The Pea Treatment Rant

[Laki]

Bowser was my first CT and he bloats really easy. The first time he bloated I gave him some pea and it worked (I guess). Now when he eats too fast and gets his marble belly I just fast him for 2-3 days. He hates it but I'd rather him not die because of it!!
I have no problem with using peas and I think you're right, when it's a hobby you just have to use homemade cures within reason and personal experience.

[Shirleythebetta]

Nicely put Aus and Laki.

[lvandert]

I was just sick and tired of hearing "i tried the pea thing but I think it made it worse" I swear that in that day I read that like 3 times from different people. It just got on my nerves. I'm not completely opposed to it, it just got to me that day

[Shirleythebetta]

You just have to over look people when they are in panic mode. I think sometimes people care about thier fish so much it causes true anxiety when they get sick. It's okay to get irritated too and create a rant :) This site has helped me vent so many frustrations in a healthier way. On here I vent but I think before I speak so it has actually helped me verbaly express myself without verbaly abusing someone elses ears.

[Shirleythebetta]

And I personaly am against feeding any of my pets human prepared food anyways. I would rather use Daphnia.

[Oldfishlady]

That is how a lot of the myths get started.....

The hobbyist has an issue-try a treatment, medication...etc....then something bad happens and they associate or blame it on the last thing they tried....

this is how the water change killed my fish myth came about and the fish shop sold me sick fish.....

The water changes didn't kill the fish per se'-it usually can be linked to either a neglected tank that the large water change caused a sudden extreme chemistry change or improper acclimation to name the most common causes.

Things like this are the hobbyist fault-due to neglecting the system, poor understanding...etc......But its easier to blame something else....

Same with new fish added to an established tank-One-they should have been Qt and two-when you place new fish in established tank that may have either high nitrate or different pH and the new fish were not properly acclimated to the new chemistry or the nitrate was really high in the established tank that in turn can compromise the immune response in the fish-the new fish are shocked weaken by the chemistry change-they get sick-then the old fish with the compromised immune response get sick and all the fish end up dead or sick....Blame the fish shop....when it was the hobbyist fault......

Or the myth of how pellets swell up in the fish stomach......doesn't work that way.....Pellets will swell up in water...but the gut contents of the fish isn't water....Its gastric acid and enzymes.....this breaks the pellet down, softens them....

Busting myths is a hard job-especially now with the internet-some of these myths have been told so many times that they are viewed as fact....when its still a myth...

We are limited with a lot of science based facts in this hobby, however, some of it is logic, common sense, understanding of a little chemistry and general knowledge of anatomy/physiology of freshwater fish.....

[Purple]

Betta myths are hard to break because there is (as much as I've seen) NO science in the betta-raising hobby. Veterinarians usually don't take finned patients. Scientists really don't care. We have to do our own science. There is absolutely nothing that you can't find good AND bad about on the internet. It's up to the betta owners themselves to make up their mind what they will do with their fish. I've been given advice that I don't take and I've given advice that probably hasn't been taken, and that's how it just has to be.