Hello - I am a newbie and a beginner -- UGH!
A year ago, my daughter wanted a fish tank for xmas, so we went to Pestmart to pick out the fish. The betta "expert" there told us the best fish for beginners are bettas as they are hardy and low-maintenance. She said we could have 3 female bettas in a 5-gallon tank (filtered, heated by the light in the tank, pellet-fed only). So, that's what we did -- Snowflake, Diva and Lipstick -- and it worked out wonderfully for a year,until we moved, by car, from Texas to Virginia a month ago.
Everyone made the trip just fine, each in her own mason jar with a bamboo, treated water brought from home, water changed at least every couple of days when daily wasn't possible. The girls all stayed in their jars in the new house until the tank was ready, then tragedy struck: Lipstick was lethargic for a couple of days, then we found her dead in her jar (covered in white stuff). That's when I started reading all the online info about bettas to try to find out what might have killed her (still a mystery to me).
After all the reading all the different info, I am just paralyzed with anxiety over the fish.
Diva - blue - looks bloated, her scales might be very slightly raised but I can't really tell. One eye has had a white spot on it for months, but i cant tell if its a popeye. She eats and is active, but because i think she might be sick, I have left her quarantined in her jar.
Snowflake - white w/red fins and tail - is also bloated, but mostly on one side, swims lopsided, lays on her side, and seems to have trouble swimming to the surface for air. She mostly swims around on the bottom. She also eats, but doesn't move around as much as Diva. Also quarantined to her jar.
I have treated them both with aquarium salt, BettaFix, PimaFix, fed them less and fed them a cooked and shelled pea once a week, for the past two weeks. 100% daily water changes. Their conditions have not changed.
When Lipstick died, we had to get a 3rd female for the tank as the previous "expert" said there had to be 3 because 2 would fight. So we adopted SweetPea (green), and now she is all by her lonesome in a pristine filtered 5 gal tank because I am too afraid to put them all together.
MEANWHILE:
While we were at Petsmart adopting SweetPea, I saw a pitiful blue veiltail in a filthy slimy cup full of uneaten food and feces, with the beginnings of fin rot. I immediately adopted him and put him in a pristine 1-gal tank (that's all they had), filtered. For the first few days he was home, Raphaello floated head-down in his plant, or sat in the corner on the bottom, and didnt eat. I have tried treating his water with BettaFix, PimaFix and aq. salt, 50% water change every other day as he seems to get stressed easily. He eventually started to swim around and eat BUT -- his tail has completely disentigrated in the past two days, it is literally just white threads behind him and pieces of his once beautiful tail can be found about his tank.
I love these fish, but what is WRONG????
Everything I read contradicts the last thing I read, and i am just confused. Can anyone PLEASE help me save these fish?????
A year ago, my daughter wanted a fish tank for xmas, so we went to Pestmart to pick out the fish. The betta "expert" there told us the best fish for beginners are bettas as they are hardy and low-maintenance. She said we could have 3 female bettas in a 5-gallon tank (filtered, heated by the light in the tank, pellet-fed only). So, that's what we did -- Snowflake, Diva and Lipstick -- and it worked out wonderfully for a year,until we moved, by car, from Texas to Virginia a month ago.
Everyone made the trip just fine, each in her own mason jar with a bamboo, treated water brought from home, water changed at least every couple of days when daily wasn't possible. The girls all stayed in their jars in the new house until the tank was ready, then tragedy struck: Lipstick was lethargic for a couple of days, then we found her dead in her jar (covered in white stuff). That's when I started reading all the online info about bettas to try to find out what might have killed her (still a mystery to me).
After all the reading all the different info, I am just paralyzed with anxiety over the fish.
Diva - blue - looks bloated, her scales might be very slightly raised but I can't really tell. One eye has had a white spot on it for months, but i cant tell if its a popeye. She eats and is active, but because i think she might be sick, I have left her quarantined in her jar.
Snowflake - white w/red fins and tail - is also bloated, but mostly on one side, swims lopsided, lays on her side, and seems to have trouble swimming to the surface for air. She mostly swims around on the bottom. She also eats, but doesn't move around as much as Diva. Also quarantined to her jar.
I have treated them both with aquarium salt, BettaFix, PimaFix, fed them less and fed them a cooked and shelled pea once a week, for the past two weeks. 100% daily water changes. Their conditions have not changed.
When Lipstick died, we had to get a 3rd female for the tank as the previous "expert" said there had to be 3 because 2 would fight. So we adopted SweetPea (green), and now she is all by her lonesome in a pristine filtered 5 gal tank because I am too afraid to put them all together.
MEANWHILE:
While we were at Petsmart adopting SweetPea, I saw a pitiful blue veiltail in a filthy slimy cup full of uneaten food and feces, with the beginnings of fin rot. I immediately adopted him and put him in a pristine 1-gal tank (that's all they had), filtered. For the first few days he was home, Raphaello floated head-down in his plant, or sat in the corner on the bottom, and didnt eat. I have tried treating his water with BettaFix, PimaFix and aq. salt, 50% water change every other day as he seems to get stressed easily. He eventually started to swim around and eat BUT -- his tail has completely disentigrated in the past two days, it is literally just white threads behind him and pieces of his once beautiful tail can be found about his tank.
I love these fish, but what is WRONG????
Everything I read contradicts the last thing I read, and i am just confused. Can anyone PLEASE help me save these fish?????