DaBaDee's journal and then some

[Syriiven]

I totally agree. Hope he'll feel better soon!

[AyalaCookiejar]

Me too. Thank you!

[AyalaCookiejar]

My dog is doing better but DaBaDee has taken a turn for the worse. He is bloated, laying on his side, stress stripes, white belly, cannot swim for his life! He's really struggling with trying to swim. I really hope he's still here by morning. I switched to Epsom salt but now he is in his tank covered with a blanket because he is very stressed! :(

[Syriiven]

For that serious of bloating I'd put him in a large tupperware container;

less depth, sides are usually translucent, so he can't really see out and get spooked.

I am so sorry to hear he's not getting better =( 80F and Epsom will definitely help, he just needs some time and quiet. Poor thing...

[AyalaCookiejar]

He was floating at the top though, so I know he can reach the water. I can't believe I didn't think of this before, but could the brown discoloration be a long term result of ammonia poisoning?

I admit that for a while I was horrible at doing water changes and he was in a one gallon tank... I also had no idea there was ammonia in my tap water and did not have a conditioner that neutralized it :(

[Syriiven]

But you're fixing all of that now. I'm not sure what brown coloration means, but clean and healthy conditions means he should be getting better. Give the epsom salt a day or two...and post a thread up to see what anyone else thinks.

[AyalaCookiejar]

I have. No replies, yet. I PMed OFL to ask her if she could possibly take a look at the thread... My last few threads didn't get much for answers, unfortunately. I am at a loss as to what could be wrong..

[AyalaCookiejar]

Haven't updated this in awhile...
DaBaDee is battling internal parasites. I'm not sure how they got introduced to his tank because he has never had any live food, but he's still hanging in there.. I got some Parasite Clear and he looked much better after only 24 hours. He's still eating fine.

Bahari has not been eating, but I'm not so sure that he doesn't eat his pellets after they sink to the bottom of the tank.. He also seems sort of lethargic. Not sure what's wrong with him, yet :(

I also ordered three females from Mo but I haven't gotten them yet. I have separate one gallon tanks for each of them right now but will have a ten gallon for them once I get a few more females. I ordered a whole bunch of silk plants for the ten gallon! I also have a four gallon tank as a back up if any of my females are too aggressive for sorority life, but I will probably use it for a male if I have no issues with my females. I've also been brainstorming some names already for females! I really like the name Stella, haha. I'm trying to compile a big list of names to choose from ATM. I'm pretty picky with names, usually. Hopefully my new tanks will cycle quickly and I won't have to keep the girls in one gallon tanks for long..

Here's some more names I have saved in my notes on my phone!
Soul
Echo
Stella
Olivia
Tigress
Adelina
Naminè
Phoebe

Stella is my favorite so far :)

[Syriiven]

Maybe hold the pellets until he's right at the surface then drop them right in front of him? I do that for Mine to male sure they eat. Sorry to hear DaBaDee had something so bad, but I'm glad he's doing a bit better

[AyalaCookiejar]

DaBaDee is doing much better today and I FINALLY got Bahari to eat something!!! I dropped them right in front of him and he ignored them... The first one sank, but then I gave him another one and he actually ate it after a minute or so! I was so excited that I gave him ANOTHER and he are that too! When I woke up he was siting and the top not moving at all... I tested the water. 0 ammonia and nitrites, 5 nitrates... Maybe there was an ammonia or nitrite spike I didn't catch? I hope he keeps doing better.

I am SO incredibly excited!