# Survivor's Journal



## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So I did a check at 8 this morning. Survivor is acting like he isn't blind. He has three white spots. That's b new to today. One on each gill and one in front of the gill. Definitely doesn't look like a fungus or ick. He followed my finger. The hole in his side is healing beautifully. 

He blew a bubble nest. Thirty minutes into having the light on he started darting around his tank. He was banging and flaring everything. Will not be giving him his plant back today. 

The water has wispy stuff floating in it. Don't know what that's about.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate four pellets.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

What brand of water conditioner do you use. I had an issue with stresscoat and had wispy white stuff in my water and hanging off of my fish. I switched conditioners and had no problem.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

It's betta h2o. I figured it might be.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He successfully ate five pellets. Did a 50 percent change. He's no longer stressed.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He seems a little bored. He ate 5 pellets.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

Did a 50% water change to keep him healing. I put his fake plant back and his old rocks. Since the new rocks were causing his water to go foggy, I scrubbed them. Now I'm soaking them to see if they still fog up. If they don't I'll add a bit of conditioner. Just to see if the conditioner is causing them to leech. If all goes well, I'll be able to put them in. If not :-( i guess I'll turn them into a centerpiece for the dining room.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

*Daily Tank*

Fed Survivor. Also, looked at the remainder of his bubble nest he worked on all night. He's actually been trying to maintain them lately instead of blowing them and just leaving them.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

I forgot to say he only ate two pellets. It's ok. He's been eating a lot since he first got sick. Before getting sick he only ate one or two a day. I guess he doesn't need that extra food for healing. 
On to the rocks. The new rocks sat in a bowl all day with the water conditioner. No fogginess. I just removed them from the bowl to let them dry. Once dry, I'm going to bag them for the next water change. Which should be in two days as long as his health keeps improving.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate three pellets


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

He's getting his appetite back. That's a good sign!


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

Actually, he's been enjoying rearranging his fake plant. He even made it to where he can lay on a leaf with his mouth out. He also adjusted it to where he has to weave to get around it


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate part of a blood worm (i tried). He ate 4 pellets. We had some mirror time.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

Oh it's my v birthday!


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So he ate 5 pellets. He also has defended and maintained a nest all day. It's quite a thick structured one built around a leaf.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

I did a 100 % water change. The green rocks are back in. I moved his plant. I have officially created a child proof area to store his tank supplies.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate 6 pellets. Also, had fun with the mirror.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate 6 pellets for breakfast. Will try a bloodworm again tonight. He seems bored


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

I'm giving up on freeze dried blood worms. He ate 6 pellets. Very happy little guy. Did some researching on freshwater plants and substrates


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Happy belated birthday!!


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

Thanks!


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate 7 for breakfast. He ate a bite out of the bloodworm then 3 pellets. I started prepping soil for a tank upgrade. He blew a nest. He's very alert, but doesn't seem to like the new layout.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate 7 pellets. The best went out last night, so I'm warming his tank now.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

Ugh! Crazy betta!:frustrated:I did a50% water change. He then dug through his rocks and knocked one on his tail fin. I had only left him alone for five minutes. I go in and find him stuck. I freed him and his tail fin is torn all up.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So he ate his dinner. His tail looks like a fin biter. Those rocks did a number. Looks like many water changes are in the near future. I'll do another 50% in the morning. His fin isn't so hurt that he needs automatic meds, but it's nasty enough for very clean tanks.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate well. Did a 50% since his fins are torn. Drained the soil for My future npt. Re soaking (found a article online on how to clean your own soil for tank).


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He's learned a few tricks. He doesn't like the dark, and he doesn't like me to leave him alone. So if in the room and not giving him attention, he swims to the top and bumps the edge of the lid to make it scrape. Then when I turn the lights out, I hear the rocks moving. It's just him in there, so I know it's him.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate well today. I did a 100% water change. In the process of trying to get him out, his fin got torn. He fights me every step of the way every time


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So he ate fine this morning. I caught him tail biting. I went and bought him frozen brine shrimp ! He loves it. I changed his layout. Cross fingers that this chronic boredom is over. Nothing has changed for him to be biting. He's seemed really bored so hopefully this changes things up for him. I'm drying the dirt for the new tank.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He ate his pellets and is happily hiding in his turtle


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I hope he stops the tailbiting, too. Bad fishie! Lol. I'm glad he likes his new turtle.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

He stares out from under it. I haven't caught him biting and I don't see new damage.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Maybe now that he has a nice, new decoration to hide in it will stop.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

I hoped so too but this morning I saw he bit more off.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Aww, bad boy! Something must be stressing him out. Can he see his reflaction?


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

Well he's still biting. I still have no clue. I've upgraded him to a 5 gallon. It's bare basics because I have huge plans for it. It does have a filter. It has 18 leds. I hope I'll be able to growplants with it. If not, I'll buy a different light system. I'm thinking it will be okay for low or medium light plants. Little one seems to like it.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So I bought gravel for the new tank. It took a long time to get it clean. Also, I added a thermometer. His tank stays at a toasty 75. It was only 18 yesterday, and the heat went out and I haven't got him a heater. His tank only dropped to 73. I think I'll just keep monitoring his tank. If his tank keeps maintaining 75, then I'm not adding a heater permanently.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

I want to say my buddy was in a 1g tank his entire life before this. It was fine when he was little. The reason I upgraded was that he would constantly swim in circles. The other reason is that I cleaned his tank every other day and it was brown by that point. It was very upsetting. For nearly two months I was cleaning it daily or every other day. I mean a 100% wc with everything including his rocks being scrubbed under hot water.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So I think he might have quit biting! The white growth of his fins are staring to fade into the normal color. He has started swimming backwards lol. He'll just stop swimming all the sudden start swimming backwards then shoots up. I have my first plant in the tank. It's anarcharis. It's been in there since Monday ish? It looks like all but one stem will make it. The one immediately melted all over. The snails that hitched a ride on the plant will not mess with this stem either. All the others look very nice.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So I've added java fern and temple narrow leaf and ferts. The ferts caused an algae bloom. By morning I had a brown algae tank. So yesterday, I tore the tank apart cleaning and got it all back together. I added fertilizer at a much lower amount. Well it took a few hours and you can see the bloom. So, this morning I did a 50% change. 

Now on to any new growth. The ferts turned the anarcharis yellow the first day. Today most of it's back to deep green. I can't tell if there is new growth. As for the java fern, it looked pretty pathetic when I bought it (it was sadly the best looking one). I don't see new growth, but it looks healthier. The temple has new leaves, but the oldest leaves are dying.

Survivor has been learning new tricks on top of swimming backwards, he's learned to swim on his side and he dive bombs the rocks. He's finding new ways to rest in his plants. He uses anarcharis as a hammock. I might have discovered the reason the old leaves of the temple are dying. He lays across them.


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## Survivor2013 (Dec 2, 2013)

So I planted my anarcharis on the 6th. It is the 10th. It has grown one inch on each stem. My temple has been planted since the 8th. Each stalk has up to 4 new leaves. The java fern was planted on the 8th also. It has no new growth as far as I can see.


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