Peas On The Moon

It's been a while. I'm a horrible blogger, i know. I shall share some stories of the past month.
Two days after I last posted i took home my sixth Betta. His name was Pablo and he had SBD (swim bladder disorder). This is curable, but serious all the same. This was a Wednesday. By Thursday evening he was a bit worse. With this disease they have a great deal of trouble swimming and often a good deal of trouble getting to the top of even the smallest tank for some air due to nasty pressure on their swimbladder. THis is often caused by constipation, though a bad fall can also cause it. Normally with this disease i fast them for a few days to let their system clear out, but he was too far gone so i started on treatment that night. 

He was stable the next morning when i left on errands. He was living on the end table in the living room, and the cat didn't seem to care much. I got home a couple of hours later and went to check on him, but the tank wasn't on the table, it was beside it, on the carpet, and so was Pablo. I cursed at the cat (who was hiding and looking guilty by this point) and went to scoop up what i thought was a dead fishy body, but it moved! So I quickly put him in a tank of water. He was having some trouble breathing, and had some tares in his fins, but was no worse than earlier from what i could see. I was surprised he was alive, since i gathered that he had been on the carpet for about an hour. 

Poor Pablo began to decline that evening. Due to internal bleeding and possible infection caused perhaps by cat claws, he went into shock and begin to show blood on his fins and gills. I have to say it was one of the worse experiences of my life. He looked so miserable, and was gasping for life, but i couldn't bring myself not to hope that he would make it. I have a pretty good track record of keeping these guys alive. This was the first i had to watch die. Miraculously he made it through the night. I tidied him up in the morning, and he seemed better. However Pablo passed later that afternoon. 

Being the obsessed soft hearted fish keeper that i am, i went looking for another one that needed my help. Laugh all you want, but i needed this. I was bummed about Pablo. I've never had to watch one of my bettas  die before. The only other betta i lost was Lillian, and she died while i was away. There was nothing i could do for her. All of the other betta's i have bought are still alive. 

Enter Finn. When i got Finn he looked horrible. He should be red (i think, i've never actually seen him really healthy), but he was pale peach. He was ratty looking due to a serious bout of fin rot and possibly someone chewing on his tail in a previous home. I set him up and began to medicate him, but this medication seemed to make him very listless and he wasnt' eating and was barely swimming.I switched medications. After a week on a high dose medication dip and a mild in tank medication (complete with a light on  24/7 for extra warmth) Finn was feeling better and had begun to eat. I upgraded his tank size and kept the medication going and the light on. Now, almost two weeks later, he's eating, and feeling much better. His color is coming back, though his fins will take months to re-grow, if they ever come back completely. 

He's a feisty fellow when he's feeling well, who doesn't handle the room temperatures  as well as the other five. I've had to keep his light on to prevent him from going into a coma like hibernation. Now there are six, but i personally thing 7 is the lucky number right?