Plauged fish

[mixedpie]

A bunch of girls in my dorm got bettas a few days ago. I went home for the weekend and when I got back all their fish were dead.

They'd used water conditioner, kept them in standard to small-ish goldfish bowls with rocks in the bottom, and had them generally on their desks/desk areas.

I know it can get really cold here at night (and right now it's below freezing outside and the windows in dorms have terrible insulation), so I was thinking it could be temperature, but the heater is also right around desk areas.

They got their fish from SCAMPS which I've heard is a bad pet shop.

Any ideas why these fish would have died so quickly? I looked at one of the bodies in the tank and the fish didn't have any obvious disease or tumors.

[bettababy]

That sounds like a temp issue. I had a group of teachers come in once, all had bought bettas together only 2 wks before, all were doing fine, then we got a cold night... next day every single fish was dead.
As I told them, remember its not just what the temp is that matters, its how fast it fluctuates. A sudden drop can be lethal if it drops low enough fast enough, or goes back up just as fast within a short time. If one swing doesn't kill them, the other usually does.
As much as I love my bettas in bowls, I don't keep them there anymore because I don't like the risk involved. Even in the summer months, to go from 80 during the day to 60 at night can be fatal for a fish. A heater will stop the temp from dropping, and even if it gets warmer than the heater, it will simply turn off but turn on the minute it gets to that perfect temp, making the swing much less drastic and tragic.
All I can say is that now they know they will need to do a tank/heater if they wish to try again.

[mixedpie]

that explains why they are all dead now.

The outside temp here is apparently 24F, with a high of 34 and a low of 17. Not to mention: the rooms here get really hot during the day (especially those that face the sun... like mine) and get freezing at night. :(