Sick betta -- lethargic, clamped fins. Help!

[Bill]

My wife's betta, Sly, isn't acting like himself. He's been less active
than normal lately, and we're really worried about him. I got quite a
shock a few minutes ago when he was resting on the gravel motionless and
listing to the side a bit with fins clamped. He's swimming around more
like normal at the moment, but my Squidgy died almost two weeks ago, and
he was acting like this at the time.

He's in a 5.5 gallon filtered and heated tank, and he gets weekly 50%
water changes. There's an Ammonia Alert in the tank, and it shows no
ammonia at all, and we tested nitrite yesterday, when we gave him an
extra 50% water change. (He got another water change about two days
before that, too. The tank water was cloudy and seemed to be undergoing
a bacterial bloom.) He had a white patch on his head that is gone now
after about three weeks treating with PimaFix and MelaFix.

What can we do to help him? I'm afraid that if we don't medicate, he'll
be dead by Monday evening. (This was the timeframe with Squidgy two
weeks ago.) I'm tempted to say he has flexibacter, but the white area
on his head didn't look cottony. Any suggestions for antibiotics, if
they're indicated -- gram-positive, gram-negative, broad-spectrum?
Would salt be helpful? (The water is hard -- about 300ppm GH -- but we
haven't added any sodium chloride.) How about medicated food?

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[Alpha]

Betta's have relatively short lifespans in aquaria. How old is he?

[Bill]

On 2005-07-03, Alpha > wrote:
> Betta's have relatively short lifespans in aquaria. How old is he?

We got him in March, and he appeared to be fully-grown at the time.
He's on the small side, maybe 1.5 inches long, but he hasn't grown
since we got him. He's a crowntail.

We put an airstone in the tank last night, and he seems to have improved
quite a bit. He's a lot more active and his coloring is better (was
duller than normal). He's still not 100% back to normal.

As a reminder, he was treated with MelaFix and PimaFix for about three
weeks for a white patch on his head. It might have been flex, but it
didn't look cottony. It was a small patch, however. Then there was
what I presume was a bacterial bloom earlier this week, for which we did
a couple extra water changes and discontinued the MelaFix and PimaFix.

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[Daniel Morrow]

"Bill" > wrote in message
news:hyTxe.41876$go.40790@fed1read05...
> On 2005-07-03, Alpha > wrote:
> > Betta's have relatively short lifespans in aquaria. How old is he?
>
> We got him in March, and he appeared to be fully-grown at the time.
> He's on the small side, maybe 1.5 inches long, but he hasn't grown
> since we got him. He's a crowntail.
>
> We put an airstone in the tank last night, and he seems to have improved
> quite a bit. He's a lot more active and his coloring is better (was
> duller than normal). He's still not 100% back to normal.


You could try the progressive salt treatment - in my experience a betta can
do well in a lot of salt in his/her water (I wouldn't get too close to what
a maximum amount of salt in water that guppies can take though). I cured my
betta of fungus (secondary problem - first was an exposed wound from some
kind of ulcer/bump which never went away but it was a betta specific disease
I read about after his death, I read about it and the proper medication for
it in an ancient copy of that fish place's catalog) a long time ago with the
progressive salt treatment and I even unexpectedly cured him of what I think
were anchor worms (worms came out of his gills and landed on the bottom of
the floating glass container I had him in at the time) with just the
progressive salt treatment as well.

[Elaine T]

Bill wrote:
> My wife's betta, Sly, isn't acting like himself. He's been less active
> than normal lately, and we're really worried about him. I got quite a
> shock a few minutes ago when he was resting on the gravel motionless and
> listing to the side a bit with fins clamped. He's swimming around more
> like normal at the moment, but my Squidgy died almost two weeks ago, and
> he was acting like this at the time.
>
> He's in a 5.5 gallon filtered and heated tank, and he gets weekly 50%
> water changes. There's an Ammonia Alert in the tank, and it shows no
> ammonia at all, and we tested nitrite yesterday, when we gave him an
> extra 50% water change. (He got another water change about two days
> before that, too. The tank water was cloudy and seemed to be undergoing
> a bacterial bloom.) He had a white patch on his head that is gone now
> after about three weeks treating with PimaFix and MelaFix.
>
> What can we do to help him? I'm afraid that if we don't medicate, he'll
> be dead by Monday evening. (This was the timeframe with Squidgy two
> weeks ago.) I'm tempted to say he has flexibacter, but the white area
> on his head didn't look cottony. Any suggestions for antibiotics, if
> they're indicated -- gram-positive, gram-negative, broad-spectrum?
> Would salt be helpful? (The water is hard -- about 300ppm GH -- but we
> haven't added any sodium chloride.) How about medicated food?
>
Sly sounds pretty sick. If he's still eating, medicated food is an
excellent idea. I'd go with the antibacterial sort if you can find it.
If not and you suspect flexibacter, soak his usual food in a slurry of
oxytetracycline and cooking oil. If he's not eating, try either Maracyn
2 or kanamycin in the water. Both are broad spectrum, and IMO Maracyn 2
is particularly good for betta problems. Treat for a full 10 days to
avoid growing antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Was Sly exposed to Squidgy or any of Squidgy's water through a net,
siphon, water change bucket, or other shared equipment? I'd disinfect
the tanks and all the equipment if it's shared between bettas and Sly dies.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Bill]

On 2005-07-03, Daniel Morrow > wrote:
> You could try the progressive salt treatment - in my experience a betta can

How much do you suggest? When I changed water in his tank and added
medicine yesterday, I added 1.5 teaspoons of salt (dissolved in the new
water). I was thinking that 1 teaspoon per gallon might be appropriate,
but I didn't want to put in all of that at once.

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[Bill]

On 2005-07-04, Elaine T > wrote:
> Sly sounds pretty sick. If he's still eating, medicated food is an
> excellent idea. I'd go with the antibacterial sort if you can find it.

He still has a voracious appetite, thank goodness. Sunday morning, I
got some "Jungle Anti-Bacteria Medicated Fish Food" (active ingredients:
2.3% sodium sulfathiazole and 0.13% nitrofurazone).

> If he's not eating, try either Maracyn 2 or kanamycin in the water.
> Both are broad spectrum, and IMO Maracyn 2 is particularly good for
> betta problems. Treat for a full 10 days to avoid growing
> antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

I got Maracyn 2 as well. In addition, we added 1.5 teaspoons of salt to
his tank, dissolved in the 2.5 gallons of water that we changed on
Sunday, with an eye toward increasing it to a total of 1 tablespoon or
maybe 5 teaspoons total for the tank.

> Was Sly exposed to Squidgy or any of Squidgy's water through a net,
> siphon, water change bucket, or other shared equipment? I'd disinfect
> the tanks and all the equipment if it's shared between bettas and Sly dies.

Yes, we share(d) a siphon and buckets for water changes and a pipette
for drawing water to soak the food. What would be the best way to
disinfect -- 1:10 or 1:20 bleach solution or something else? Also,
Squidgy's old tank is an acrylic Mini-Bow 5 with an internal Whisper
Micro filter, if that makes a difference for disinfection method. (I'm
considering just replacing the siphon and pipette, unless that would be
unnecessary.) There's also a gold mystery snail named Scooter who's
still living in Squidgy's old tank -- how should I handle him in order
to avoid him transmitting bacteria with him?

All in all, Sly is doing much better. He's still spending some time at
the bottom, but his color has improved, he's a lot more active, and he's
as hungry as ever. We might have overreacted, but I didn't realize that
Squidgy was as bad off as what he was. (He started acting oddly late on
a Saturday night and died sometime on Monday.) It really tore me up
when I found him, so I'm trying to learn from it so that we don't lose
Sly, too, and I wanted to do as much as possible as quickly as possible.

Thanks so much for your help.

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[Elaine T]

Bill wrote:
> On 2005-07-04, Elaine T > wrote:
>
>>Sly sounds pretty sick. If he's still eating, medicated food is an
>>excellent idea. I'd go with the antibacterial sort if you can find it.
>
>
> He still has a voracious appetite, thank goodness. Sunday morning, I
> got some "Jungle Anti-Bacteria Medicated Fish Food" (active ingredients:
> 2.3% sodium sulfathiazole and 0.13% nitrofurazone).
>
>
>>If he's not eating, try either Maracyn 2 or kanamycin in the water.
>>Both are broad spectrum, and IMO Maracyn 2 is particularly good for
>>betta problems. Treat for a full 10 days to avoid growing
>>antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
>
>
> I got Maracyn 2 as well. In addition, we added 1.5 teaspoons of salt to
> his tank, dissolved in the 2.5 gallons of water that we changed on
> Sunday, with an eye toward increasing it to a total of 1 tablespoon or
> maybe 5 teaspoons total for the tank.

I'm so glad to hear he's eating the food and doing better. Salt is a
reasonable idea, and 1 tsp/gallon is the amount I usually use for
sof****er fish like bettas. The Maracyn 2 shouldn't be necessary if Sly
is eating the Jungle food, but if you've already added it, keep the
treatment going.

Of course, lots of water changes are good (assuming your tap water isn't
awful like mine).

>>Was Sly exposed to Squidgy or any of Squidgy's water through a net,
>>siphon, water change bucket, or other shared equipment? I'd disinfect
>>the tanks and all the equipment if it's shared between bettas and Sly dies.
>
> Yes, we share(d) a siphon and buckets for water changes and a pipette
> for drawing water to soak the food. What would be the best way to
> disinfect -- 1:10 or 1:20 bleach solution or something else? Also,
> Squidgy's old tank is an acrylic Mini-Bow 5 with an internal Whisper
> Micro filter, if that makes a difference for disinfection method. (I'm
> considering just replacing the siphon and pipette, unless that would be
> unnecessary.) There's also a gold mystery snail named Scooter who's
> still living in Squidgy's old tank -- how should I handle him in order
> to avoid him transmitting bacteria with him?
>
1:20 bleach for 30 minutes is a great hospital-grade disinfectant. I
like it for equipment like buckets, nets, plastic plants, and empty
tanks that I can rinse well and set out in the sun and dry completely.
Complete drying reduces bleach residue to harmless salt so there's no
chance of residue killing your fish. In fact, thoroughly drying
equipment kills many but not all aquatic pathogens and is a good way to
prevent transmission of diseases on buckets and nets.

Other good disinfectants for set-up tanks and harder-to-dry stuff like
long siphons are 3% sal****er (1 cup pickling salt/gallon) or potassium
permanganate. I like them better because small amounts of residue are
not toxic to fish. Either will disinfect a tank or other equipment.
Soak 4 hours for a medium purple solution of permanganate, and about an
hour for sal****er.

As far as the snail, I don't know of any bacterial fish diseases that
snails carry. There are some parasites, but they need a bird host to
complete the lifecycle as well as the snail. Maybe someone else knows
better?

> All in all, Sly is doing much better. He's still spending some time at
> the bottom, but his color has improved, he's a lot more active, and he's
> as hungry as ever. We might have overreacted, but I didn't realize that
> Squidgy was as bad off as what he was. (He started acting oddly late on
> a Saturday night and died sometime on Monday.) It really tore me up
> when I found him, so I'm trying to learn from it so that we don't lose
> Sly, too, and I wanted to do as much as possible as quickly as possible.
>
> Thanks so much for your help.
>
You're welcome, and I don't think you overreacted. Often by the time we
notice a fish is sick, it's VERY sick. I hope Sly stays betta'. ;-)

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Daniel Morrow]

"Bill" > wrote in message
news:Pzyye.47735$go.25134@fed1read05...
> On 2005-07-03, Daniel Morrow > wrote:
> > You could try the progressive salt treatment - in my experience a betta
can
>
> How much do you suggest? When I changed water in his tank and added
> medicine yesterday, I added 1.5 teaspoons of salt (dissolved in the new
> water). I was thinking that 1 teaspoon per gallon might be appropriate,
> but I didn't want to put in all of that at once.
>
> --
> "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
> difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
> boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford,
1992

"Salt. Salt is nature's remedy for many ills. It is effective in most
troubles of freshwater fishes, has no bad reactions, and is safe to try on
obscure cases or when in doubt. It's one fault is that when strong enough
to check disease, it is too concentrated for plants. Place fish in bare tank
or enamel receptacle in seasoned water containing 2 level teaspoons of salt
to the gallon. Gradually over 24 hours build it up to 4 measures. If no
improvement appears by the third day go to 6 measures if the fish shows no
signs of distress. Species vary. Guppies and mollies can stand 8. In case of
long treatment in mild solution, change to new salted water of same strength
in about 3 days if it starts to smell stale. Aeration helps. At end of
treatment, slowly add fresh water until the salt content is low before
returning fish to aquarium. Sea water is still better than salt crystals.
One part to 5 of fresh is a good strength, about equal to 3 level teaspoons
of crystals to the gallon." The previous is a direct quote out of part of my
"exotic aquarium fishes" book which I think was last printed in 1966 (or
this book was purchased around then). Good luck and later! P.s. - just to
clarify to newbies the previous is about using the progressive salt
treatment to try to cure fish of certain diseases but has a wide band of use
(can be used to cure a lot of different fish disease).

[Elaine T]

Daniel Morrow wrote:
> "Bill" > wrote in message
> news:Pzyye.47735$go.25134@fed1read05...
>
>>On 2005-07-03, Daniel Morrow > wrote:
>>
>>>You could try the progressive salt treatment - in my experience a betta
>
> can
>
>>How much do you suggest? When I changed water in his tank and added
>>medicine yesterday, I added 1.5 teaspoons of salt (dissolved in the new
>>water). I was thinking that 1 teaspoon per gallon might be appropriate,
>>but I didn't want to put in all of that at once.
>>
>>--
>>"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
>>difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
>>boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford,
>
> 1992
>
> "Salt. Salt is nature's remedy for many ills. It is effective in most
> troubles of freshwater fishes, has no bad reactions, and is safe to try on
> obscure cases or when in doubt. It's one fault is that when strong enough
> to check disease, it is too concentrated for plants. Place fish in bare tank
> or enamel receptacle in seasoned water containing 2 level teaspoons of salt
> to the gallon. Gradually over 24 hours build it up to 4 measures. If no
> improvement appears by the third day go to 6 measures if the fish shows no
> signs of distress. Species vary. Guppies and mollies can stand 8. In case of
> long treatment in mild solution, change to new salted water of same strength
> in about 3 days if it starts to smell stale. Aeration helps. At end of
> treatment, slowly add fresh water until the salt content is low before
> returning fish to aquarium. Sea water is still better than salt crystals.
> One part to 5 of fresh is a good strength, about equal to 3 level teaspoons
> of crystals to the gallon." The previous is a direct quote out of part of my
> "exotic aquarium fishes" book which I think was last printed in 1966 (or
> this book was purchased around then). Good luck and later! P.s. - just to
> clarify to newbies the previous is about using the progressive salt
> treatment to try to cure fish of certain diseases but has a wide band of use
> (can be used to cure a lot of different fish disease).
>
>
Thanks for posting that, Daniel! People around here have thought me
silly for recommending salt to treat diseases in soft water fish. At
least I'm in good company. ;-)

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Daniel Morrow]

> > "Salt. Salt is nature's remedy for many ills. It is effective in most
> > troubles of freshwater fishes, has no bad reactions, and is safe to try
on
> > obscure cases or when in doubt. It's one fault is that when strong
enough
> > to check disease, it is too concentrated for plants. Place fish in bare
tank
> > or enamel receptacle in seasoned water containing 2 level teaspoons of
salt
> > to the gallon. Gradually over 24 hours build it up to 4 measures. If no
> > improvement appears by the third day go to 6 measures if the fish shows
no
> > signs of distress. Species vary. Guppies and mollies can stand 8. In
case of
> > long treatment in mild solution, change to new salted water of same
strength
> > in about 3 days if it starts to smell stale. Aeration helps. At end of
> > treatment, slowly add fresh water until the salt content is low before
> > returning fish to aquarium. Sea water is still better than salt
crystals.
> > One part to 5 of fresh is a good strength, about equal to 3 level
teaspoons
> > of crystals to the gallon." The previous is a direct quote out of part
of my
> > "exotic aquarium fishes" book which I think was last printed in 1966 (or
> > this book was purchased around then). Good luck and later! P.s. - just
to
> > clarify to newbies the previous is about using the progressive salt
> > treatment to try to cure fish of certain diseases but has a wide band of
use
> > (can be used to cure a lot of different fish disease).
> >
> >
> Thanks for posting that, Daniel! People around here have thought me
> silly for recommending salt to treat diseases in soft water fish. At
> least I'm in good company. ;-)

You're very welcome Elaine! Salt is amazing - I have cured a couple of fish
so far with it. Thanks, and later!
>
> --
> Elaine T __
> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
> rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Bill]

On 2005-07-03, Bill > wrote:
> My wife's betta, Sly, isn't acting like himself. He's been less active

Well, we fed medicated food and treated the tank with Maracyn 2 for 10
days. There are also 5 teaspoons of salt in his (5.5-gallon) tank now.

He's still resting quite often, but he's usually his old feisty self
when he's swimming. He's as hungry as ever, and greedily ate some
frozen bloodworms last night. (The ones that he saw, anyway. ;-) ) Is
there still cause for concern, or is he stressed from the medicine?
We've also noticed a couple of rays on his fins missing. (He's a
gorgeous blue-and-purple crowntail.)

Is there something else we should do, or should we just wait and
observe?

Thanks, Daniel and Elaine, for the advice. My wife and I appreciate it. :-)

PS Elaine, it was great to hear how well Flower is doing. It makes me want
to keep discus. :-)

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[Elaine T]

Bill wrote:
> On 2005-07-03, Bill > wrote:
>
>>My wife's betta, Sly, isn't acting like himself. He's been less active
>
>
> Well, we fed medicated food and treated the tank with Maracyn 2 for 10
> days. There are also 5 teaspoons of salt in his (5.5-gallon) tank now.
>
> He's still resting quite often, but he's usually his old feisty self
> when he's swimming. He's as hungry as ever, and greedily ate some
> frozen bloodworms last night. (The ones that he saw, anyway. ;-) ) Is
> there still cause for concern, or is he stressed from the medicine?
> We've also noticed a couple of rays on his fins missing. (He's a
> gorgeous blue-and-purple crowntail.)
>
> Is there something else we should do, or should we just wait and
> observe?
>
> Thanks, Daniel and Elaine, for the advice. My wife and I appreciate it. :-)
>
> PS Elaine, it was great to hear how well Flower is doing. It makes me want
> to keep discus. :-)
>
Sounds like his water might have a touch of ammonia and/or nitrite.
Have you tested for it? This is really common after antibiotic
treatment because sometimes damage filter bacteria. Water changes,
Prime, AmQuel+, or squeezing out some filter material from another
healthy tank would all help. You've already got the salt going, which
helps with nitrite.

If the water tests clean, wait and observe for a few more days. I just
treated some rasboras for an external infection, and it took another
week or so for their immune systems to finish the job that the
antibiotics started.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Daniel Morrow]

"Bill" > wrote in message
news:03bBe.89036$go.7850@fed1read05...
> On 2005-07-03, Bill > wrote:
> > My wife's betta, Sly, isn't acting like himself. He's been less active
>
> Well, we fed medicated food and treated the tank with Maracyn 2 for 10
> days. There are also 5 teaspoons of salt in his (5.5-gallon) tank now.
>
> He's still resting quite often, but he's usually his old feisty self
> when he's swimming. He's as hungry as ever, and greedily ate some
> frozen bloodworms last night. (The ones that he saw, anyway. ;-) ) Is
> there still cause for concern, or is he stressed from the medicine?
> We've also noticed a couple of rays on his fins missing. (He's a
> gorgeous blue-and-purple crowntail.)
>
> Is there something else we should do, or should we just wait and
> observe?
>
> Thanks, Daniel and Elaine, for the advice. My wife and I appreciate it.
:-)

Good deal bill, you're welcome! Later!

[Bill]

On 2005-07-13, Elaine T > wrote:
> Sounds like his water might have a touch of ammonia and/or nitrite.
> Have you tested for it? This is really common after antibiotic

We had tested for nitrite last week. We have an Ammonia Alert in the
tank (They're great; I just wish they made one for nitrite.), and it stayed
perfectly yellow. My wife tested nitrite and nitrate last night, and
there wasn't any nitrite and maybe just a trace of nitrate. The Ammonia
Alert doesn't show any ammonia at all.

> If the water tests clean, wait and observe for a few more days. I just
> treated some rasboras for an external infection, and it took another
> week or so for their immune systems to finish the job that the
> antibiotics started.

Thanks. He seemed to be a bit more active this morning than he has been
at that time of day. Perhaps the medicine itself was causing stress, or
maybe it's as you said, or it could be the frozen bloodworms we fed him
the last couple evenings. (We got dwarf puffers (Cute!) over the
weekend, so we've been using frozen food more than usual.) Now that I
think about it a bit more, it's very possible he wasn't getting all the
nutrition he needs from the medicated pellets. (They aren't
betta-specific.)

I'll update again in a couple days. :-)

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[Bill]

Hi all,

I just wanted to thank you all for your support and suggestions.

My wife's betta, Sly, died two and a half weeks ago on August 1st. He
was quite a special little guy, and we tried hard to save him. I didn't
realize that my betta, Squidgy, was as sick as he was right before he
died, so I didn't do anything. I felt awful about that. Sly hung in
there for quite a long time while we tried to save him. Poor little guy
fought hard until just before the end. I miss him.

My wife wrote this in her online journal the evening that he died:

================================================== ========================
Subject: Rest in Peace, Sly

Sly, my betta, has been sick for some time. He became sick around the
time that Squidgy, Bill's betta, unexpectedly passed away. After
extensive amounts of research I decided that I would treat his tank with
BettaFix. Finding it weak and relatively expensive, I switched to
medicating with MelaFix (same basic ingredients as BettaFix) and
PimaFix, both herbal remedies. He seemed to be doing better (the
infection that I saw on his head had pretty much cleared up) when the
tank went into a bacterial bloom, and I started noticing possible fin
rot. I immediately discontinued treatment. A little while later, he
seemed to be getting lethargic and the fin rot wasn't improving. I went
for a stronger treatment with an antibacterial food pellet and
Maracyn-2, a fish antibiotic. This helped his attitude, but the fin
damage remained. Soon after the treatments ended he started getting
worse and worse. I used a stronger antibiotic, Kanamycin, and started
soaking his food pellets in Fishtamin (vitamins for fish). He improved
for a few days, and then quickly declined. Finally, last night, he
stopped eating, and I knew it was over. He had been having trouble
eating the last few days, but still managed to finish his food.

Once a sick fish has stopped eating there is pretty much no chance for
recovery. I decided that if he didn't eat tonight I would euthanize him.
Sadly, he was unable to eat. He didn't even recognize that the food was
there, even when I put it a millimeter from his mouth. Bill helped me
prepare the clove oil (which can be used as a fish anaesthetic). After
he fell asleep in his cup with the clove oil, I poured in some vodka
which would kill him. After he was dead, Bill helped me bury him in the
back yard. For the first time, I held him and petted him, something that
wouldn't have been healthy for him when he was alive.

Sly was more than just a fish to me. We've kept several fish starting
this year. We have five aquaria stocked in different ways. We've lost
fish from each of those aquaria. Squidgy was our first loss and was
upsetting for many of the same reasons Sly's passing is upsetting. The
other fish haven't made nearly the same impact. They were simply
flushed, even though we felt kind of bad that we didn't feel worse about
their deaths, if that makes sense.

I cared quite a bit about Sly. His 5.5 gallon aquarium was on my desk so
I spent a lot of time with him on evenings and weekends. He was
delightfully active and pretty. He recognized me and Bill, especially
around feeding time! He flared elegantly at his reflection and danced
happily for his food. He was very aggressive and energetic before he
became ill. He nipped at anything I put in the tank, including his
snail-bitch Slymer (who ultimately ended up in our 60 gallon tank, due
to Sly's illness, and is probably better for it since Sly harassed him
continuously). Honestly he lived a lot longer than I expected after the
illness started. He was very strongwilled, and didn't give up, until
yesterday. He really was a badass fighter.

I think it will be a long time before I keep a fish again that is
capable of such interaction with me. I am very sad about this.

Pictures of my Stinky Sly (his nickname) behind the cut. I'll miss him.

Sly displaying his fins: http://www.laserhen.net/sly/img_0702.jpg
Sly being a pretty Crowntail: http://www.laserhen.net/sly/img_0703.jpg
Sly being very cute: http://www.laserhen.net/sly/img_0707.jpg
Sly silhouette: http://www.laserhen.net/sly/img_0709.jpg
================================================== ========================

--
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind -
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

[coolchinchilla]

Bill wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I just wanted to thank you all for your support and suggestions.
>
> My wife's betta, Sly, died two and a half weeks ago on August 1st. He
> was quite a special little guy, and we tried hard to save him.
<snip>

I'm so so sorry about your betta. He was a beautiful little fellow.
You gave him a wonderful forever home. He knew he was a deeply
loved fish.

Please give my condolences to your wife too.

coolchinchilla