# One Day An Army Girl Decided To Buy A Fish....



## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

Well I have been posting on here for a bit now and decided to join in on the journalling since my whole story of fish keeping is kinda crazy lol! Each post will be a period of my fishy journey.


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## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

So the journey all started about a month ago when I was sent away for airfield training on another base away from home. I missed my dog and cat so badly so my BF decided I should get a Betta. I've had one before and thought this would be a good idea. So we went to the local pet store (Petland) and picked out a gorgeous male royal blue veil tail. The lady at the pet store sold us a plant. Some food. Some conditioner. And this TINY .5 gallon tank that was cute and labelled for Betta fish. She said it was the best for my fish and that they only liked small spaces. 

So we got home and set everything up. We named him Jaws and put him in the tank. Everything was good for two days. Then we decided to add a apple snail into the tiny tank as well because we were told it would be fine. Jaws started acting weird so I googled it and yahoo answers said he needed a bigger tank. So I went out and got them a 1.5 gallon tank that came with a filter and air stone. We got some nice new gravel and another plant for the tank. Plus two little figurines. A alligator mouth and Easter head man. It was a bit cramped but we were told it would be fine. 

Jaws still seemed weird and not his usual self so I went to google again and Yahoo answers said to get a heater. Well a heater wouldn't fit in this tank so I went out and got a 3 gallon half moon and moved them over to it. 

I felt so much better with a bigger tank. More plants. And a heater so I thought everything would be perfect. After 2 more days our snail wouldn't come out of his shell and white fluffy stuff was coming off of him. I googled it and then did an oxygen treatment in him. I had no idea what was wrong. The next morning I woke up and both Jaws and the snail were dead  I brought them back to the pet store and they said I would get new ones. And that is how it all started.


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## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

So after this I picked out a tiny mail veil tail who was pink and purple with gorgeous coloring and I named him Valentine. Plus another snail named Bob. Fro day one Valentine stayed in one corner of the tank and never went anywhere else. He never ate either. And Bob never once ate or came out of his shell. I decided to change all the water and clean everything off thinking this would help. It didn't. I finally found this forum site and was told his behaviour was most likely normal and that he was just scared because he went from a tiny cup to 3 gallons. Unfortunately the next night both Valentine and Bob were dead. I was so discouraged at this point and was thinking about quitting. I didn't think having a Betta would be this much money or work. I thought it would be a tiny tank with weekly full water changes. After tons of research on this site and great advice from people I decided to try again but with a bigger tank and all the info. I went back to the local pet store here and half the Bettas were dead in the cups and the tank where the snails came from had a not for sale on it and it was full of dead snails...I was furious. They had sold me very sick fish/snails and I thought this was all my fault. Yes I know I was inexperienced and didn't do the right things at first but the pet stores lack of hygiene and care of their fish turned me off and I decided never to shop there again. I would drive home that weekend and go to a Big Als Aquarium store and purchase there.


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## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

That weekend I drove home. The base I am working at right now is a 3 hour drive from home so my BF and I alternated weekends to drive to each other. 

We went to Big Als and purchased a 10 gallon. A test kit. Prime. Stability. New gravel. A GIANT pirate ship with tons of hiding spots. A gravel vacuum. A big plastic garbage bin to help with water changes. Aquarium salt. Epsom salt. A turkey baster. Fish net. This pre used gravel pack that had water and apparently beneficial bacteria. And this stuff called Cycle. Oh and more fake plants for hiding places. After about an hour we picked out this gorgeous blue ish green ish rose tail Betta with a leopard pattern on him. The man also sold me on buying three African Dwarf Frogs. 

I headed back to my base and after 3 hours I finally arrived. I rinsed out the new tank. New gravel. Statues. Plants. Thermometer. And a live moss ball. I set everything up. Added water. Treated the water and added my four new guys. I named the Betta Brutus. And the three ADFs Apollo, Ares and Artemis. Right away Brutus was fine. He was checking out his new tank and zipping around. He had a great appetite and was super friendly. That night I taught him how to jump for his food. I fell in love  

The old filter, stability, and used gravel seemed to do nothing for the cycle and after testing the water and test water I realized the ammonia levels were crazy!!! I did 25% water changes 3 times a day to keep the levels down. 

Two days later one of the frogs was dead!!! I couldn't believe it. When I fished him out he had this white and red sore on his back. I called the pet store and they said a bunch of their frogs had them and it was a bad bunch. The other two slowed down a lot but Brutus was still awesome. 

The next day Artemis looked swollen and I was super worried. I googled it a bit and found out that ADFs are super sensitive to water levels and they also can come down with bloat/dropsy. No one knows where it comes from or how to fix it. But it's not contagious. Apparently this is a very common thing and nothing you did caused it. It just happens. I have her an Epsom salt bath which was recommended and called it a night. 

The next morning Artemis was HUGE and Apollo had become swollen too. I was crushed. Artemis looked horrible. I did a ton more research and found that process called aspiration would really help. You buy a 25g needle and insert it between the thigh and belly then slowly remove the built up fluid. It was too late to go to the store so the next morning I went to the store and got a needle. I felt like a crack head asking for one haha. I kept showing the lady the pictures of the process so she wouldn't think I was a drug addict haha. But when I got home Apollo was dead. He had become too swollen but Artemis still had a chance. A did the procedure and removed 1.5 ccs of fluid from her. She looked back to normal after. I had so much hope. 

A few hours later my BF arrived with a surprise. He brought me an adorable little female crown tail Betta. We added her to the tank. She was awesome off the bat. She ate well and zipped around the tank. But unfortunately Artemis died that night. I didn't think I could cry that badly over a frog. It was really hard for me because I had become so close to her while trying to heal her. Ugh. Even typing this makes me so sad. 

The next morning I realized that the filter made a lot of current so I went out and bought a better one that took up less room in the tank and had a flow control. I put it in the tank and it was perfect. No current at all. The bettas loved it. But soon realized that the water levels were spiking again. Stupid me lol. It was way too late that night so I decided to do it in the am. 

Well that brings us to present day lol. This morning I ripped apart two of the three filters cartridges that went inside the filter. I used the old large bio bag and emptied out all the carbon inside. I then used the frames of the two filter cartridges I ripped apart, sewed the bio bag material around them and filled the. Up with the old used carbon. Tada. Cycled filter cartridges for the new filter. 

So the water has been perfect all day. No spikes. My fishies are doing amazing. No signs of trouble. Nothing. I also bought a little terra cotta pot and put it in the tank as well. 

Everything seems perfect now and I have learned SO MUCH about fish keeping. I can't wait to buy more tanks and add to my fish family!!!


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## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

Today marks the third day of perfect water levels. So to celebrate we added a Mystery Snail named Walter  I also bought one of those Betta logs that I have heard so much good things about. Will update on how Walter does


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