Becoming a Rescuer

[LadyVictorian]

Alright so since Nix has been making leaps and bounds since I saved her little tail end from petco I have been toying with the idea of taking up becoming a fish rescuer. Finding sick and needy fish is stores, getting them for free or discounted, reviving them back to health, and then finding them wonderful forever homes. It seems a few of you guys do that on here as well and I would like to know a few things before I ship off to get supplies and start planning my fish rescue career.

What is the best size for a hospital tank?

What are the best fungus medications? Bacterial? Parasite treatments?

Aside from AS, ES, and IAL what else should I have for emergencies and betta health care? I already have the Aquarium salt and LOTS of stress coat.

What is the best method of rescuing fish (IE getting the petshops to give them to you for free or for a discount. What points to bring up on discount, tactics, which stores are most likely to fold under pressure of ill fish?)

Where is the best place (aside from here) to adopt out fish?

What would you yourself give out to a new owner of a rescue fish? (emergency kit, starter food, care sheet with basic care information? Your contact in case of emergencies.)

I have fostered and cared for sick rodents for my old shelter so I know how time consuming it can be caring for sick animals, especially small ones who can go from URI to dead in a matter of hours but I also know the endless rewards of saving an animal and finding it a wonderful home where they will be well cared for. I don't intend to make money off this seeing as adoption of fish would be a small fee to put back into other rescues. It's more a I am sick of seeing sick betta's suffer and die in stores and want to give the few I can a second chance at a new and better life.

Also for any seasoned fish rescuers do you have any tricks of your own for betta recoveries and some advice for a novice fish rescuer? I think I'll start working with rescuing in late January once everything with my band is settled and I have all the time in the world to put towards sick fish.

[registereduser]

I started a thread like this back in July but it went astray still some good tips in it.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=109184

I'm hoping to rescue a few this winter

[LadyVictorian]

Oh thanks this will help out a lot, hey and keep me updated on your rescues you get. I really had to think about rescuing at first, I thought how tempted i would be to keep them all but then I remembered working at the shelter and seeing people getting ready to take their new pet home and how excited they were to buy all the stuff for them and I remember a family who were adopting some mice from us after their two year old male passed away and they were so excited for their three girls and how happy I was and I realize I would be so proud to unite fish with the people they are meant to be with....and if a few of my rescues are meant to be with me too then that's fine as well.

[registereduser]

I will be able to keep them but I will try to adopt them out first.

[crowntaillove]

I've heard from other people on here that Petsmart or Petco, not sure which, has a policy of not selling sick animals. If you bring up to one of the employees that the fish is sick and you want a discount, they'll take in into the back room and refuse to sell it to you.

[LadyVictorian]

I think petsmart is more likely to give out sick fish because I know they let my friend have a sick rat for free through their adoption program. Petco is shady all around it seems to me. Would LFS's give out sick fish on a discount?

[babystarz]

I think it would be a great idea for you to make a Facebook page or something for your rescue "organization" that people can join and follow. Spend time taking pics of your rescues and posting updates, and advertising your page so that you have a ready community of people interested in adopting. That way you'll have homes lined up before you even get any fish :)

[agunn1231]

That is realy awesome. I hope do be able to do something like this when i feel more comfortable with fish, i still consider myself a beginner. I also want to wait until i have a house with room to do that insttead of an apartment.

[Creat]

I can say that petco does sell discounted or free fish when sick discounted more likely becuase they will make a small profit over none at all if the fish dies. Learn your diseases point them out to the sales rep better if you can get the person who works in the fish room or even better a manager. But dont ask specifically for one, working pet retail I always hated when they went straight to a manager floor reps have a lot of power and managers are usually busy.

I like to use 2.5-5.5 gals for tanks sense you will be doing probably 100% water changes everyday, I use them for healthy fish too :) My go to meds are maracyn 1 and 2, maracide and clout. But dont be surprised if you have to buy specialized meds and end up like me with a who med rolling cart for it :P Having a premixed bin of water, conditioner, ial is handy to have. Have a dark room too if you can, before it was a breeding space it was my recovery ward and I renovated a closet with red/ blue light and shelves with a space heater. Real nice but you have to be dedicated lol. I would also say

And I would give a new owner what ever you can maybe some oak leaves and aquarium salt, maybe paper work on what was wrong and what to look for in case it comes back etc.


Hope it works I want to see a facebook page link though :)

[aokashi]

I cant afford too much space, so I can only do rescues in .5 gallons and under. a lucky bamboo and daily water changes keeps the ammonia in check. infact with the bamboo( with a good root system) I technically dont have to do water changes for a week...
unless they have parasites or is being medicated...

IAL and prime is definitely the most useful thing...
when taking them out of their ammonia filled environment, I dont want to change out all of the water at once, since this may induce a lot of shock, and kill the fish. instead I put in a few drops of prime while I drip acclimatize, and slowly switch out the water over te course of 1 day....
heating is a little harder...so if you do jars, and alot pf rescues for adoption, you can probably heat a larger tank with jars in them...