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File: Screenshot_2016-09-12-22-38-52.png (205KB, 480x800px) Image search:
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Yesterday i had to euthanize one of my Bettas, but not the one I thought.
Billy the Betta was at the short end of a Betta's lifespan. He was at 2 of their 2-5, but he was panting and hadn't eaten in days. He was already too thin, but i tried all his favorites like blood worms and shelled peas (in case he had a blockage). It was looking bad, even after non-iodized salt treatments, so i chose to end it. Slowly added tea tree oil until he was out, overdosed him on it, and lastly vodka to make sure he was gone. Sad, but necessary.
However, Sammy the Betta was the one i thought was worse off. He had dropsy, the fish death sentence of kidney failure. He wasn't eating and was twice his normal size, swelled up like a pinecone. He looked very bad. I gave him daily epsom salt baths, put some in his tank and gave him antibiotics. It's been a week of treatment, and he's looking better. He eats now and his scales have gone back down. He looks completely fine.
I've heard dropsy is incurable once the scales are raised, so I'm not getting my hopes too high, but the treatment seems to be working. I have no idea why he had dropsy, so i may not have cured it. If his kidneys have failed completely there's no coming back, but maybe i caught it early enough?
What do you guys think?
In general... fish euthanasia meathods, ethics, or general bitching about my choices welcome...
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Above is Sammy in his prime. He's a red crown tail with blue shine on his scales which are now coming back since his scales have come down
More Sammy. His blue eyes and scales show well in this pic.
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Feel free to post your own Betta pics too I'll do a couple more to start this thread off right
Close up of Sammy
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Sammy right now in his hospital tank. His color is just as bright, but it doesn't show well with my phone.
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Billy the Betta. R.I.P. Billy
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>>2216084
Tea tree oil? It's used to treat some fungi... I'm not sure why you would use that for your fish. It simply isn't humane unless you use clove oil, which actually knocks them out.
I've never heard of dropsy as being incurable. Dropsy is usually caused by poor water conditions, are you testing your water?
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>>2216092
Shit that's what i meant. Anyway, yes I'm hoping the water was the issue and not something worse. It gets cleaned at least monthly with no overfeeding and weekly 20-30% water changes. I ran out of test strips. I seriously need to go shopping. But I'm going to rinse the gravel and start the cycle over in his main tank with food and plants...or i may steal some gravel from one of my healthy tanks.
Pic: healthy tank
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>>2216092
But yeah, i always thought drospy meant they were screwed. General research backs that up, but my experience now point to maybe not.
Do you have any fish?
Last pic of Billy: facing me like he always did when i put my finger to the tank
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>>2216097
oh okay, excellent, I was a little concerned when you said tea tree oil.
honestly I think it was probably the water quality since you had two die recently- almost all fish deaths are related to either water conditions or new stock. 2 years is definitely not bad though and it sounds like they get cleaned enough. try throwing in some fast growing live plants, they really help with water quality. floating plants in particular are great at that.
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>>2216101
I have dozens of fish- I have a 10g and a 55g. too many fishes to count lol
there's more than one condition that looks like dropsy which is probably why people think it's so fatal.
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This is what Sammy looked like a few days ago. Dropsy is a symptom and not a disease, but multiple things can cause it; shitty water quality, bacterial, fungal, or viral infection.
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>>2216102
Only one dead, just Billy (hopefully old age). Sammy was on death's door though. They obviously had separate tanks... cause bettas...so that's not a reason to doubt the water quality, but yes, i haven't tested, so i think that's the problem as well. Billy always had better water than Sammy as Sammy is in a tank i keep at work. I have well water here with no chlorine. I always gave both fish bottled purified water mixed with tap, but at work i always feel like adding dechlorinator isn't enough...idk.
I'm ditching Sammy's old food and giving him Billy's just in case. Sammy had omega, which i thought was good, but maybe it was creating too much waste. I'll have a store test it when i go to get new strips later in the week.
I have a silly moss ball I'll put in, but any specific suggestions for plants?
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>>2216104
Yeah i have a 2.5 (moss and red cherry shrimp), a 5 for my 2 baby lyre tail mollies... their outgrowing it slowly, and will be switched to my 20, currently fishless, and a 10 with glofish & pleco.
Pleco will be moved depending on his growth. He's just over an inch now.
I have one empty 20gal in the basement and i help maintain my father's 55 because he cleans it about once a year.
Anyways, tank pics? I won't judge if they're not pristine, promise ;)
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>>2216109
woops sorry, that's what I meant. I did actually read your post :^)
it depends on what kind of lighting the tank has. hornwort, pennywort, water sprite and duckweed are all very easy, low light plants that grow quickly. pretty sure marimos grow super slow so it won't help much. when you get the strips I'd test your water from the tap, it's unlikely but sometimes the water is bad straight from the faucet. I doubt it's the food or water from the tap though, sometimes tanks just crap out.
>>2216113
I just rescaped a bit today, but here's some older pics. It's a mess, I like it that way.
(1/2)
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>>2216115
10g fry tank. (2/2)
I used to have a 2.5g but I gave it to my mom so she could have a betta.
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>>2216115
Organized mess :)
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>>2216117
yep, I'm waiting til I can go to the beach for some driftwood before I actually attempt scaping it.
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>>2216119
I think it's gorgeous the way it is
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Do you guys like my new betta tank?
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>>2216755
thank you :D
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>>2216891
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>>2216893
I would have taken a picture of myself with my tank but I wouldn't have been able to fit in the picture :(
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>>2216891
as a fellow fem, this isn't a board that commonly gets people posting selfies unless it's a specific selfie and pet thread. That being said, selfies are usually not received with compliments, more like insults and ridicules, even if your intentions were simply just to show your piece (which is pretty interesting although VERY cramped for him). We have to be sensitive and considerate of all the (other) aspies, autists, and weirdo's that inhabit this board.
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>>2218774
It's not original content, you can right click->search for image in Google. It's just bait.
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>>2218774
>sympathising with selfie-posters on an ANONYMOUS board
>implying flagrant narcissism in selfie form is welcome on any board besides /soc/
You have to go back.
Thread posts: 27
Thread images: 14
Thread images: 14