Some People Suck

[GuppyDude]

u know what, bettas should be locked up behind glass in 2 liter tanks where no one can touch them except the employees to do water changes. iv been to walmart and petsco and have seen kids shakeing the cups and punching the glass of aquariums becasue it made teh fish spook (somehow this is ammuseing) after telling the little basterds to get lost (in the nicest way possibel of course ) i told an employee to keep an eye on them and that employee nvr left thier side until they left. i have a serious problem with people being able to lift up the cups and shake them around trying to get the fish to flare up or act alive, if u want the fish get and emplyee to bag him for you

u did a good thing Kiarra rescuseing those fish, me and the fish both thank you.

 

[Haiku]

u know what, bettas should be locked up behind glass in 2 liter tanks where no one can touch them except the employees to do water changes.

I have to agree, that's a good idea. Even if they kept the little cups behind a counter where you could only go look at them under supervision or have an employee show them to you. Fish in an actual aquarium are far less likely to be harassed than the poor bettas in their cups, where snotty kids or cruel people can shake them or put them in with each other to see them fight. How easy it would be for someone to pick up the cups and hide them in different parts of the store and other awful things because they are so easily accessable.

 

[Kiarra]

BM, I don't mind you using the photos at all. PLEASE do. Distribute them as much as you see fit, if it will benefit the Bettas.

The boys seem to be in good spirits. I thought I saw some fungus yesterday, but I may have been jumping at shadows. I don't think I see it today, but their water is so bright blue (Methylene Blue) that it's a little hard to tell. I did not, however, see any fungus during their water change, so I don't think it's an issue. Treating with Methylene Blue, anyway, just in case.

I'm not seeing very many signs of regrowth yet. Pieces are still kind of falling off, because they had chunks that were hanging on but had been cut off from their blood supply. On the top of the blue boy's head, he's missing about a half an inch straight of scales. All of the scales are just GONE, with the flesh there exposed. I have examined the flesh, and it is not discolored or damaged. Merely exposed. The body of the green butterfly suffered no damage that I can see, but his fins are mostly gone, and it's his fins that are still falling apart as we speak. I keep finding little pieces still at the bottom of his tank, but it's not fin rot. I've seen fin rot, and this is NOT fin rot. Just lingering effects of his damage. I'm seeing fewer pieces falling off this evening than I saw this morning, which is inevitable, but a very good sign. They have a couple of pieces of fin that were injured at least a few days ago, because both of them are healing in those pieces. I think they were together for a few days, and went at it more than once.

They're pretty active, though. Still won't eat.

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm so glad they're with you.
And I can guarantee you that they are too.
Someone else may have come along and thought it would be fun to buy both of them, take them home and let them finish each other off.

2 of my boys (Archie and Harvey) are both battling something that's really bugging them and they've both recently eaten big hunks of their tails off. With Harvey, it took a good 3 days, but FINALLY I'm starting to see some regrowth on the tail.

I wonder if your boys are still a bit stressed out from the whole ordeal and they just need some time to calm down.
Try some salt, too. I would dare to bet that salt (from what I've seen when I used it versus when I didn't) speeds up the healing process exponentially.

We'd all love to see progress pics of them over the next few weeks.

 

[Kiarra]

Oh, I ALWAYS use salt in all of my tanks. It has proved its worth to me several times over in the prevention of parasites, the calming of the fish, and the maintenance and repair of those pretty, pretty fins.

I'll see if I can get some more pics of them. It's hard having Styx come over and take photos of them (all fish photos taken by Styx). I'll have to get my mum's digital camera. She shouldn't mind. She never uses it. So I may be able to do progress photos. I have all the equipment BUT the camera....

 

[BettaMomma]

That makes it a little difficult to take photos then. lol

I can't wait to see how they fare. I'm sure they'll do fabulously.

 

[Kiarra]

Success! The blue boy took a nibble of a freeze-dried bloodworm. He ate about half of one.

I tell ya...I really need to get these boys named....

 

[Kiarra]

Well, CRAP.

I don't see any fungus on the blue boy, but the green butterfly is showing some near his pectoral fins, and in a large patch on his right side near his tail. It doesn't seem to be bothering him any---he's actually the more active of the two---but this is not a development that I like!

I didn't notice it until now because of the blue water and a dying battery in my flashlight. Replace the battery...I notice the fungus. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

 

[BettaMomma]

It's not the end of the world.
They are, after all, in GREAT care.

I still think you should call em Rip and Shred.
It might seem kinda touchy right now to call them that, but think of the opportunities once they've healed and people ask you why they are named that...

 

[Kiarra]

Great care or not, I think the green butterfly is trying to die on me.

Looking at his pictures, there was NO fungus the day I brought him home. NONE at all. And I think there's now somthing wrong with his swim blatter, because he's trying to float on his side now.

He's hurting a lot now, too. He's twitching his fins like there's something biting onto them. No parasites. I'd know if there were. Nothing internal, because he's not twitching his BODY, just his fins. He's in pain.

Wouldn't it be nice if they made sedatives and pain killers for fish...?

 

[Kiarra]

The poor green butterfly appears to have JUST died. I watched him take his last breath just a minute ago.

 

[newfishies]

i'm soooo sorry to hear that! at least he is more comfortable now

 

[Haiku]

Oh how sad

 

[Kiarra]

I took the poor boy back to Petsmart for an exchange.

Much to my incredible surprise, all of the Betta cups had JUST been changed, and there wasn't a single sick one in the bunch. I spent quite a while looking for a sick one I could take home with me and make better, but I couldn't find a single one. Some of them had even been building nests!

I brought home a little pale blue marble.

The other boy involved in this disgusting incident is pretty active today. The effects of necrosis seem to have ended, as his fins have stopped falling off. I'm seeing a few signs that look like mild infection, but less than I saw yesterday, and there are NO signs of fungus on him. He comes up to the top whenever I come over, but he's not really interested in food. I'm not entirely sure what he wants, actually, but he comes up to the top more often than not when I wander in his direction.

 

[BettaMomma]

OH dear... I'm so sorry to hear.
I'm sure he at least appreciated the fact that you gave him a comfortable place to be when he decided it was him time to go.

Did you explain to them what happened when you took him back?
This makes me really angry.
But I'm glad you got another one to give a good home to.