people, not only did they test the water with the fish in it, then promply told me "Oh your ammonia is High" Duh stupid you tested with the fish in it, then they said oh your bettas look fine and healthy. Thats when I went nuts.

I said how can the look fine when one is dead and the other is dying they said it had nothing to do with the worms and it was he was old, like i said he has never been sick and I have had him 3 months, so he wasnt that old.

Then, can you believe this they said and I quote " Oh its completely normal for bettas to change color mine do it all the time"
I said are your bettas dead too??!!!!!

Then she argued with me and I said how can you work here and give people advise when you dont know what the hell your talking about. Obviously these bettas are sick and your just a stupid, underpaid, lazy, know nothing idiot that think you know all.

And I marched out. And carried my dead/dying fish to petsmart where the aquatics guy said the same crap about its normal for bettas to change color. I told him its not and left the dead/ dying bettas with him, and said Id call and check up on them cause he said if Nova got well he take him I said ok. I called 3hrs later and Nova had died too.

So am I just and idiot and getting upset over nothing or what

Thanks for letting me vent, I really hate it when people talk out there butts and dont know sh*t!!!!!!!

So now in one month I have lost 3 bettas. Im about to just give up.

Quark
Dalek
Nova

I just cant help but feel its my fault and that I just souldnt have fish anymore. I try and try and I think Im doing the best I can and NOTHING ever seem to work out. Dont mind me Im just sad cause I miss my babies.




* Sorry I have a child too, I didnt mean to let my anger get the better of me!
Sometimes it takes someone else to make you realize you can make mistakes when blinded by anger. Thanks again.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

So sorry to hear of your loss, but don't give up. You can only grow stronger from this.

 

[The-Wolf]

So sorry to hear of your loss, but don't give up. You can only grow stronger from this.

ditto with that
very sorry to hear that

(can I suggest editing the topic title to annoyed, as children are on this forum)

 

[shadow]

sorry to hear about your bettas. i do have one that slightly changes color (near his head)blue/white but he's not sick. when you bought the bloodworms, were they live or in a bottle (freeze dried)?
you can give them flake food also

don't give up on the bettas, they are great to keep. i would watch them before you buy them, and get them from a store that is knowledgeable about bettas/fish. i'm sure you are trying hard, but don't get discouraged. if everyone gave up on keeping fish cause of the failures we've all had, no one would have fish.

you could stay away from the bettas for a little while do alot of research on them and then go for it. i did that when i lost my 3 mollies, but now i have 6 happy and healthy ones. i wish you the best of luck!

 

[bunjiweb]

If you think it was the bloodworms that killed them demand to know where they come from, if they test the water they come in, if they are ACTUALLY bloodworms (and not something more dangerous).

I say fight for what you know is right and if their crap knowledge and bad food stock has lead to 2 of your fish dying then damn it get as much out of them as you can. I would, especially if it was a crap LFS

Ben

 

[MrMashashin]

Yea that's what my farther away LFS is like but I only buy fish from there like neons becuase their so small and easyer for me to take care of. When I just started this hobby last year, I went back to the farther away LFS for like 8 more fish and the stupid kid injured 5 of them and they died about 3 hours later over a 10 minute period of time. So I'm going to aply there for a job to see if i can bring up the reputation a bit. If not then ill get a job at my Super Walmart in the new fish section

Sorry for you loss.

 

[Jayderana]

I am really sorry to hear about your loss as well. It is normal for a betta to change color (i have one that has changed once because he is young) HOWEVER not to become pale and colorless that is a clear sign of illness. I know how it feels to go to a pet store with a sick fish and demand accountability and recieve a run around. I have had three fish that have come to me terminally ill each time i fought for them one time for over a month with no sign of improvement. The petstore will always try to blame you because they do not want to assume responsibility in most cases. Do not blame yourself and do not swear off bettas forever they are wonderful charismatic fish that i personally couldn't imagine my home without. As a result of my constant paranoia reguarding my fish i do not feed live or frozen food even though i know they would love it i stick to pellet and sparingly feed them freeze dried every once and a while to reduce the risk of parasites. Good luck and i hope this chain of events doesn't discourage you from owning other bettas they are normally hearty little fish.

 

[jacblades]

when you say the fish was in the water when they tested it, was the fish dead? if the fish died, you should have taken him out immdeiately and then done a water reading. if he was allowed to marinate in the water, then yes the ammonia would be high but if the live fish was ni the water, the ammonia shouldnt have been high. how often did you change the water? did you use aquarium szlt or table salt?
dont ever ask the lfs for advice. most likely they will lead you down the wrong path. (try not to use insults either-its not nice )

 

[sweet_tinuviel]

I was pretty mad when I typed so Ill appoligize too for the naughty language ) and I did correct the topic line thanks for informing me so hopefully this will this so Ill clerify a little:

Jacblades

I didnt say

Obviously these bettas are sick and your just a stupid, underpaid, lazy, know nothing idiot that think you know all.

To the people at the lfs I said it to my husband on the way out. But God knows I wanted to.

when you say the fish was in the water when they tested it, was the fish dead? if the fish died, you should have taken him out immdeiately and then done a water reading. if he was allowed to marinate in the water, then yes the ammonia would be high but if the live fish was ni the water, the ammonia shouldnt have been high. how often did you change the water? did you use aquarium szlt or table salt?

They checked the one with the live fish, I only brought the dead one so they could see the radical change in him and that my other one was going through the same thing. He had just died that morning only been a couple of hours while I was sleeping that he died so as soon as I noticed I took him out and took him to the LFS.
I change my water every 2-3 days and I use only bottled water, Slime Coat, 1/2 tsp. aquarium salt and declorinator. And I have always used this (i.e. Dalek) since I had him so I know it wasnt my water.


Thanks again to Jay, MrM, Shadow, Krib, Danio and Bunji for your info and encouragement. I do appreciate it.

But my husband saw how brutally upset I was and brought me home 2 new bettas.
Ill post more on them later. Time to get them settled.

 

[tekknocolor]

I'm sorry to hear about your poor fishies also My friend rollntider had problems with bettas at first too. It seemed like every single one he had would die for unknown reasons, but now they're all doing fine. I say that you shouldn't let it discourage you from owning such wonderful pets.

It also makes me irate when the ppl at the lfs make stuff up because they just want to sell or are just mis-informed. And it's senseless to try to tell them they're wrong because "they're the ones working at the pet store"... can you tell this has happened to me too?! Anyway, I wish you luck on your new babies! Can't wait to see more of them!

-- Leigh Ann

 

[Wisperian]

Awwwwwwww *pat pat* some lfs are quite evil lol... wuvmybetta should start her own ya know? she's sooo good at breeding bettas lol

 

[lopeva]

I'm sorry for your loss, I lost a betta this week as well, but due to my own stupidity. I felt bad for the little fellow, and am mourning. He was an excellent fish. I was even able to nurse him back to health when he was ill earlier this year, so he was a great little trouper.

Don't give up on bettas, the one I lost recently was my third one. The first two died due to poor water quality, and I was ever vigilant with this one. He was excellent. I'm looking forward to getting a new fish this weekend, and hope he will be as happy as my last. There's an excellent aquarium store near my office, and I'll be checking there.

And since I'm a newbie, can someone please define LFS? I'm assuming it's a store, but not sure. Would obviously like to avoid if at all possible.

Please and thanks.

 

[thellama]

couple of mine have changed color... but obviously different situations..

some people know nothing about fish and work at fish stores..

its the fish store managers fault for hiring ppl that know nothing about fish..

its really too bad..

but to argue with employees is really pointless.. they dont have the power..

going to the manager is the smartest thing

 

[GP]

You can't avoid them, they are the LOCAL FISH STORES..

 

[lopeva]

Thanks GodricPuffer, I actually figured it out around 12:00 last night. The light bulb went on. I'm lucky there is an excellent local fish store near my office. All of the employees are very smart and knowledgable when it comes to the fish. Better than the local Wal-Mart I must say.