# Coda's betta journal & Nova's battle with velvet



## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

*11/05/13*

Hi everyone!

I only have two betta so far, but I'd like to keep a journal both because I'm a new betta owner and because my newest addition, Nova, seems to have a severe case of velvet and I figured keeping track of it would be a good idea in case anyone has suggestions/tips to share. 

SO. I got my old three gallon eclipse back from my sister a couple months ago, got it all set up and a couple weeks later bought Zeta, my red and blue VT boy:










Other than two small tears in his fins (thinking from too much flaring), he's doing great. I was so happy with him I wanted another and ended up ordering a 3 gallon Tetra Cube. Great little tank, I love it!










I still needed a heater for it, but I went to Petco anyway just to have a look and saw a gorgeous blue-eyed, red and white elephant ear, and when I went back a week or so later on Halloween after my heater arrived, and the poor guy was still there! So of course I brought him home and got Nova all set up in his new tank:










The first day I noticed some odd behavior..he would zoom across the back and left sides of tank. Back and forth almost constantly. It was very difficult to get his attention for feeding, and most of the time he spit his food out. I figured he was just getting used to his new home until Sunday evening I saw him trying to scratch the side of his face against one of the silk plants. So I grabbed the flashlight and sure enough, he had dusty golden specks all over his body :-(

A photo with my camera flash:









I began treatment yesterday. I pulled everything from the tank except the sand, to clean and dry out. Turned the filter off and covered the tank with a towel. Tomorrow I'll drain the water and clean the rest of the tank, and probably let it dry for a few days. 

I moved Nova into a 2gal critter keeper with nothing but a heater:









I have it set up on my bathroom counter for easy water changes and because I can keep the room dark and the cats away. I'm doing 100% daily water changes and treating him with Cupramine, 1 drop per gallon so far. I'll up it to two drops in a day or so. His water is staying steady at 82 degrees..I tried to get it a bit higher, even turned my heater temp up to 87, but it pretty much stays at 82. 

I plan to continue this treatment for 10 days and if I don't see an improvement I'll see about trying AQ salt or some other treatment. Here's hoping he gets better!


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## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

*11/06/13*

I drained the water from the tetra cube and cleaned it out today. I supposed I'll leave it empty in a dark room until Nova gets better and ready to use it again. I increased his Cupramine dose to 2 drops per gallon, but there's really no visible improvement so far. But from what I understand, the Cupramine targets parasites in the free-swimming stage, so the visible ones already attached to Nova's body are going to fall off on their own. I think using AQ salt will cause them to die/detach from his body quicker? I'm not sure how long it takes the parasites to detach on their own. In any case he's eating more and seems to be a little more calm :-D

Meanwhile, Zeta's attempting to build a bubble nest as I type this..he's not very good at it yet haha. But it's still good to see, since I've had him for a month now and he only started trying to make bubble nests a few days ago. ^^


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Your fish are very pretty.


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## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

Thank you, dramaqueen!

Nova is doing much better. It's hard to see improvements by looking at his body though, since I know some of that 'gold dust' is just his natural iridescence. He's not darting or rubbing, his breathing is a bit better and he's eating more. I'm actually considering just keeping him in the critter keeper. He seems to do a lot better in the smaller space, just got to pick up a heater today because his brand new Hydor heater quit last night >.< I have another ordered because I really like it, so here's hoping I just got unlucky with a faulty heater.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I have all mine in critter keepers. I have a one gallon minibow but I hate to put anyone in it. Maybe I could put my girl in it. She's 4 months old and very tiny. She's stunted but so cute.


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## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

I put some gravel and an anubias in Nova's critter keeper, as well as a little hammock which he could care less about haha. I'd like to get some frogbit and maybe some dwarf hair grass for it. Just waiting to see how much room is left after his hidey I ordered arrives.




























He's doing so much better :-D

And since Nova's original tank was empty, I picked up this guy last night. Continuing the theme of 4 letter names ending with an A and named him Coda ^^


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Your new guy is beautiful!


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## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

Thanks! He's a lot of fun to watch. His ventricle fins were completely curled up when I bought him but they're already showing some improvements :-D


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## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

Well...just spent 30 bucks on supplies for a new girl. Betta bug indeed e_e I'd really love to have a girl though, and I somehow ended up with an extra heater so I figured why not! Four is definitely my limit though. I got a sinking log decoration for it as well as a couple fake plants, but I may end up using live plants instead. 

Soo...all that's left on my fishy shopping list:
-Sand for the new tank
-Betta log for Coda
-One more anubias
-Amazon frogbit
-More marimo!
-Thermometer

I've got some AIL incoming, and I still need to figure out a background for Zeta's tank so he doesn't spend all day back there flaring at his reflection. His bubble nests are getting bigger and bigger :-D Though he's still the only one of the boys who makes them so far.

And lastly, a crappy phone pic of Nova's new hidey ^^


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## Coda539 (Oct 20, 2013)

Turned off the filter in Coda's tank this morning. He still has stress stripes from when I bought him. I suppose it could just be that he's still young, but he looks to be about 4 months at least. He's in a 3 gallon and the water params are fine, he has plenty of shade and hiding spots..he's eating fine and acting pretty normal, so I'm not sure what could be stressing him. The filter is baffled and doesn't seem very strong but I'll leave it off for a bit just to be sure. Not too worried yet since I'm sure he's still adjusting.

Zeta made a huge bubble nest last night..was very impressed! But he's looking a bit pudgy lately so he's fasting today xD


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