# majestic_storm's betta journal



## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Hi, I'm just a college student who has a betta fish to ease the loneliness of being socially awkward. XD I love talking about my darling Rain to my friends but I think I bore them with all my talking, so I'll make a journal to worship my Rain/record his changes. 

So I just came back to my dorm after being on vacation for 3 weeks. Yesterday morning I cupped Rain after I fed him, wrapped the cup with a towel, and put him in a cardboard box. I also filled a water bottle with some of his tank water in case anything happened (like water leaking out of the cup). It was a long and bumpy 6hr train/bus ride back to my dorm. 

Got him back to my dorm in one piece. He was really listless and his fins were somewhat clamped. I quickly worked to get his tank all set up. I found that the pH of the water here is a whopping 8.2, as opposed to a 7.6 back at home. I slowly acclimated him to the new water and set him loose. He dropped like a stone to the bottom of the tank. But after a while he swam around, and I found that the filter made him uncomfortable even after stuffing aquarium sponge into the intake and baffling it with aquarium sponge so I turned it off. Sometimes he would swim, and stop, as though frozan. He still ate, but was really cautious of me (probably because he associated food with cupping and an uncomfortable ride in a cup). He kept hiding from me and stayed at the bottom. Fortunately, my shipment of IAL came in the mail, so I put a leaf in the water (hopefully it'll make Rain more comfortable and also lower the pH).

Today he's a bit more active, and is still eating, which is a good sign. He now seems to be scared of my hands (I lost his trust T^T). I went to Petco to get a 6500K light bulb. Replaced my current one with the new one hoping that Rain would like it, but instead he keeps hiding and seems lethargic, but the second I turn it off he's all active and swimming, so I think I'll keep the light off until he gets used to his new surroundings/water before I try to get him used to the new light.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

I am happy to say that Rain is back to his perky and spunky little self again. He loves the addition of the IAL, and he loves to hide underneath it regularly. 








I know that IAL will sink in a while, but he's made a bubble nest underneath it to keep it afloat. Unfortunately I made it sink when I put my hand in the tank to flip my moss balls around. But I've kept the leaf near the surface by resting it on top of the bamboo leaves. He can now shimmy himself on the leaf whenever he wants to too! 

He's gotten used to the new light, to some extent. I found that he likes to go into his terra cotta pot a lot more, but he usually goes in for a second and then makes a u-turn back out. It's so amusing watching him peek his head out. :-D

He's also started trusting me again, and isn't afraid of my hands when I drop the food down for him.

I think he likes to annoy me sometimes. When people see my fish tank they're like "oh! I want to see your fish" and that's when Rain's not being active and resting on the bottom next to the pot. But the second they leave, THEN he starts to be all active and glorious.








Oh, you little tyke! I'm sure you saying "talk to the tail!" in that picture XD


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## Sixwolf (Jan 1, 2013)

Ahhhh what a cutie! My betta dropped to the bottom of the tank too after I had taken him to my dorm. A little fresh water and some aquarium salt, and he was back to his usual self the next day. c:


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks! Isn't it amazing how they can adapt to the changes in their environment so quickly?


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## Sixwolf (Jan 1, 2013)

Haha, they certainly are tough little patoots!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

I notice that Rain seems to put the side of his head against things and make a quick dart from it. I'm not sure if he's rubbing against it or anything, but I've notice that he's done this since I first got him (a month ago) and am slightly worried that he might have parasites. However, his appetite is good, he's active, and his colors are as vibrant as ever, so I won't do anything for now, but will keep a close eye on him for any changes.

I'm also suspecting that he's tail biting since the top lobe of his caudal fin seems a bit uneven. I think that he's not getting enough stimulation. I've ordered some more silk plants and hope that they will entertain him. If not, I'll have to get some pingpong balls.

A few weeks ago, I tried to get Rain to jump to eat a pellet that was on my finger. It didn't go as well as I hoped it would. He jumped, and missed. Eventually he touched the pellet, but the pellet fell into the water and started to sink. He didn't see it sink, so he didn't eat it. I decided to not to try that again since I didn't want to keep picking up the uneaten food. Today, I got him to jump to eat food that's on my finger. I gotta say, his aim has gotten much better and he has no problem grabbing it from my finger. So I think I'll keep feeding him like this in the evenings when I have the time.


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey there,

Rain is such a beautiful betta!!!!!!! I am sure he is good company. Mine go crazy as soon as I walk into my room, seems like they are so excited to see you


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Thank you! He is good company  My roommate goes out for the night=my night of talking to Rain. Even watched a youtube video with him today in hopes of entertaining him. He liked it XD 

Yeah, it's so awesome how they sense your presence and come out to greet you  How can you not fall in love with them?


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## Sixwolf (Jan 1, 2013)

Yup. People who think fish don't have personalities are so very wrong.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Yeah, today my roommate's friend came to talk with my roommate and when he saw the tank, he rushed over and asked if there was a fish. He then saw Rain and was like , "Oh, it's a betta fish" and then walked away as though bettas are boring. He clearly hasn't properly had one yet.


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## Sixwolf (Jan 1, 2013)

A lot of people think bettas are just throwaway pets. >:T They have so much spunk though. People who don't get it just make me disappointed.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Rain's marbling again. His fins are almost completely blue, along with his body (except his face, the little piebald guy ). I gotta say, I liked it when he had more white on him, but oh well, I still love the guy to death. I suspect that the change in the water quality/pH is what's causing him to be more blue than white. I'll keep this theory in my mind the next time we go home (which is in about 5 months, hahaha). I'll post pictures later.

His finnage has gotten longer so I suspect that it's weighing him down. He used to be so active when he didn't have so much finnage. He's still active now, but he likes to rest his fins on top of the decorations a lot more than he used to.

On a more amusing note, today Rain pooped right as he was yawning. My eyes popped out when I saw it. He opened his mouth really wide, gills flaring and everything and then "plop" his poop came sinking down XD.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

My friend just came in to look at Rain. Made jokes about putting another betta in there to fight them. I gave him a good hard smack each time he said it >:]


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Within a week, Rain has changed from the picture in my first entry to this:









He's such a nice blue, but I kind of wish he still had some white on his body (excluding the face). I've accepted the fact that the last bit of his dorsal probably has somewhat of what I call "the crowntail effect" since it's been over a month, and there has been minimal regrowth in that area while his other fins have grown nicely. I think it's a nice quirk.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Freeze-dried bloodworms*

So today I fed Rain freeze-dried bloodworms for the first time. I was debating on whether to feed the freeze-dried bloodworms or freeze-dried daphnia, but didn't quite figure out how to feed the daphnia, so I went for the bloodworms. Opened my container of Hikari freeze-dried bloodworms and didn't realize how badly they smelled. But anything for your fish, right? I got half a bloodworm and soaked it in some tank water and was surprised that the water turned a bit rusty colored. I put the worm on a q-tip and brought it down for Rain to jump and snatch it. I didn't realize how vicious he can be. He got the q-tip, thrashed about and got the worm. I was worried that he ate some cotton, but let's hope not. The second worm, he didn't quite get, so it dropped and floated onto the water. He got it, but I observed that he spit some stuff out (probably bits of the worm that he couldn't chew/eat). But yea, his first experience with bloodworms. I'll try daphnia next week, wish me luck in figuring out how to feed THOSE little things to him. 

I also wanted to talk about aquarium silicone. It's like "where have you been all my life?!" Sure, it's all black and has a weird smell, but it's pretty amazing stuff. Plugged up the hole in my terra cotta pot so Rain won't get too curious and get himself stuck in there. I also use it to make the markings in my bucket so I can tell how much a gallon is. It's so versatile; I could probably use it to make aquarium decorations with pebbles and stuff if I had the time. But that's not the best thing. The best thing is that when the silicone at the opening of the bottle dries up, IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD! It's like a rubber plug, all you need to do is take it out (and it's pretty easy, by the way), and the silicone inside is perfectly fine for you to use. :-D I found this out because the cap of my silicone cracked, so I was worried that the silicone would be all dried up and I won't be able to use it (like super glue), but when I unscrewed the cap, I saw the amazingness that is aquarium silicone!! I'm sorry, but I'm very excited about aquarium silicone right now, hahaha.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*I spoil him way too much...*

So my order of silk plants and light timer came in the mail today. The silk plants are by Hagen Marina, and based on first impressions, they look like they are much better quality than the silk plant I got at petsmart for 3.99. But I should expect that since I paid twice the amount for these plants. The plastic parts are very smooth and I could tell right off the bat that they wouldn't snag Rain's fins. Plus, the silk looks really nice and lifelike. I can tell that the leaves won't get frayed for a long time (as opposed to the Petsmart plant, which is already starting to fray, and it hasn't even been a month!). I placed two out of the three new plants into the tank (the third one is to replace the petsmart one once it's frayed beyond repair).










So far, Rain seems to approve of the new plants, and I think he'll be more comfortable and stop tail-biting since there's more covering and the big pennywort plant seems to block out a lot more light. I was debating on whether or not I should take out the plastic bamboo, but I think I'll keep it since Rain seems to enjoy swimming through the leaves (and his fins haven't been torn/snagged yet).

Oh, and when I was redecorating the tank, I held my hand really still close to the surface because I was curious about how Rain would react with my hand. I thought that it would be cute if he swam into it...but noooo. He kept nipping at my fingers because he thought there was food, the little stinker! XD


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Caught him in the act!*

Yup, he's tail biting. I was doing my lab report when I saw him swim up to one of the broad leaves. I think he was trying to get off, but his tail was in the way, so he tore his tail up.  I saw bits of his tail floating down...and the thing is, HE ATE IT. I quickly rearranged the leaves so it won't happen again...but right now I'm on the verge of ripping my own hair out! Guess there'll be a double dose of stress coat in saturday when he gets his water change...


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Water change day!*

So I did a water change after I finished all my classes. My roommate came in while I was in the middle of it and joked about my "high tech fish technology" aka the water siphon XD. I'm getting used to vacuuming the gravel without actually sucking gravel up. You should've seen my first attempt last week. Didn't realize how wonderful a bare bottom tank was until I kept sucking up gravel and getting the hose clogged up. 

I did a double dose of Stress Coat so that his tail will heal quickly. Also changed the IAL. In addition I took some gravel out because I found that I only had at most 4.5 gallons in my 5.5 gallon tank due to all the gravel and decorations. Moved the decorations around so that Rain can do some exploring. He looked so precious with his head peeping out of the pennywort plant, but the second he saw me whip my cell phone out to take a picture, he swam out of there as fast as he could XD. He seems to really like the addition of the new silk plants, and I like them too cuz I get to see him weave through the leaves. 

He seems to pay more attention to the moss balls now, to my delight, but mostly to the tennis ball-sized one. He likes to swim up and rest right next to it, or on it, or sometimes he just likes to stick his head underneath it and stay there, all still. 

I also got the light timer all set up, and so far, it works wonderfully! Rain seems to have gotten used to the new light too. 

Oh, and I'm suspecting that Rain's been trying to eat the aquarium silicone that I used to plug up the terra cotta pot. He goes inside and sometimes I see movement like he's nipping at something =.= Why are bettas such pigs?


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Salt treatment*

So I got some input from the awesome people on this forum, namely Callistra and AyalaCookieJar and have started AQ salt treatments on Rain since he might have some parasites. Got some tank water and added the salt in and then slowly mixed the solution in with a turkey baster. As I added it in, Rain was really curious and kept swimming through the salt water that was coming out of the baster. He's still flashing, but hopefully he'll stop.

His tail seems to be healing already, to my delight.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Either my thermometer's bad, or my heater is...*

So I wanted to increase the temperature in the tank to 85F, slowly of course. Currently, my heater is set to 83F, but my thermometer says it's only 80F...so either the heater can't get it up, the thermometer's not reading correctly, or the water's not circulating enough so the warm water's just around the heater...sigh.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Plastic bamboo finally says its goodbye...*

So I just came back from my classes for the day and rushed over to a super happy Rain greeting me at his tank. To my horror, I saw that his anal fin had a fairly large tear, and when say "fairly large" I mean ripped halfway to his little blue body. I quickly removed the floating bamboo plant, at least, until his fin's healed up. I may either remove it permanently, keep it after his fin heals, or just get some smaller pieces of the plant to float on top to block out some light (but then again, the large IAL I currently have in the tank does the job nicely, as long as I can keep it near the top of the tank). The tank seems kind of empty without the bamboo and the moss balls (which I removed for the AQ salt treatment), but Rain doesn't seem to be too upset. Hey, it just means more room for him to swim around in, right? Plus, I still have one more silk plant I haven't put in the tank yet in case he needs something else. 

The IAL that I have this time has made my tank water really dark, but maybe that's because I replaced it with a new leaf two days after I replaced the last one since I noticed a slime coating on the previous one and some little white worm-like things on the side of the glass (probably planarians, no biggie). But then again, the double dose would be good for his healing fins, and he seems much more comfortable swimming out into the light since the water's darker. 

And as far as Rain's flashing goes, he was flashing yesterday, but I haven't seen him do it today, which is a good sign. Hopefully the AQ salt gets rid of whatever's been bothering him, or else I will have to call out the big guns and get out my Seachem Prime. 

My heater's currently set up 85F, but the thermometer's still reading 80F...oh well, as long as the water's not below 76F I'm happy, I guess, but it makes me worry about what to do if Rain ever gets velvet or something like that and I need to up my temperature to 85F.

And he might not be the little piebald guy I thought he was, I see some black markings appearing on his face.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Today's day 6 of his AQ salt treatment, and it seems like he hasn't been flashing or anything of that nature, at least not during the evenings when I usually do work in front of his tank (his tank is riiiight on my desk, less room for me to utilize, but it's worth it ). But I make sure to observe him at least 30 minutes a day to make sure nothing's wrong with him. 

His tail's healing nicely, and I can barely see the tears that he did to himself. His anal fin will still take some time. I think that he's stopped tail-biting, which is awesome. 

Without the bamboo decoration, I've noticed that he's on the bottom of the tank a lot more now that he used to be. I think it's cuz he used to be able to rest on the bamboo plants, but now he can't so he has to rest on the bottom at times. 

I've found that when I put my fingers right up against the glass, he'll come out to check it out. He'll slowly advance towards my fingers while flaring his gills out, but he'll slowly back away, as though trying to "around" my fingers. Hahahaha, did the same thing when I put my earbud against the glass (was wondering if he liked music). He was curiously following my ruler around as I was making my graphs today. He's so adorkable!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*So my nothing's wrong with my heater or my thermometer*

So, when I was changing Rain's water today, I decided to stick the thermometer in some cold water to see if it worked; it did. Turns out, the reason why the water temperature was colder than the temperature I set was because I had the heated positioned upright instead of horizontal (I had this problem when I first used it and positioned it upright, set it to 79F, but the water barely reached 75F the next morning). I had set it vertically so that it would be easier for me to adjust the temperature when I was slowly upping it to 85-86F. But now the heater is positioned horizontally and the water temperature is at a steady 85F.

I didn't realize how dark my water got with the double dose of IAL. As the week went by, I noticed that the light seemed REALLY dim to me and I was like, "is the light supposed to dim out that fast? It's only been 3 weeks." When I dumped out the old water during the water change, it was the color of tea. After the water change, I turned on the light and was surprised at how bright the light was and actually thought that there was a second setting to my light that I didn't know about where there was a dimmer setting. Turns out there's only one, and it was dim because of the IAL tannins, hahaha. 

Seems like Rain's stopped scratching, so I've stopped his IAL treatment with today being day 7. I didn't want to do the full 10 days because I was worried about how he would handle the AQ salt, but the water's at 85F, and will be for another week.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

So, I see that Rain's a bit more active now that the AQ salt is out of the tank.

Unfortunately, I think that he's once again tail-biting 

Also, I think that it wasn't the plastic bamboo plant that made the tear in his fin, but rather the silk pennywort plant. Now that I look at it more closely, the plastic parts do feel a bit sharp, so I'll get some sandpaper and sand it down some time.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*...Ended up switching plants...again, hahaha*










Being the super paranoid me, I've decided to not risk it and take out the pennywort plant until I can sandpaper the sharp edges down. But I'm definitely not planning on using it since it gives a rather nice contrast to the long-leaved plant. I decided to use the bamboo again, but then took it out. So for the time being, I put in the other Hagen Marina long-leaved silk plant that I was PLANNING on using once the Petsmart silk plant got too frayed. I've felt this one and have a lot less to worry about since the leaves cover up like 95% of the plastic and the ones that do stick out are SMOOTH. 

I've also changed the IAL since to help his fins. Honestly, I think that Amy Lin's gonna be hearing from me again real soon if this keeps up XD. 

After this whole fin tearing/fin biting ordeal, plakats seem more and more appealing to me. I mean, I've always liked them, but now I'm thinking of plakats ONLY.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*so the AQ salt didn't work...*

It seems like Rain's once again flashing...and I don't think that another 3 days of AQ salt's gonna get rid of whatever it is that's bothering him so I decided to use Seachem Paraguard instead. I'm quite surprised that it didn't make my water all blue. It looks like I didn't add anything, which I am happy about. Also, it seems like the Paraguard becomes inactive in 24 hrs so I just have to redose the medicine and not have to worry about the medication building up in the tank  

I'm planning on using Paraguard for 3 weeks, unless it looks like Rain's uncomfortable, but so far he doesn't seem bothered.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*starting to marble again, bubblenest, etc...*

Ok, so tonight marks day 2 of his Paraguard treatment. He seems to be taking the medication just fine. No signs of stress, healthy appetite, and most importantly NOT FLASHING. 

On a different note, Rain's started to marble again!  The blue's starting to recede again and the white area around his head is slowly moving towards his body. His blue fins have blotches of white now too! I've also noticed that his fins have little black dots on them (most apparent on his dorsal).
















I also like to tell myself that his fins have grown since I first got him from Petco, but it might just be my imagination. But the most important thing is that his anal fin heals up! 

He's build quite an impressive bubble nest under the IAL. I've never seen him build such a big one (but then again, there's me sticking my hand in there all the time replacing his decorations and messing his nests up, hahaha). 








The picture doesn't do his bubblenest justice though. It spans behind the silk plant leaf that's in the front and is quite thick. Bravo, Rain, bravo. Unfortunately, due to his bubblenest being close to the back of the tank, he's gotten a bit more territorial and has been constantly flaring at his reflection. I know that too much flaring's bad for bettas, and plus, now's not the time for him to go strutting his stuff since his anal fin's mending, and too much flaring puts a lot off strain on his fins. Previously, his background was a paper bag, but I've replaced it with white printer paper so hopefully he won't flare as much. Although...he was STILL flaring after I replaced the background... *facepalm*

Oh, I also think that he's beefed up a bit since I first got him. I guess all the swimming around in a a nice large tank helped him gain some muscle. Plus, I also like to think that it's the NLS pellets doing its job  Hey, I spent almost $10 on it (shipping included), I want to know that it was worth it, hahaha.


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## Sixwolf (Jan 1, 2013)

Such a big nest! My guy just recently started blowing his first ones and they're teeny. XD


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Don't worry, I'm sure he'll make bigger ones once he's gotten the hang of it.  Rain's were teeny when he first started making them, too. I think he started making bigger ones after I started using Indian almond leaves.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*betta training, lols...*

So I'm trying to get Rain to swim into his betta cup willingly when I do my water changes. And I gotta say, it's going easier than I expected it to be. I decided to try it last week when I put the cup right next to Rain and he curiously swam in it himself. I quickly gave him a NLS pellet as a reward and thought that it might really be possible. This week I did the same thing and he swam in it again, so I gave him a NLS pellet. Hopefully it goes well so I don't have to chase him around the tank all the time. I know that's stressful to him.

I remember the first time I cupped Rain. It was the day after I got him. I had to leave on a 5hr bus/train ride back home for the holidays and I was taking him with me (I know, getting a fish the day before was a stupid idea...but he was calling for me!). I got him in his new 5.5gal tank with a heater, and I'm pretty sure he didn't want to go back to when his home was a cup so when I was trying to cup him, he was swimming away from it like it was the plague. XD 

On a side note, Rain's fins have more white on them. I can kind of see some yellow, too.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

It's almost been two weeks since I started Rain's Paraguard treatment, planning on doing another week and a half to make sure that whatever's bothering him is gone. Rain's not showing any sign of stress, which is good. I haven't seen him flashing. However, when I did his 100 water change last week, there was around 5-6 hours when I didn't have paraguard in the tank since I dose him every night at 10:45, and I noticed that he made some darting movements, didn't see if it was against anything, but I assumed that something was still bothering him. 

And I don't know if it's the IAL or what, but I've noticed that the sides of my tank has this thin slimy film on the surface, and it coats my terra cotta pot, my heater, and my IAL. I'm thinking it's either the IAL, or the double dose of stress coat since it contains aloe. I'm going to switch back to using Prime during my next water change that is this Friday. 

Rain has once again built this large bubblenest underneath the new IAL, so it's not sinking. Plus, wherever he builds his nest, I notice that that area of the IAL is dry, so I'm assuming that not all of the IAL wonderfulness gets into the aquarium. Argh, part of me wants to submerge the leaf, but the other part of me doesn't want to ruin the nest that Rain worked so hard to build.

I had to redecorate the tank again, hahaha. Turns out that the bottom part of the Petsmart silk plant that I got could get rusty since there's a thin metal wire in there (refer to this thread:http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=127810). Since I haven't gotten my hands on any sandpaper yet, I snipped off the sharp edges of the plastic parts of the pennywort with a pair of scissors and then attempted to smooth it out a bit with a rough rock. Not satisfactory, but it will do for now. The sharp parts are much smoother than they used to be. Gotta make a trip to get sand paper this weekend. Hagen Marina, your silk plants are awesome, but please smooth out the plastic parts a bit. Sincerely, a loving betta keeper.

Rain now flares at my fingers, it's quite entertaining. Unfortunately, getting a picture of him flaring is still a task I have yet to accomplish. But here's the best one I could get: 








It's blurry, but by the time I had time for the camera to focus, he stopped flaring. That little bugger just doesn't like to get his picture taken, hahaha.

Here are some more pictures of Rain. 
















You can't quite see it, but his anal fin still hasn't healed up yet (actually, you can see it in the second picture). But on the bright side, it hasn't gotten infected  No fin rot!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Ok, so I saw Rain flash against the terra cotta pot, twice in a row. :-? But I guess it's a slight improvement since the flashing isn't as...how should I put it..."vigorous"? He used to flash against objects so hard I could hear this "click" noise as he rubs against the pot. Well....paraguard's supposed to get rid of parasites. I guess I should put my faith in it.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Yup, it was the stress coat+*

After my water change yesterday with Prime, I checked my tank this morning, and don't see any stringy stuff on the IAL, the heater, or the terra cotta pot. I guess it was the stress coat+ that was causing it. Guess I'll stick to using Prime now since the aloe in the Stress-coat just bothers me to no end. 

Got sandpaper yesterday and sanded down the sharp parts of my silk plants. I think I made it rougher...but it's not sharp. I hope that won't bother his fins. Worst comes to worst, I'll go to petco to get some more silk plants...

I think I'll get some Vita chem to help Rain regrow his fins. His fins look pretty tattered at the moment...the top lobe of his caudal kinda looks like a crowntail. Argh...my next betta will definitely be a plakat... =.=


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

I decided to do a 70% change today since Rain didn't really seem like himself after the water change yesterday. I was worried that there would be some plastic bits in the tank after the sand paper session, even though I rinsed the plants a few times before putting them back into the tank. After I did the change, Rain seemed to perk up a bit, so that's good.

I also replaced the IAL. This one is a bit...spoon-shaped? There's a dip near the center, so when I put it in the tank, it was like a hammock, and Rain was utterly delighted. He curiously swam on it, and swam off of it, and then swam on it again and just chilled there. Now I'm thinking about getting him a betta hammock or make one for him since he looked so darling on the IAL. I'm such a doting fish mom, hahaha...


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

I've temporarily stopped using Paraguard since I've noticed that Rain seemed a bit listless these past few days. Didn't treat him last night, and just let the Paraguard deactivate. He seems much more lively today. I'm pretty sure he still has gill flukes (I looked over at him just as he was flashing against the heater cord), so I think I'll try doing a 1hr paraguard dip/day instead starting Friday and doing 3-4 days of it.

And I'm definitely going to Petco this weekend to get some more silk plants. Hopefully, I'll find some nice ones with smooth plastic parts and also don't bring a betta home with me. 

Ordered Vitachem, and it has just been shipped. I think I'll get it some time next week, hopefully monday, but tuesday at the latest. I have officially found my favorite site to order my fish supplies from. Petmountain. They sell pretty good stuff at really good prices. I just bought another Hydor THEO heater (50watt) from them cuz it was on sale at $13.99. How can you beat that?  

I see that Rain now has a rather nice plump little belly. Not bloated, but "pleasantly plump". However, I'm going to decrease his NLS from 8 pellets a day to just 6.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*2 months already!*

Teehee! It's official: I've had Rain for two whole months!  He's still chipper as ever (still flashing, sadly). Planning on going with the Paraguard dip tomorrow during his water change. My friend is also willing to give me a ride to Petco tomorrow, so I don't have to sit in a bus for over half and hour. I plan on getting some more silk plants. I'll need to carefully examine them to be sure they won't tear his fins. Hopefully my friend will be entertained in there while I go about being a betta nut. Oh gosh, oh gosh, please don't make me fall in love with another betta tomorrow! I just hate finding one that I adore and then having to take half an hour to convince myself not to buy him. While TECHNICALLY I can either divide the tank or just get another tank altogether (bought another heater a few days ago, hahaha), I don't think that my parents would be too thrilled about another fish, mostly because they think that they would become a distraction and I won't be able to study well. 

Can't wait for Rain's Vita Chem to come in the mail. I really want to remove all the plastic plants to allow for his fins to heal, but I don't think he'll enjoy feeling so exposed. 

But...I have another empty 5.5gal at home, so I might be able to convince my parents to let me bring it with me to college. Then I'll have 2 bettas, hahaha. I shouldn't get ahead of myself.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Paraguard dip*

Ok, so I did the Paraguard dip today. Filled the bucket to the 1 gal mark, and then added the medication. I was planning on cupping Rain, setting him loose in the bucket, then cupping him again with the medicated water. But seeing him swimming around in the bucket convinced me to keep him in there for the hour and just put the heater in there to keep the temperature stable. I noticed that he started clamping up a bit during the last bit of the hour. After an hour I scooped him up and slowly got rid of the medicated water and replaced it with fresh water. He clearly wasn't too happy, since he started laying on his side. I was freaking out then. I thought that I was losing my baby. After the water change in the tank, I slowly got him used to the new water. He was perking up a bit, but he would still lay on his side from time to time. Set him loose in the tank, and he started flaring and strutting his stuff to my surprise. He then calmed down and stayed at the bottom of the tank for a while. Now he is back to normal. Considering the effects that Paraguard had on Rain in an hour, I hope that it killed the parasites.

On a side note, I removed all of the silk plants from his tank. All he has now is his pot and this betta plant and IAL. I want to sandpaper everything to be nice and smooth before putting it back in the tank. Plus, I want his fins to heal up before putting the plants back in (he seemed to be getting more tears each day, and the old tears weren't healing up as quickly as I hoped they would). Tracking on my Vita chem package shows that it's in my city, and will probably get delivered tomorrow. Since I don't get my packages on Saturdays, I'm pretty sure I'll get to pick up my Vita chem on Monday. Let's see if this Vita chem works...

Went to Petco today...to get silk plants. I have to say, Petco silk plants are alright. The plastic parts are really soft and the leaves seems sturdy enough. Hopefully they won't fray as quickly as the Petsmart silk plant (which I have thrown away). As usual, I saw a bunch of bettas that I wanted to take home with me...but just can't.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*2nd day after Paraguard dip*

Rain seems to have recovered from the ordeal. Never lost his appetite, and his color didn't fade at all, was just a bit listless after the treatment. So far, I haven't seen him flash against anything, so right now so I think that Paraguard did its thing. I recall someone saying that it's impossible to eradicate gill flukes completely, and is more about controlling it rather than eradicating it (but she has goldfish, which I believe have more gill flukes?). 

Anyways, I sandpapered the silk plants. I have found that lightly rubbing against the sharp edges is much better than doing it roughly. Put 2 of the silk plants back in there since he seemed kind of bored in the empty tank. I see that he's been trying to get at his tail again...sigh...

And I realized that Monday's a holiday...so I won't be getting my vita chem til tuesday, hahaha...


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Vitachem and picspam*

Got my Vitachem today!  I did my weekly 60-70% water change (and do another 100% on Fridays), getting ready to add my Vitachem! I have to say, Vitachem smells terrible! And the color's quite disgusting too. I still smell the stuff on my hands, but anything for your betta, right? XD Hopefully his tail and anal fin will heal more quickly. But honestly, I really don't know what to do about his tail. I'm pretty sure it isn't fin rot, seeing how I change the water frequently, so I'm pretty sure that it's a combination of tearing and tail biting. Sandpapered all of my silk plants, so hopefully he won't be tearing his fins anytime soon, but grah! That tailbiting! 

I also got the temperature of the water back down to a nice 78-79F so I'm happy to say that the marimo is back in the tank! I love those balls of moss. They're so fluffy and cute. I hope that they grow to be nice and big  Although one of them is already the size of a tennis ball when I bought it. I am quite addicted to moss balls, if I ever get that 5.5 at home set up, I'll definitely get more moss balls. Just look at this glorious and (almost) perfectly round specimen! 









Oh, Rain just took the biggest dump as I was typing this entry. I saw Rain swimming towards me, and the next thing I saw was this HUGE brown lump falling down. I was like O_O and quickly got my turkey baster and removed it (I just changed the water, not going it let it get dirty already!). 

Now here's a bunch of pictures of Rain. And he's definitely not piebald anymore, I kinda miss his white face, but oh wells, love him just the same  
Most recent tank layout after the water change: The light green/ yellow plant on the left is one of the 3 that I got from Petco last week. Some of the leaves are pretty wide and flat, so no need for a betta hammock! So far, I'm pretty happy with it. 








I just love shots where Rain's just looking at me. 
















You can see how bad the top lobe of his caudal is. He seriously looks half crowntail!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

I am suspecting that Rain might have fin rot, so I'll give him AQ salt tomorrow. I was worried that something like this would happen since I don't have a filter, but I thought that doing 2 water changes a week (a 50% and a 100%) would be sufficient. But then again, I'm also suspecting that the water here contains ammonia, so my water changes would be futile in a way since it would always be in the tank. Well, we'll see how this plays out. Worst comes to worst, I'll need to buy a pantyhose for the intake, and Rain won't be as happy due to having to swim against a current and he'll have to suffer through a fish-in cycle.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

So I added the AQ salt at 1.5 tsp/gal and also some stress coat. Might add another IAL on tuesday when I do his water change. Hopefully it'll do the trick.

So today I found out that I might be misreading the charts for my test kit. Since I do my water changes during the day, I've always read my results in the light that I get from my window. Unfortunately, it isn't direct light or anything like that, but rather light from the sky, so the light I get is a bit blue (if you know what I mean). Today I decided to test my tap water and tank water for ammonia since I was being paranoid and when I put the test tubes up against the light, it seemed to be 0.25ppm. However when I held it up to the white light of my desk lamp, the results show that it's 0ppm. Still debating about using my filter, but I feel a bit more relieved to know that my tap doesn't have ammonia in it. The only things keeping me from using my filter is a) the power of the intake b) cycling it with Rain in the tank and c) having to move back home in a few months and figuring out how to keep the BB alive for 5-10 hrs in a car. 

On a side note, I decided to experiment with all the silk plants I have and try putting more plants in the tank. The silk plants I got from petco are pretty tall, so they bend and provide covering. They're doing the job that the the plastic bamboo was doing, and even more so. Rain likes to weave around all the plants, so I'm definitely sticking to this. My friend came in and told me that it "looked like a jungle", which I was kinda proud of since that was what I was going for.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Taking precautions...*

I've noticed that the base of the marina silk plants are REALLY rough, and sandpapering them just seemed to make it worse. So instead I coated the base with a layer of, you guess it, aquarium silicone! 








The base on the left is the before and the one on the right is the after. It turned out pretty well, so I'm going to do it to the rest of my marina plants (2 are currently in the tank, so I'll get to those next week). 

Rain's tail doesn't seem to be getting worse, which is good. I hope it gets better soon. Today's day 2 of AQ salt. 

Rain seems to be getting a lot of stimulation from all the silk plants in the tank. I just saw him make a dash towards the silk plant in on the right and curiously stare at the flower-like things. It was simply adorable!

And I have to say, I am REALLY satisfied with the quality of Petco's silk plants (the normal ones). Much more satisfied the Petsmart's at least. I remember that my petsmart silk plant started fraying after the 2nd water change. The plant on the left was washed pretty thoroughly this water change and I don't see any fraying.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

So Rain's fin rot doesn't seem to be getting worse, which is good I guess. But I don't see much improvement. I'll continue the AQ salt for now, but I may or may not need to use Kanaplex. We'll see. 

On a side note, I decided to go on aquabid today just to look around...bad idea. Now there's this gorgeous HMPK that I want to get. If he's still there tomorrow, and nobody's bidded on him yet, I'm seriously thinking about getting a 5 gal critter keeper and have him in that until summer comes. Then I can use that empty 5.5 back at home...but that would mean I would need to buy another bucket, gravel siphon, terra cotta pot, turkey baster and tupperware, thermometer, and moss balls (just because I love them so). I don't want contamination. Grah..Aquabid what did you do to meee? 

But I somehow feel that I'll need to keep a close eye on my babies if I do get that other fish since I know a certain SOMEONE on my floor who thinks that it would be funny to put two bettas together and watch them fight. Now I don't know if he was joking to try to impress me or not (I was not amused) but that is my biggest worry: having people mess with my fish. I know my roommate isn't that kind of a person, but I'll just have to be extra careful since people can come into my room from my suitemates' room (we have a connecting bathroom).

Also, I think my roommate officially thinks that I'm a fish nut, seeing how she's witnessed me do 2 water changes in that past 2 days (want to keep the water as clean as can be). Talked to her about the possibility of getting another fish...she didn't say that she was against it. But then again, it's not her taking care of them  She does know that bettas do fight and asked me if the other fish is a betta, which I was quite happy about.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Aquabid and Rain update*

So Rain's tail still isn't getting worse. I'm going to be giving him his second dose of Kanaplex tomorrow (started using it on Wed when I noticed that AQ salt didn't seem to be working). Oh the little tyke, what a troublesome fella you are. I've done 4 water changes this week, hahaha. I enjoy doing it, but it's just a little disturbing that Rain's getting fin rot even though I try to keep the tank as clean as can be. And I don't know if the parasites are making a comeback or what, but I saw Rain flash twice against a silk plant a few days ago. *sigh* I'll deal with it after his fin rot problem is solved.

On a side note, I made my first Aquabid purchase! I can't believe it myself. I honestly wasn't planning on doing it. I usually go on Aquabid to snoop around, noting pretty bettas, my "dream betta(s)".They're usually Thailand bettas, so the transhipper thing is a real turn off so I'm sure I won't buy from them. Plus, I would always try to find fault in a fish, something that I didn't like about it so I wouldn't buy him. However, I decided to look at a US seller by the name of hopdiggity, and fell in love with her "white gold HMPK". His eyes had such spark (how I got that from a picture, I don't know), and the shape of his mouth was perfect to me. I kept thinking about him nonstop. Talked to my friends about it and stuff. Most of my friends were just worried about having him shipped to me. His auction ended last night at 2am, and I was losing sleep because I kept asking myself if I would regret it if I didn't get him. I assuring myself that if he wasn't bought and I saw him again, then it would be fate and I would get him. I also told myself that there will probably be other plakats like him in the future. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well. 

Saw him relisted today, and after talking to hopdiggity, I pressed the "buy it now" button. Going to pay her tomorrow, but I'm so excited! Here he is:








Going to have to make a petco run again to get everything set up, hahaha. I don't quite know where he'll be since I don't have much room, but I'll make space XD 

Once I get this boyboy, my roommate will really think that I'm a fish-crazed lunatic XD


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## popcorndeer (Feb 4, 2013)

your blue fish is soooo pretty!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Thank you! He currently has a pretty bad case of fin rot, even though I keep his water squeaky clean, but hopefully he'll get better.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Well, my fish has arrived!  I thought he wouldn't get to me until tomorrow since my dorm loads all of the packages in the morning, and since he wouldn't be here until the afternoon, I thought I wouldn't get him until Wednesday. But I guess they stock up the mail truck in the afternoon for the Express packages. The mail truck lady knows me by now because I've been buying SO much stuff online. She waved at me and just handed me the box. He looked pale white when I took him out of his box. I've acclimated him to the new water and he is now in the tank. I'm currently using a large critter keeper which only holds 3 gallons, but I've got an order of an x-large critter keeper coming to me in the mail that holds 5.9 gallons. 

I've decided to name him Mufasa, since I LOVE the Lion King. He's really shy right now and hides a lot behind the decorations. But he did eat 3 NLS pellets, to me delight. He doesn't understand my hand signals yet, unlike Rain who knows them all and isn't afraid of me. I feel as though getting Mufasa after getting Rain has made me built a lot of expectations on Mufasa, like a mother who compares her kids. But I'll try not to do that. Mufasa is a bit scrawnier than Rain, but we'll change that soon enough, hahaha. 

Mufasa is still half clamped, but he's swimming around and exploring his new home. It was so cute seeing him swim around the plant decorations. Here's the best picture I could get of him:








Hopefully, he'll color up a bit more, unclamps, and feels more comfortable with me in a few days.

On a side note, Mufasa has the 50 watt heater, and the temperature of the tank seems stable according to the thermometer. But I have yet to see the heater light turn on so I'm a bit worried.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*update on Mufasa and Rain*

Som I see that Rain's dorsal is started to tear too, which isn't good. I think that the decorations in the tank isn't helping with his healing. I've ordered some Seachem stressguard in order to help him heal up and stuff. Hopefully, Mufasa's 5.9gal comes in tomorrow (tracking said it would be here tomorrow), and I can move Mufasa to that and use the 3gal critter keeper as a hospital tank for Rain. There it would be much easier for me to do water changes, and there wouldn't be any decorations to agitate his fins. 

My poor baby's beautiful fins T^T But I shall fix it, if it' the last thing I do! 









Finally got a flare-ish picture of him, haha. He doesn't like the camera









Now onto Mufasa:
I have to say that at first I was a little bit disappointed. He didn't look QUITE like I thought he would look, especially his mouth. But I have to say, after having him for 2 days, he's really grown on me and I really love the guy to pieces. I can't wait to get him that bigger tank. He has no problems eating, even the same day I acclimated him to his new home (he was a bit reluctant, but he still ate). He seems to know my hand signal already (wave=come here). A quirk I found about him is that he enjoys looking at himself in the thermometer. Now I don't know if he thinks that he's seeing a female or not, but I saw him do the mating embrace with water while staring at the thermometer. He's so silly! It was so endearing watching him explore his surroundings. Just wait until I get you that terra cotta pot and moss ball, Mufasa XD. He looks a bit gold, but hopefully he'll look even lovelier with a light.  

Oh, and I have to say, I love my roommate. I remember telling her that I bought Mufasa and she just took it in. When I told her that the curtains would be closed for a few hours to get Mufasa used to light, she was totally cool about it. I have the best roomie ever  

Now pictures. Note how he's near the thermometer in all of them, hahaha. Even staring at it in one.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Nothing but disappointments...*

So, the x-large kritter keeper that came in the mail had a huge crack in it, so I called the site that I purchased it from. Unfortunately, I guess nobody was in the office even though the answering machine that answered told me that there SHOULD have had someone working there when I called them. So instead, I saw that the K-mart that I live close to DOES sell them, and even said it was in stock, granted, more expensive. Went there today...didn't see one. I guess it's only available if I buy it online and ask for it to be picked up there. If the site does not call me back on Monday, they'll be hearing from me again. I don't what solution they'll propose, but if they ask if I want it reshipped, I'll be sure to ask them how often these things happen with their kritter keepers. This would be the 3rd tank IN A ROW that has cracked in the mail, so if they say that this has happened before, I'll ask to see if I can get a refund. I'm tired of feeling all excited and happy that I'll finally have a tank only to see it shattered in front of me when I open the box. 

Now that I've got that off my chest, onto my fishes! 
So I decided to take out most of Rain's decorations, and lower the water level of the tank so it doesn't seem as empty. He currently has about 2 gal in the tank. I added an extra IAL, and vitachem. My Seachem Stressguard came in the mail yesterday night so I added it to the tank too. He's currently moping about the lost of his plants, though, hahaha. I've also turned out the aquarium light, so hopefully he'll feel more relaxed. 









I really love Mufasa now. He's so adorable and not camerashy, hahaha. I was really looking forward to giving him a bigger home, but I'm afraid that it'll have to wait. Sorry, boy. He's looking more and more like the fish that I fell in love with. His color is really starting to come out. He's a lot more jittery than Rain when I put him in his cup for water changes. I really thought that he was going to jump out any second.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*heat faster you blasted heater!*

So I have Rain on Kanaplex. Since I only have Rain in about 2 gallons of water, I decided to measure out the Kanaplex in 5gal of water and split it for 2 days. One day I would use 2gal of the mixture and the next day I would use the rest when I do the water change. Unfortunately, the remainder of the water is at room temperature and my 25 watt heater has to heat it about 10 degrees. It's been half an hour and the water's at 73F. So as the water's heating up at a snail's pace, the water in Rain's cup is getting colder and colder. So I decided to float Rain's cup in Mufasa's tank to keep him warm. Rain's flaring himself silly over Mufasa, while Mufasa's giving him a "I don't give a d***" attitude, which is kinda funny. Mufasa flares a bit, but then swims off to another part of his tank a few seconds later. I'm currently watching Rain flare himself into a frenzy while Mufasa's just curiously looking at him. Not flaring or anything. Mufasa's so easily distracted, it's awesome. When I want Rain to calm down, I just wave my hand and Mufasa will come swimming to the front of the tank, out of Rain's line of sight. 

I've just taken Rain out of Mufasa's tank. Hopefully his cup water has warmed up a bit while the tank water is still at a blasted 73F.

Mufasa's so darling. I love how he's so eager to please. Sometimes while I'm doing my work, I'll look up at him. It's quite amusing to see him swimming around, minding his own business, and then occasionally comes to the front of the tank and look down at me as if he's checking up on me. I was really worried about how he would be like personality-wise when I got him because he was so shy, but all my worries have been thrown out the window. He doesn't glass-surf like Rain does. I want to get you that x-large kritter keeper ASAP! 

Oh, and I called Petmountain telling them about my kritter keeper, and they've sent a request to send me a replacement. Hopefully it'll come to me okay. I mean, I've seen a lot of reviews for it on their websites, so it would mean that it got to them in good shape, right? It was quite amusing actually when I told them that one of my products came cracked, and after looking up my order (a silk plant and the kritter keeper), the man on the line was like, "it's the kritter keeper...can't crack a plant". I just found it slightly amusing. The people at Petmountain are very helpful and awesome, so the cracked kirtter keeper won't keep me from purchasing from them 

I've also bought a new filter for both of my boys. It's a TOM aquarium mini adjustable filter. I saw a lot of good reivews for it on Amazon, and it isn't TOO expensive. I don't really know when I would actually use it since the last quarter of college is just 10 weeks, which is about the time it would take to cycle the tank. Then I would be moving back home for summer, which might mean I would lose the BB colony I just created. I might not actually use the filter until next year of college.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*double the trouble...*

Bad news, I saw Rain flashing quite a lot today, which means his parasites/gill flukes are back. I'm suspecting that his fin rot isn't getting better as quickly as I'm hoping for due to his body trying to fight off the parasites AND the fin rot. I've been doing daily 100% water changes, and today's his last day of Kanaplex treatment, and his fins aren't getting better much. I think I should hold off on AQ salt and any sort of medication for a bit so that his body doesn't get overwhelmed by so many chemicals nonstop. I'll fill his tank back to the top tomorrow during his water change and put his silk plants back in since he seemed to be sulking this whole week while I removed them. He ignored me except for feeding time. 

Mufasa's x-large kritter keeper came in the mail on Wednesday in one piece, to my happiness. Wasn't planning on setting his tank up until today, but something came up that got me really upset so I set his tank up on Thursday to relax and calm down. Here it is:








He seems to enjoy the extra space, although lately he seems to keep his focus on me a lot, just swimming around the front of the tank, either to observe me, get my attention, or thinks that if he does this, he'll get food. He's really a cutiepie.  

The only worry I have about having 2 fishes is the fear of contamination, especially since Rain has fin rot AND parasites of some sort. So I'm super careful and have 2 of everything and separate their stuff: 2 gravel vacuums, their silk plants in different plastic bags (I bought 2 of the same silk plants, so the ones in Mufasa's tank aren't Rain's). I don't have separate buckets for them, however I have a dirty water bucket and a clean water bucket. I use this container to pour the clean water into their tanks, but it never makes contact with the tank, so hopefully no contamination has occurred. 

After having a plakat, I think that I'll stick to plakats in the future. I don't have to worry about them tail biting. They seem a bit more fun than the long-finned bettas since they can swim a lot easier due to their shorter finnage.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Wish them luck*

So my filters came in the mail today, and I'm so excited to use them. Have some filter media coming in through the mail too, but I probably won't get them until I come back from spring break. 

I didn't feed my boys today, and did a 100% water change tonight. I'll be gone for around 9-10 days, so hopefully they'll be okay without food or water changes.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*gosh darned it!*

So I came back yesterday to see both Rain and Mufasa lying at the bottom of their tanks. At first I thought they were gone, and regretted leaving them in the dorm for a week without food. Upon further inspection, I saw to my horror that the temperature of their water was only 60F, and saw that (probably) one of my RAs was a bozo and unplugged everything. I quickly floated them in cups in some warm water as I changed their water. Fortunately, they ate. 

They were in pretty bad shape last night. But today, Rain seems to have gotten a bit better. Mufasa, however is still not showing much improvement. He sits at the bottom of the tank, and only comes up for air, and when he does, he kinda does a nosedive towards the bottom again. Today, I have moved him into the 3gal kritter keeper to make it easier for him to go up for air, and added 2 IAL. Overall, he seems to have swimming issues. He has difficulty swimming down, and staying down now. He also seems to be breathing pretty heavily. He only ate 1 pellet today. He tried to eat more, but ended up spitting them back out. He seems to be a fighter; I hope he makes it.

The filter media came in the mail today, and decided to cycle Mufasa's main tank while he's in recovery.


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## Corsica (Apr 1, 2013)

Oh I hope they both recover for you!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Thank you! Hopefully they'll get better with time.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*day 2 of recovery*

Rain seems to be around 90% recovered. Was a hungry little piggy during feeding time.









Mufasa has made great improvement since yesterday. I honestly thought that was a a goner, but was happy to wake up to see him swimming about this morning. He was trying to nip at those metal balls that are in thermometer, so I thought that he regained his appetite. Gave him a pellet, he munched it down. Ate 4 pellets this morning. He's still hanging out at the bottom at times, but a lot less compared to yesterday. Doesn't have the same amount of energy as before I left for spring break, but he seems to be 75% of the way there. He is no longer gasping for air or nosedoving. His swimming issues seems to have gotten better for the most part, but I noticed the same thing when I first got him, and it got better with time, so hopefully this will too. I think that the IAL was a big factor in his recovery, but I'm running low. Ordered some more from Amy Lim. The water is now really dark thanks to the tannins, but I don't really mind, as long as he's comfortable. Here's a video of him today. I apologize for the water marks XD. I think he was giving me a look in the video about it too, hahaha. It looks like he's going to be okay.

I have to say, this ordeal has really reminded me how hardy and resilient these fish are.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Mufasa's fully recovered!*

I'm happy to say that Mufasa's back to his old, energetic self today. Thank goodness. Since he was healthy today, I decided to do a water change. Saw some of his poop at the bottom, and put it in his cycling tank. I need as many sources of ammonia as I can get.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*tanks are now cycling...*

So I decided to cycle Rain's tank along with Mufasa's tank. It would be better for Rain's tail once it's cycled since it will be a healthier environment. However, I had the dilemma of where to put Rain while his tank was cycling. I currently have 3 heaters, and 3 tanks. Mufasa's in the large kritter keeper with a heater, so there wouldn't be anywhere to put Rain. Instead, I used the cover of my master test kit as a temporary home for Rain. I'm floating the container in Rain's tank so that his water will still be nice and stable. This means daily water changes, of course. And whenever I see Rain produce waste, I suck it up with the turkey baster and drop it into the cycling tank. It was quite amusing when I was adding some cheap fish flakes into the cycling tank and Rain was going in a frenzy trying to eat them as they floated down. Of Rain, you're such a little piggy. Although the container is pretty small, what's sad that it might be the same size/slightly bigger than those horrid "betta bowls" that are on sale at pet stores.









Ammonia levels in cycling tanks:
Rain's tank: 0.25ppm
Mufasa's tank: 0.50ppm

Here's a video of Mufasa fully recovered.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Use the little flipper, Mufasa!*

So I found that Mufasa's not using his right pectoral today. I guess he injured it somehow. Aside form his pectoral fin, he's his usual self, so I guess I'll just give him some time to see if he gets better. 

Ammonia levels in cycling tanks:
Mufasa: 1.00 ppm
Rain: 0.50 ppm


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm glad they're both doing better.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks DQ  

So Mufasa's pectoral seems fine now. Rain's rays are no longer bent and look as though they'll fall off any second. Hopefully they'll slowly regrow. I might start adding Stressguard again. Right now, Rain's only on IAL. Decided to add as few chemicals as necessary. 

Mufasa's tank water seems to have a tint of green...hopefully that's supposed to happen during cycling...going to check my water parameters tomorrow.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

I think that Rain's tail is finally starting to regrow. The area between his lobes aren't as jagged as they used to be, so hopefully it's mending, and I'm seeing a bit of clear regrowth here and there  Rain also seems to be having difficulty pooping. With him in the container, I can easily see when he poops and how much. I've noticed that he doesn't go for 2-3 days (in which he's a bit on the rounder side) and then when he goes, it's a big one. Usually when I notice him to be particularly round, I hold off on the food until he goes (which is usually after a water change, the little stinker!). 

Mufasa's being Mufasa. He's really a fish really eager to please. With his temporary home right on my desk, he can observe me do my work. The little guy literally spends 90% of the time at my end, swimming around and watching me. But then again, he probably associates that area of the tank as the "food area" so maybe that's why he's always there XD

The ammonia in Mufasa's tank has finally reached 2.0ppm while the ammonia in Rain's tank is only a bit above 0.50ppm. It's probably due to Mufasa's tank having more fish waste than Rain's tank, since Rain doesn't poop as frequently as Mufasa does.


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## fireballismyfav (Apr 14, 2013)

oh I love betta fish ! their adorable I just got mine (fireball) yesterday and I can already tell he's a shy guy but so very funny ,I got him this volcano/cave thing and when I came in my room last night his head was just peaking out the top as if to say oh hello you!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Heehee, welcome to the betta fish world  Fireball sounds delightful! Thanks for stopping by!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

After some crazy water readings, Rain's tank is cycled. He's currently in there, but I'll be doing daily water checks to be sure that the cycle's stable. Rain's tail is indeed growing back. I see some clear regrowth of his rays. Bad news is that Rain's tailbiting tendencies seem to have returned too. All the decorations help him be able to reach his tail  But on the bright side, the filters I got are perfect! I changed the output tube to be a flow diffuser so there isn't too much current. Rain's not struggling to fight the intake or the outtake, unlike the previous HOB. 

Mufasa's tank is still cycling, just waiting for the nitrites to decrease.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

So I sure haven't updated this in a while, hahaha. 

Well, last week I saw Rain flashing vigorously against the decor in his tank, and his gills aren't closing properly. Why are gill flukes so hard to eradicate? I think the gill flukes are lowering his immune system since his tail is starting to show signs of fin rot again even though his parameters are perfect. He seemed to be feeling terribly, so I ordered some PraziPro and had Rain on Paraguard to keep the flukes at bay as much as I could while I waited for the Prazipro to get here. Got the PraziPro yesterday ad dosed his tank. He seems to be doing alright, minus the occasional twitching as though he's trying to get rid of something.

Mufasa's just spiffy as can be. His tank finished cycling last week and now he's back in his x-large kritter keeper. He has no trouble with the low current and even likes to swim up to the output and ride the current. He just has so much energy that I decided to increase the amount of NLS from 8 pellets a day to 10 pellets a day. We'll see how it goes. With him being so energetic, I'm sure he will burn it all off. The guy is just so silly. When I feed him, I usually put the NLS container next to his tank, and he makes a beeline towards it and kinda rams against the glass trying to get to the NLS, "forget the middle-man, why not get the NLS directly?!" is what he's probably thinking.

They both are already tucked in for the night, so I'll post pictures tomorrow


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*PraziPro, I love you!*

So it's been over a week since I've had Rain on PraziPro. Waited a few days after his water change and redosed the tank again. Probably going to do one last dose next week to make sure I got every parasite there is. I saw significant changes to Rain after the Prazi was in the water. His tail was turning white and seemed very brittle and kept breaking, but this week it has returned to his lovely blue and has shown a lot of regrowth. I guess the parasites were the underlying problem to his fin problems after all. He's not longer furiously flashing against objects, and it seems like his health is better overall. Can I also add that PraziPro smells really nice? Like...fruity and not chemical-y like VitaChem or Prime, and I appreciate that  Rain also has some StressGuard in his tank to help his healing fins.

I was really happy to hear my parents ask about Rain when I called home to with my mom a happy mother's day. They seemed genuinely concerned about his health and didn't really complain about my purchases of the filter or more fish medication. They also might think that fish caring is educational for me since I'm taking chemistry atm, hahaha...

Here's the best picture I could get of him today:










Mufasa's doing wonderfully. Does not seem to be showing signs of parasites, so I'm glad to know that having separate siphons and clean/dirty water buckets is a good way to not have contamination. The 10 pellets a day for him seems to be working out; he's not showing constipation or anything. He's such a cutie to have around, and I don't regret buying him on Aquabid.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Update*

...So finals is coming up soon, wish me luck! It also means that I'll have to move out of my dorms. Hopefully moving with 2 fish won't be too bad. I hope I can keep my BB alive for 5-6 hours and my boys won't be too stressed and will make the journey. 

Rain's doing great now after I treated him with the Prazipro. His tail is healing, however I'm sure it will never go back to its former glory. Rain's face is now completely black, to my dismay. I loved it when his face was adorably white, but oh well. :/ He always seem to find a way to hurt himself, what a problem fish. I thought I betta-proofed his decorations already, but he managed to find a way to tear his dorsal fin >:/ Graaah....at least the tank's cycled so he the chances of him getting fin rot again is lower. He enjoys flaring at my finger. Whenever I point at him, he comes at me at full flare, as opposed to the chill Mufasa who stares at it and swims away. As you can see in the picture, his tail's healing up 









Mufasa's as healthy as ever. Although recently I've noticed that he likes to swim against the filter current and then ride the current down. Someone's trying to get buff, hahahaha. I do feed him 9-10 NLS pellets a day, so I glad that he has a way to work it off


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Looks like I have another troublesome child...*

So this morning when I went to feed my boys, I noticed that one of Mufasa's pectoral fins were red, and he had it clamped to his side and only used his other one. So it seems like he found a way to injure himself, too. It's probably due to him chasing his shadow in the back of the tank/swimming against the current.He isn't flaring or anything, just doing a lot of zippy maneuvers at the back of the tank. Added some StressGuard and IAL to help with his healing. Checked back on him in the evening and saw that he was using the pectoral again, but it was still faintly pink. Hopefully he'll get well soon!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Moved out of dorms*

So I am back at home, after a 5hr drive. I had my gravel/filter media in bags with tank water in it, hoping to keep my BB alive. Both Mufasa and Rain took the ride like champs. I was acclimating my boys to their tanks when I decided to try to find my test kit and do a water test. Good thing I did. The ammonia readings were 0.50ppm. Guess they're not going into their tanks tonight. I was worried that the ammonia meant that my BB died, so was going to re-cycle the tank. I put my boys in kritter keepers in the meantime. Fortunately, when I did a later tonight, I saw that the ammonia went down a bit, so crossing my fingers that my BB are actually alive and that the ammonia will be down to zero by tomorrow.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Went to Petco, came back with him...*

So did another water test today, saw that the ammonia was still there. Decided to go to Petco and try out that Safestart, mostly because I want my boys out of the temp tanks ASAP. Went with my dad, and I foolishly went to check out the bettas. The first one my dad saw was this piebald copper boy. He was calling to me. My dad went looking at the others, and saw a lovely double tail yellow betta with gorgeous fins. He really liked that one, but I was adamant on the piebald boy. Surprisingly, my dad didn't stop me from getting him. I thought my mom would freak out, but when I told her about the new boy, she was like, "you got another one for your collection?". But they both think think that my new boy is ugly, but I think he's freaking adorbs.

I named him Thor, thanks to some awesome people in the forum. People were suggesting storm-themed names. Seki was the one who came up with Thor. Thor is the epitome of a glutton. I put him into his new home, and the first thing he did was try to eat gravel cuz he thought it was food. There was a small piece of gravel stuck to the side of the tank, and he jumped like 3 inches to try to get to it. I thought that he was gonna kill himself, so I decided to drop it into the water...and he ate it. HE. ATE. THE. GRAVEL. I thought he was going to spit it back out, but it never did. I hope he'll be alright. He also tried to take a bite out of the silk plants, and when I added some IAL into the tank, he tried to take a bite out of it too. Here's some pictures of the piggy. He's quite stocky and thick in build:
















and a video too. 
He's in Mufasa's old kirtter keeper. I'll need to get him a filter too.

So I have Rain who constantly tears/bites his fins, Mufasa who somehow manages to hurt himself over nothing, and Thor who tries to eat everything he sees. I have my work cut out for me...


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*I don't know if it's cute or creepy...*

I had a really tiring day so I decided to take a nap in the evening. When I take naps, I usually sleep at the foot of my bed. Thor's tank is at the foot of my bed. Dozed off to Thor staring at me and woke up to him staring at me. I think it's cute and creepy at the same time. Maybe he really likes me. But then again, it could also be him hoping for more food....


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I wonder if he passed the piece of gravel yet? Lol


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

It should've been passed...hopefully it has. I was so worried that he would be sick after eating it...and how he would pass the piece of gravel since it's....well, a piece of rock. But there has been no changes in his behavior and I siphoned some poop during the last water change, so I assume that it has, lols.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

*Thanks dad*

So it's getting pretty hot over here during the summer. Sometimes the tank will get up to around 84F. We're getting a heat wave the next few days. Hopefully my boys won't be TOO bothered by the heat. 

I had to buy a textbook from amazon today for the summer class that I'm taking. When I was asking my dad for his credit card, I said, "hey dad, could I also get my new fish a filter while we're on the topic of online shopping? I get both of them from amazon" and he agreed. One less thing I have to pay for in this somewhat expensive hobby. Thanks dad, I really appreciate it.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

That was nice of your dad.


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