Hi folks.
I am new to this forum, just found you all this morning googling for some help. 4 hours later (I got sidetracked looking at all your aquariums pics!!!!) I decided to register. :-D:-D
I consider our family "newbies" to owning bettas, even though we have owned at least one for the last 3-4 years.
Our first bettas were Samual and Sarah. (from Petsmart)
We had them for almost 2 years before they passed. We had a huge icestorm here in KY and had no electricity/heat for over a week. Our only heat was a tiny heater run off a generator. Sadly both our babies made it till the LAST DAY before they passed. Samual passed away about 2 hours before they got the power back on.
We (my daughter and I) were heart broken, and I refused to buy another fish. Which lasted about a year. On her birthday Bug spent her own money and bought Fishelstein. We rescued him from from Walmart. Most of the fish they had out were dead in their little bowls!!!!!!!! He was gorgeous, and she refused to leave him there to die. So a few foot stomps and sarcastic "you dont love me!"s later... we brought him home.
He just celebrated 1 year in our home on the 11/11/11!
We are having an issue though, and I am worried.
For about the last two weeks, he has just been laying on his rocks, not swimming. He seems to not be able to float, or even right himself if he starts to teeter over. He does pop up for air every once in a while but he gets his air and sinks right back down. He doesnt seem to be having any other issues though. His little gills are not working hard, he is not bloated, no funny coloring, etc. From everything I am finding on line, its swim bladder infection? But I have done everything I have read for that - and still no better. We have fasted him, fed him a pea, and I tried epsom salt in his "spare apartment". Still, he just lays on the bottom, or like "stands straight up" against the glass.
For his home:
we have 2 (since we used to have 2 fish) 1.5 gallon bowls. I move him to his spare apartment on Friday, and clean the empty one. So he gets clean water every week. By clean I mean - I dump the bowl into a strainer and rinse the rocks. Rinse the bowl, and wipe it out with papertowels. Rinse the fake flowers. Put it all back together, refill, and treat with Start Right. That then sits there a week, until the next Friday when I move him back into that "apartment" (sorry - thats what my kiddo calls them, lol) and repeat the process with the dirty bowl. This process has worked for a year.
We haven't changed his food - he gets TopFin betta food and on Saturday he gets (I think its dried worms, would have to look). Its the same brands we used for our other bettas.
Im really worried about him! He doesn't look sick but I know NOT SWIMMING is not normal. Any ideas?
**after browsing this forum and seeing all your gorgeous tanks - we are going to go nab my hubs dad's 15 gallon out of storage. I did not realize that bowls were not adequate, since the tiny bowls are what Petsmart sold our first ones in, and we were told by the sales girl that THAT was all we needed. We got the bigger bowls only because I wanted more rocks and some plants for them! These bowls are all I have ever owned, so any tips/resources on setting up an aquarium would be appreciated!!
OMGosh! I wrote a book here, sorry!
I am new to this forum, just found you all this morning googling for some help. 4 hours later (I got sidetracked looking at all your aquariums pics!!!!) I decided to register. :-D:-D
I consider our family "newbies" to owning bettas, even though we have owned at least one for the last 3-4 years.
Our first bettas were Samual and Sarah. (from Petsmart)
We had them for almost 2 years before they passed. We had a huge icestorm here in KY and had no electricity/heat for over a week. Our only heat was a tiny heater run off a generator. Sadly both our babies made it till the LAST DAY before they passed. Samual passed away about 2 hours before they got the power back on.
We (my daughter and I) were heart broken, and I refused to buy another fish. Which lasted about a year. On her birthday Bug spent her own money and bought Fishelstein. We rescued him from from Walmart. Most of the fish they had out were dead in their little bowls!!!!!!!! He was gorgeous, and she refused to leave him there to die. So a few foot stomps and sarcastic "you dont love me!"s later... we brought him home.
He just celebrated 1 year in our home on the 11/11/11!
We are having an issue though, and I am worried.
For about the last two weeks, he has just been laying on his rocks, not swimming. He seems to not be able to float, or even right himself if he starts to teeter over. He does pop up for air every once in a while but he gets his air and sinks right back down. He doesnt seem to be having any other issues though. His little gills are not working hard, he is not bloated, no funny coloring, etc. From everything I am finding on line, its swim bladder infection? But I have done everything I have read for that - and still no better. We have fasted him, fed him a pea, and I tried epsom salt in his "spare apartment". Still, he just lays on the bottom, or like "stands straight up" against the glass.
For his home:
we have 2 (since we used to have 2 fish) 1.5 gallon bowls. I move him to his spare apartment on Friday, and clean the empty one. So he gets clean water every week. By clean I mean - I dump the bowl into a strainer and rinse the rocks. Rinse the bowl, and wipe it out with papertowels. Rinse the fake flowers. Put it all back together, refill, and treat with Start Right. That then sits there a week, until the next Friday when I move him back into that "apartment" (sorry - thats what my kiddo calls them, lol) and repeat the process with the dirty bowl. This process has worked for a year.
We haven't changed his food - he gets TopFin betta food and on Saturday he gets (I think its dried worms, would have to look). Its the same brands we used for our other bettas.
Im really worried about him! He doesn't look sick but I know NOT SWIMMING is not normal. Any ideas?
**after browsing this forum and seeing all your gorgeous tanks - we are going to go nab my hubs dad's 15 gallon out of storage. I did not realize that bowls were not adequate, since the tiny bowls are what Petsmart sold our first ones in, and we were told by the sales girl that THAT was all we needed. We got the bigger bowls only because I wanted more rocks and some plants for them! These bowls are all I have ever owned, so any tips/resources on setting up an aquarium would be appreciated!!
OMGosh! I wrote a book here, sorry!