BettaMomma
Fish Aficionado
I know this is a completely unnecessary thread for a LOT of you, but there are probably some people out there who read about the rescues that so many of us bring home all the time and just have no idea where to start, but want to help. This is for those people.
There are 2 things to think about before you make the decision to rescue a betta.
1 ) Do you have a tank and a place in your home to put it?
2 ) Is this something you're willing to invest your time and effort into over the long haul?
Most of the time this is something you can decide while you're standing in a store, staring at a fish that is in dire need of some medical attention. It's okay to let your heart guide you into buying the fish, but REMEMBER - use your head too. It can be a long term commitment, especially if you're taking one home that isn't knocking on death's door. The chances of these fish coming back from pretty grave illnesses are actually very good.
My vision of a "betta rescue" is probably different from others' ideas of it, and that's perfectly fine. I buy the ones that I figure will die very soon if I don't take them with me... I will take one home if it's covered in ick, it's eyes are so cloudy it can't see, and it can't get up off the bottom of the cup. OR... I'll take one home if it's missing an entire fin and needs help growing it back. OR.... I'll take one home if it was dumped in with another one and has some pretty severely major damage all over the place. I'll also take them home from a store if it's covered in fungus, it has horrible popeye, it obviously has a gill infection, it is flopped over on the bottom of the cup and can't get up, infections, etc. etc.
If the fish is very sick, you will obviously want to get it home as fast as you possibly can. However, if you feel that you have the time, please let an employee, preferrably a manager, know how you feel - especially if it's pure neglect and ignorance that has put the fish into this condition. If you don't have time to, or aren't comfortable with doing it right then, PLEASE email or call, or both once you get home. It WILL make you feel a whole lot better about the situation. And, this will also let them know why you took the fish home in the first place. Most of the time, they aren't even aware, and just don't care, that they have sick fish in their stock on the shelves. IF we just buy them and take them home with no complaints, they'll just keep on ordering more, making the profit (AND YES, THEY DO MAKE A PROFIT ON THE FISH THEMSELVES) and just figure they're selling fish, so they must be doing something right. If you really want to make an impact in a store like WalMart, tell them that you aren't buying ANYTHING but sick fish in their store, even if you do still shop there. They don't know the difference, and if they *think* you don't shop there anymore because of the way they treat their fish, you've made somewhat of an impact. Having said that, I would very strongly encourage you to stop shopping there then also... I have officially stopped buying ANYthing in WalMart. I don't care if it costs me twice as much somewhere else, I make sacrifices so I don't have to buy anything there. And I tell them. OFTEN.
On to the fish themselves... once you get them home, you'll have to diagnose the problem and start whatever type of treatment you need to, if one is necessary. A lot of problems that fish have when they come home to live with you can simply be corrected by getting them into sparkly clean water. If you plan on doing rescuing on a full-scale, you will want to invest in some medications, just in case you get one home and realize someone needs to be treated for something. If you're just looking to get one or a few, hold off on the meds until you diagnose. There are SO many things that can go wrong with a fish between the time it is born and the time you find it on an shelf that it's hard to say what you can expect to find on the shelf. I have seen soooo many things - blindness, severed fins, fungus, ick and cloudy eyes, shredded fins, severe finrot, etc., and just plain disgusting water which has created a whole mess of problems. You never know what you're going to find. I won't go into all the illnesses and how to treat them, because quite frankly I don't know how to treat them all and I could type for days and days to describe how I treated everything I've treated thus far. Besides, that's what this forum is for.
Lastly, BE PREPARED - if you go in intending to rescue someone, be completely prepared to find things you might later wish you hadn't found. It can be a really emotionally trying experience, but it is really, REALLY rewarding in the end, even if the fish doesn't survive.
and PLEASE, PLEASE....
If you're not comfortable with making a complaint to the store, simply type me up a PM and I will call the store. I have done it several times, and I will do it several more times.
There are 2 things to think about before you make the decision to rescue a betta.
1 ) Do you have a tank and a place in your home to put it?
2 ) Is this something you're willing to invest your time and effort into over the long haul?
Most of the time this is something you can decide while you're standing in a store, staring at a fish that is in dire need of some medical attention. It's okay to let your heart guide you into buying the fish, but REMEMBER - use your head too. It can be a long term commitment, especially if you're taking one home that isn't knocking on death's door. The chances of these fish coming back from pretty grave illnesses are actually very good.
My vision of a "betta rescue" is probably different from others' ideas of it, and that's perfectly fine. I buy the ones that I figure will die very soon if I don't take them with me... I will take one home if it's covered in ick, it's eyes are so cloudy it can't see, and it can't get up off the bottom of the cup. OR... I'll take one home if it's missing an entire fin and needs help growing it back. OR.... I'll take one home if it was dumped in with another one and has some pretty severely major damage all over the place. I'll also take them home from a store if it's covered in fungus, it has horrible popeye, it obviously has a gill infection, it is flopped over on the bottom of the cup and can't get up, infections, etc. etc.
If the fish is very sick, you will obviously want to get it home as fast as you possibly can. However, if you feel that you have the time, please let an employee, preferrably a manager, know how you feel - especially if it's pure neglect and ignorance that has put the fish into this condition. If you don't have time to, or aren't comfortable with doing it right then, PLEASE email or call, or both once you get home. It WILL make you feel a whole lot better about the situation. And, this will also let them know why you took the fish home in the first place. Most of the time, they aren't even aware, and just don't care, that they have sick fish in their stock on the shelves. IF we just buy them and take them home with no complaints, they'll just keep on ordering more, making the profit (AND YES, THEY DO MAKE A PROFIT ON THE FISH THEMSELVES) and just figure they're selling fish, so they must be doing something right. If you really want to make an impact in a store like WalMart, tell them that you aren't buying ANYTHING but sick fish in their store, even if you do still shop there. They don't know the difference, and if they *think* you don't shop there anymore because of the way they treat their fish, you've made somewhat of an impact. Having said that, I would very strongly encourage you to stop shopping there then also... I have officially stopped buying ANYthing in WalMart. I don't care if it costs me twice as much somewhere else, I make sacrifices so I don't have to buy anything there. And I tell them. OFTEN.
On to the fish themselves... once you get them home, you'll have to diagnose the problem and start whatever type of treatment you need to, if one is necessary. A lot of problems that fish have when they come home to live with you can simply be corrected by getting them into sparkly clean water. If you plan on doing rescuing on a full-scale, you will want to invest in some medications, just in case you get one home and realize someone needs to be treated for something. If you're just looking to get one or a few, hold off on the meds until you diagnose. There are SO many things that can go wrong with a fish between the time it is born and the time you find it on an shelf that it's hard to say what you can expect to find on the shelf. I have seen soooo many things - blindness, severed fins, fungus, ick and cloudy eyes, shredded fins, severe finrot, etc., and just plain disgusting water which has created a whole mess of problems. You never know what you're going to find. I won't go into all the illnesses and how to treat them, because quite frankly I don't know how to treat them all and I could type for days and days to describe how I treated everything I've treated thus far. Besides, that's what this forum is for.
Lastly, BE PREPARED - if you go in intending to rescue someone, be completely prepared to find things you might later wish you hadn't found. It can be a really emotionally trying experience, but it is really, REALLY rewarding in the end, even if the fish doesn't survive.
and PLEASE, PLEASE....
If you're not comfortable with making a complaint to the store, simply type me up a PM and I will call the store. I have done it several times, and I will do it several more times.
I'll let it sit here for a couple of days and then I'll pin it in the bettas frequently asked archive if that's cool with you.
):
