Well thanks a whole bunch!

[ThatDarnDragon]

haiku. I forgive you only because your fish has the same name as me (Draco).

 

[abstract]

usually some kind of stress or bad water conditions can cause such symptoms and diseases....since you do not have a heater, are you sure that the temperature doesn't fluctuate too much each day? this can lead to a lot of stress. as others have said he most likely had some kind of internal parasite or disease which will cause them to perform such actions - and if there were no external symptoms than it was most likely internal - in which case you can by a myriad of treatments for ranging from treated foods, to liquids, powders, etc...

on a side note you really have to post a message here as SOON as something is wrong with the fish - the first message should explain EVERYTHING in detail so that we dont have to wait for your responses before we can help you out...in addition, post in a couple sections of the forum (i.e. bettas and emergencies) and bump the post often - a lot of the time i just like "View New Posts" so i would miss such posts if others didn't reply

hope that helps in the future, and keep an eye on the betta and emergency forums so you can better diagnose your fishies in the future!!

EDIT: by the way, where do you live in new york

 

[BettaMomma]

I would say that by looking at the number of times some of us (like myself, for instance) have posted, we don't just ignore people who are in need of help. In fact, probably 9 out of 10 of us probably came here for help ourselves in some fashion or another the first time we visited.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I really am.

I admittedly haven't read everyone's posts on this topic, I have a feeling that everyone's saying the same thing that I am about to.

I'm right now at work as I am at this time every day... Now I sneak in peeking at posts on here between emails, projects, etc. But I really don't think that it's fair to blame us collectively, especially the one person who responded to your posts, for the death of your fish. Someone responded to you and there is a very good chance that person had to go to work, or school, or do SOMETHING in their personal life rather than sit and stare at the TFF board until a response came through.

I think we, as a whole, do a VERY good job on this forum of helping people out of jams with their fish. There will be times when folks don't get the help they need, but those times are few and far between. And by insulting us is NOT going to help your case any.

Again, I am very sorry for your loss.
I will tell you - yesterday I looked at your post and one of the most experienced people on this forum was already interacting with you and had asked you all the proper questions - so I didn't add to the questions, I thought i'd let that person handle it because there's nothing that I would have added without sounding redundant. And, since I had to go out in the afternoon yesterday and didn't really get back on the board in the evening, I didn't check back to your post.

AND... those folks who are helping people choose names for their fish maybe aren't comfortable with handing out information on dying fish.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

ya, you didnt read all momma.

thats ok, I understand where you and the rest are coming from. and I do understand work and such comes first.

I am not insulting anyone, Im not name calling or anything. Im just making clear of my perspective.

and I did post AS SOON as I noticed the problem.

I KNOW The death of my fish is not any of your fault, I just wished I had the help. Dont you understand that?

Next time you write a lengthy post like that, read all other posts.

 

[BettaMomma]

If I had time to read all lengthy posts, I wouldn't get anything done at work. lol

I do understand how frustrated you are.
I lost a fish several weeks ago - he was my first betta, my favorite, my baby.
I was devistated. Although I got tremendous amounts of help with him, I still wasn't able to save him. Sometimes it's just their time to go.

AND....
After I posted, I did go back and read most of the posts in this thread, and honestly- even after having read them I would not have posted much differently than I did.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Diagnosing a sick/dying fish in a forum is difficult at best and often impossible. I am a live fish chat addict and have spend 30 minutes in discussion with folks seeking help for a sick fish- no delays between Qs and As and still not been able to nail down what is wrong. Live chats are generally the best place to go for emergency help.

The best way to get help is to provide 110% of the data up front and then to post a good picture of the fish as well.

Also, fish do suffer heart attacks and strokes which are impossible to diagnose. I have actually sent a large clown loach that I lost to a fish expert for an autopsy. The conclusion was no obvious signes of disease, likely cause stroke or heart attack.

Many folks visit several fish boards, I know I do. Because of the volume of potential posts to read and which one might respond to, I have developed some rules for what I read and respond to. Rule #1- if the post title is too vague, I don't bother reading it, #2 if I am not sure of the answer, I don't reply, #3 if there is too much missing info needed to give a proper reply, I rarely ask for more info, just move on.

 

[webcat5]

Jerky body motions, swaying and twitching are all signs of chemical poisoning. They usually do not show up until you do a water change, which means the fish was sick BEFORE you brought him home and there was nothing that could have saved him.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Diagnosing a sick/dying fish in a forum is difficult at best and often impossible.

The best way to get help is to provide 110% of the data up front and then to post a good picture of the fish as well.

This is beyond true.

IME, the most important info is often neglected to be mentioned. And that is this (in regards to bettas specifically)...where did the fish come from? How was he when you purchased him? What were the water conditions?

Quite often (every day?) I see people wondering what is wrong with their betta, and they neglect to state that they found him in a murky cup at a department store just days before. He probably already had a hideous internal problem upon purchasing him.

A different scenario would have a different answer: I just bought a betta from a breeder last week and now he's clampy and ill, what's wrong? The answer is pretty simple: usually water quality and diet.

The point remains, the fish was probably ill when you purchased him. In the mentioned thread he sounded as if he was at deaths door. It was too late to recommend anything. Sorry,but it's not our fault.

You can have a dozen experts on the case but they'll never be able to figure it out without knowing each and every detail.

And there's also the fact that sometimes, sometimes a fish is sicklier than others. It just happens. IME you can do everything identical for each and every fish and one will be ill, and in my case, 400 will be healthy. Why is this one sick?

For example:In my grow out tank I have tons and tons of healthy siblings. The other day one fat,healthy in appearance female started acting strange so I pulled her and medicated. She's in a cup right now just rolling over and over...basically dying. Why? Why her and not the other 100+? It's impossible to answer or solve. It just happens.

 

[RandomWiktor]

DD - how terribly rude of you. It is not the fault of the people on this board that we couldn't figure out what was wrong with your fish. Would you rather we post just wild guesses at what it could have been? You didn't say if you tested your ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, pH, etc. In fact, you offered very little information at all; I had to drag it out of you, and even at that you didn't answer some of my questions. From what you gave me, there was no way I could help. It is entirely possible that you just had an unhealthy betta; it happens. I'm sorry for you loss, but I really do not tollerate people who expect others to put everything else they may have to do on hold to help you, when its YOUR problem. I have several sick bettas of my own right now. I'm in college. I'm working on final projects, seeking a job, and a whole lot more. So the fact that I'm not here to answer your beck and call after giving us a bunch of poorly construed information on your fish is something I refuse to be blamed for. Perhaps you could have done some research on your own instead of sitting around waiting for people to solve your problems for you. Yeesh.

edit: sorry if I sound pissed, but I get steamed when someone comes on a board and yells at someone for not solving their problems. Frankly, your fish's only symptoms seemed to be "dying fish." When that sort of mystery behavior springs up, it is usually poor water, but who knows? Perhaps he was old. Perhaps he had organ failure. Perhaps he had a mass somewhere you couldn't see. There is really no way to know, but with such ambiguous symptoms, it would be very difficult to diagnose and treat. Furthermore, while I understand your frustration at people replying to other posts, maybe they just didn't know and didn't have anything to offer. Based on your info, I didn't see anything particularly wrong either. What am I to do, make something up and have you go around buying meds for no reason just to have the animal die?

 

[BettaMomma]

RW - I'm glad to see you responded.
And you shouldn't not apologize, whatsoever.
At all.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

then at least say "Sorry, I cant help" instead of not responding at all! Makes me think you are just ignoring me and my problem.

Whats so hard about saying "Sorry, cant help"?

 

[wuvmybetta]

then at least say "Sorry, I cant help" instead of not responding at all! Makes me think you are just ignoring me and my problem.

Whats so hard about saying "Sorry, cant help"?

That's a poor defense and teeters on the edge of the "spam" that you mentioned earlier. I personally get aggravated if I see someone posting "sorry,can't help!"...why bother posting at all then?
I still say you should have bumped it up or PM'ed somebody. But had you done either,the fish would have probably still died and I believe that you know this.

 

[BettaMomma]

then at least say "Sorry, I cant help" instead of not responding at all! Makes me think you are just ignoring me and my problem.

Whats so hard about saying "Sorry, cant help"?

Would you also like us to all visit your post and say

"Sorry, I'm in school right now, so I can't answer your post today."

or...

"Sorry, I'm in a business meeting for the afternoon, I can't answer your post today."


By the way...
Did your mother tell you that the world revolves around you when you were a little kid?

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

seesh, Im sorry I even posted on this forum at all.

I am just giving my perspective. You may not, but me, I would rather someone say "Cant help" so I know my post was acknowledged and not ignored. You may think other wise, but not everyone has the same mind as you.

and yes, I would like someone to say "Sorry cant help", even if reason wasnt given. Like I said, I know school and work is more important

And yes, I realize my fish 'might've' died anyway, but nothing wrong with finding out anyway and seeing what I could've done with the help of other's opinions and such.

Geeze, is that so hard to understand people?!

yes, I realize I should've been more specific in my first post, but that didnt matter since I answered all the required questions. All information was given 1 post later. That is not at fault.

EDIT: I dont and never had a mother. thank you.

 

[SRC]

There is a live chat on this board...any particular reasoning behind you not stepping in there?

You can look at your thread an tell people are not ignoring the post. We don't single people out to ignore around here. when 100 peopel have veiwed your thread and no one has posted any suggestions..that typically means..no one has a suggestion.

I have a feeling if people had started posting suggestions..you would be no better off then you are right now..becasue this person would have suggested this..and another something else..and by the time it was all said and done..you'd have 10 different suggestions..with 10 differentmeds suggested to use..and your fish would have still died,..why? Because you woudn't have known which suggestion to take.

Doing research on Google and asking on here are pretty much the same..they are all second hand information, based on what information you can give us...and even then it's usually minimal..because you may over look something we need to know, and we may not know we need to ask.

You still have to make the final decision on what YOU are going to do..over the internet WE can't do it for you.

Sorry your fish died.