My mum>>>>>>

[Meggie6347]

So my mom and I had to go to Petco yesterday to pick up some stuff for the dog for her arthritis. We stopped to look at the bettas like we always do and they were in bad shape: their water was dirty and freezing cold. Before I go any further, let's just say that my mom has a soft spot for king bettas. There was one king that we thought was dead; he was just laying on the bottom of his filthy cup. When we moved it, he barely moved, just enough to get air. And he freaked out every now and then, too. Anyway, I didn't see how much she was looking at him because I was looking at all the others. She picked up the cup, handed it to me, and disappears down the aisle. She comes back thirty seconds later with an adjustable heater (THIRTY DOLLARS) and says "let's go."

I told her "Mama, I already have too many tanks anyway, and I know you don't like so many around." She gives me puppy dog eyes and says "but look at him! Save him, Meg!"

Haha so needless to say, I got home and started setting up his ten gallon.

In the car she said (with a smile of course) "if you tell anyone that this was my fault I am never taking you back to the pet store." And then told me to sneak him upstairs

That's okay, this is the same mom that did these things:
~ I had seen a king betta at petco for at least 5 months, looking worse and worse every time I went in. I convinced her to let me rescue him and told her that I would buy a second hand tank off of craigslist and bring him into school (yea, my science teacher is awesome). She took one look at him, disappeared for a few minutes, and came back with a five and a half gallon tank, a filter, an adjustable heater, some wood, sand, and plants and said "you don't HAVE to take him in to school, do you Meg?" And he is now in her kitchen
~ I have been raising baby bettas with the intention of starting a sorority tank for the tank in my science teacher's room (she is giving me the control of it). I told my mom "any babies that turn out to be males, I am finding them a new home." So of course, one of them turned out to be a male (a very pretty one at that, but small still). I moved him out of my main tank from the net that he was floating in into his own temporary 2.5 gallon. My friend is going to get her sister fish for Christmas because she has always wanted them and asked for my help to tell her everything she needs to buy and everything she needs to know. I was going to give her this male that I rescued from death as a baby. Of course, when we were talking about it, my mom said "about that...do you HAVE to give her your baby? I mean, she has never had fish before, what if she kills it?!" My response: "I can't know that for sure; I am going to tell her everything she needs to know, though. I don't have another option, he turned out to be a male. I can't mix him with my females." My mom: "but you saved him from death and raised him from a baby...I don't like the idea of someone without experience killling him." Well, ten minutes later, His temporary home turned into a more permanent one. And this probably means that all my other babies (if they are males) might not be going anywhere either.

I think the only way she would be somewhat okay with me giving some away to make room for more rescued babies is if one of you guys on here takes him/them. If you want one, I can post up pictures!


Anyway, back to the rescued male from last night, his ten gallon is still heating up, I keep adjusting the heater. In the meantime, he is floating in a kritter keeper in my ten gallon (It's clean and warm for now). I don't think he has eaten...at the most, one SBS, which is basically nothing. I thought he was dead this morning until I moved his kritter keeper, and he darted up for air. I really would like some help if you can offer it! Please help me save him! He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms (parasites, dropsy, fungus, etc).

I was going to post pictures, but right as I was taking them, my camera up and died on me...so pictures will come later!

Thanks for reading this, and sorry it was so long!
Meg

[bryanacute]

Wow! I wish my mom was like tht. U have one awesome mom. I hope he gets better.

[dramaqueen]

Aww, what a nice mom.

[homegrown terror]

haha that's the kinda parent's we're gonna be when Lucian gets old enough to want every betta in the store.

[bryanacute]

And what if he doesn't want fish?

[lillyandquigly]

awesome mom!

[lillyandquigly]

Tell her I said awesome!

[callistra]

What a cool mom! I'm an adult and live alone and I still have to hide my new guy in the bathroom when she comes over so she doesn't realize I've rescued another one..

If he doesn't perk up in a day or two with warm clean water you could try adding some stress coat at 1 tsp per 1 gallon and epsom salts up to 1 tsp per gallon predissolved to help with ammonia poisoning and any other toxicity issues from the cup he was in. I don't know if you have experience with epsoms so I'll just assume you don't to be safe. They need to be pure 100% magnesium sulfate - check the ingredients label to make sure there are no additives. You can get them in the pharmacy of most grocery stories. CVS Pharmacy also has some good ones. Epsom salts can effect the ph of the water. If you have hard water it might not effect it much but if you have very soft water, like I do, it can create some large ph swings. For this reason, I suggest starting small at 1/4 tsp per gallon and acclimate him up to 1 tsp over the course of a few hours. Some people start with 1 tsp but they probably don't have the experience of soft water like I do. Even 1/4 tsp has been known to swing my water .2-.4

Also you don't need to wait to treat him. None of the above can hurt and it can only help. IAL is also highly suggested here, if you know where to get some.

I would continue to float him with 100% daily water changes and not add him to the 10 gallon until he can swim better.

[hannah16]

I wish my mom had been that cool when I had lived with and had near 20 bettas. (She basically didn't approve).

[Maddybelle]

Definitely post pics of the rescue baby boys!