Update On Clarence

[RandomWiktor]

I've been away from this forum for a while now, and when I left, I had just rescued (read: stolen) a betta from Petco who some jerk customer had placed in with another male. I don't know how long he was in there, but he had basically no fins, a nasty gill wound, and several massive injuries to his sides. It seemed like he wouldn't live through the night, but he amazed me when he not only lived through the night, but through the entire week. When I left the forum, his condition was improving.

And it still is! I'm happy to report that Clarence now has nice, full fins, and has healed completely aside from a bit of scar tissue on his gill flap that has formed a sort of "horn" of extra skin. He is still very small, but is putting on weight and starting to grow. I think he was a little stunted since his body needed to direct its resources to healing the extensive damage. His fins aren't as long as a normal VT's, nor are they the right shape thanks to the severe degree of damage, but they've grown out to a good enough length that he can swim with ease. If anything, he swims better than my other VT boys due to his shorter finnage.

I just wanted to thank everyone who offered encouragement and advice following his rescue. I've never had to deal with wounded bettas before, just sick ones, so your tips really may have been what ultimately saved him. Big hugs all around guys.

 

[Rediahs]

They were probably not a jerk, probably just ignorant, but what is a customer doing putting bettas in bowls in the pet store?!?

 

[RandomWiktor]

I'm betting more on jerk; the name Siamese Fighting Fish suggests that they are battle-ready, and there were problems in all of the local pet stores with a few male teenagers who kept putting bettas in one another's cups when employees weren't looking. I'd make a fair wager that they were the culprits. These stores really need better supervision. Then again, they need to take better care of bettas in general, so I'm not too surprised that things like this happen. More of them die from the poor husbandry than cruel customers, that's for sure.

 

[Rediahs]

Ahhh that explains it.

Yeah, them teenagers can be real jerks sometimes (me being one of them but I hope I'm not a jerk! I love my betta and all bettas! )

Good to see he's doing well! It's still a sad state where kids are playing painful pranks on fish for the fun of it.

 

[Elise]

Lord, it's not even us (teenagers), I overheard a parent telling his child that it was okay to fight them because that's what they were bred for. No worries, I tactfully (meaning I played the guilt card) explained how it could lead to killing the animal for no reason. The kid was almost in tears and definately won't be fighting pet store bettas any time soon....

But I digress, it's nice to hear how he is doing RW. I'm glad he made a good recovery. All he needed was love! *inserts sappy love song here*



ps- Any chance of pics?



edit: who spells child wrong? Although I'm purdy sure definately is still spelled wrong...

 

[Joby]

Good to hear all your TLC is working on him and he's improved.

I too want to see pics!!