A Moore

Yeah, I was thinking I may get that reply. I inherited this tank from a woman who had 9 other fish -different kinds of cichlids- in there. As the parrots have grown I have re-homed. I’m going to have to convince my husband or find someone else to care for them maybe. I have 2 smaller tanks as well. 😣

My male and female parrot usually get along but sometimes the female has had enough. I used to have other cichlids in this tank but rehomed them so they have more space. That was a mistake because the female became even more targeted. Our awesome LFS suggested adding dither fish back in…we have had 9 Danios in the tank around 4 months or so. It hasn’t seemed to work. The male is terrorizing the female so much that she hides face down for hours behind or in the plant. He still bumps into her nudging her nonstop. I inherited the pair and have had them for two years. They have been together around 5 years. Are there any suggestions as to what else I could do for her? I was thinking maybe I need to look into a divider for the tank and separate the two when she’s had enough. They are in a 60g tall. Thank you for any advice!

That’s great to know about the salt 🙌🏻 I don’t have any red plants in that tank so maybe we will be good! So appreciate your kindness about Pinky. 🙂 All we can do is keep learning!

Thank you all again so much for the help and support!! Our LFS had Luna, all their bettas in methalyne blue as a preventative. They also kept them in small tanks that circulated all together. They recommended a bit of salt in the tank at all times (until I mentioned I had a planted tank). I know salt isn’t good for plants but I’m going to keep a tsp in there to see how it goes. I’ve never done that on going but appreciate the mention that that is what some of you do as well. I will be keeping a close eye on Luna! ☺️🔬😍

Thank you for all your support Goldie Blue! My son helped me bury him, we shed our tears and then we went out this afternoon and chose a new fish. We loved Pinky and he will be one of those special ones we remember. Now, we will enjoy our new friend, Luna. Hopefully I have learned a thing or two from Pinky to be a better caregiver. I will post a picture of him to end the post in a somewhat positive way. Oh, and we drove into Nashville to our favorite LFS instead of purchasing from a big box store. He is a male Dumbo Betta.

Thank you so much!!! It’s very sad and painful to watch. Poor little guy.

Thank you for that. This morning he is worse. It’s time. I appreciate so much help and support! I don’t feel right about his suffering. I’m surprised he made it through the night. 💔 If I didn’t have other fish I would be so discouraged. These little guys are so beautiful but makes me want to search outside of big box stores.

Thank you. I may try the pipette tomorrow. I do drop the Repashy right next to him as close as possible. We will see what tomorrow brings… 🥺

Yesterday I siphoned out some of the waste and added fresh water with KanaPlex and Stress Coat. Tested for ammonia and nitrates (both at 0). Pinky wanted to go after his Repashy and launched forward couldn’t get himself turned around and stopped. 😞He was lying on the heater guard for a while until he slid down and now he’s just occasionally scooting around the bottom. The wound seems better than yesterday because it appears to be closed. I don’t see matter coming out. Is it cruel to keep waiting and watching?

Okay .. I will be home soon and try KanaPlex in the water. Will try to see if he eats and see how it goes. 😥 I have never euthanized a fish before but reading the benefits for his sake. He is exhausted, and can’t really move his tail when he tries to swim. He moves in short bursts of energy although I haven’t seen him move today after the mass ruptured. I haven’t been home to watch though. Will keep everyone posted and again appreciate all the help!

Okay so the antibiotic in his food still? He didn’t eat yesterday. Should I dose the tank or increase the salt from 3 tbsp in 9 gallons?

I ordered Betadyne but it came in with the seal broken and spilled out everywhere in the delivery packaging. I didn’t use it. I went to two places yesterday and couldn’t find just that type of medication without other additives.. I will be out today most of the day but will see what I can locate if you think this is still what he needs. Maybe getting the infection out is what needed to happen and the salt drew it out .. hoping

Not looking so good here. The wound area that looked “thick” seems like it ruptured. Tissue is coming out and appears to be gray. Pinky is laying on the floating log. Here are pictures.

Thank you .. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen an ugly betta 😍

I’m so sorry 😣 I had a dream not long ago where I was moving my cichlids for some reason .. they were in buckets.. and I couldn’t get the water temperature right, buckets were tipping over, the ground was dry dirt and they all died in the end! Terrible! What’s up with our brains? 😥 Worst case scenario for sure! I love how you love your animals though and appreciate all those who care so much and love these little amazing creations! It’s amazing how they get to us looking so beautiful to begin with. Thank you for the cheering for Pinky!! It’s helps a lot!! Here he is in his prime ..

Thank you! I appreciate those kind words for sure! I’m trying to not overly stress anymore (trying!!!) but your right. Every day I’m all up in the glass half expecting to see tragedy. He actually stayed outside of his floating log all day long (ALL day!), leaning up against it for support. He came down earlier this morning and ate the medicated food. All good signs I think. I haven’t changed the water today but it looks like nice strong tea and the 3 tbsp of salt are no doubt an adjustment for him. I’m so glad Goldie Blue is doing well!! That’s awesome news! You’re also right about expecting it to take time to heal up. It’s good not to overly stress and just trust their healing process and do the best we can. 😅🥲

No never heard of it but looking it up now. I’m willing to try for sure! He hasn’t moved from the log since yesterday morning.

Will do!! Thank you! Hoping this to be the case. When he turns as he’s swimming it almost looks painful. He has fast this jerking motion and gets tired and has to rest.

You are so right! I get focused on the moment and forget how far he’s come in just a short while. 🥰 Thank you for redirecting my perspective 😊

I kept thinking 83-84 would be terrible for him. It’s just now 82.9 in the tank. Maybe it wasn’t so bad for him after all? I thought the top would be cooler since the lid is off and cooler air would flow across the top. 😆 He has been in the floating log all day long. It’s on the opposite side of the heater in the tank.

Husband fixed the air conditioning unit! The tank is already down to 83.8!!! 😅 I ordered what’s called a “Poth-O-Carry” on Etsy. It’s a small planter that hangs on the tank and you put pothos plant cuttings in it. It’s supposed to help filter out nitrites. Maybe it will die with the salt but thought worth a shot in the hospital tank.

My heater does have a guard around it so that’s good. Yesterday our AC went out in our home here in sweltering , humid Middle TN. We have 2 portable AC units running and fans, however…. Pinky’s tank is 85.4 this morning!!! I’ve been keeping it at 81.5-82. He’s getting tons of heat! I have the top mostly off of the aquarium now. I changed 2.5 g of water last night with cooler water (82)(dropped to 83.5) but it’s been around 84 overnight. My husband is working on it and an AC company is coming this evening. Pinky has been staying under the leaves but came out to see me. I fed KanaPlex Repashy and he gulped down a mouthful immediately. I will go ahead and add some additional salt now and another leaf this evening unless advised not to. While taking pics, he showed off a little and came to the surface! I haven’t seen that in several days! At first he came over to me —and it could be me—but I swear he leaned over to show me his wound … 😅 Incidentally, the snails that came over in the filter from the old tank are doing just fine. I have no idea again why this photo keeps getting flipped upside down when I link it He’s also up at the top in his floating log because hopefully it’s cooler up there

Thank you for your experience!! I’m still at 2 tbsp in 10 gallons (or a little under 10 g) and haven’t increased. I have brewed two more large CoOp catappa leaves in a pint jar and added a third not boiled. So 3 leaves I started with appear to not be releasing tannins any more and I have the 3 other leaves and a piece of cholla wood in there. The tank is quite dark. When I changed out 2.5 gallons this evening (siphoning out the leftover food and waste) I just added the same amount of salt back into the replacement water. I felt like maybe it was too dark in there so diluted it a bit with that little water change. He has eaten tiny amounts of the KanaPlex mixed food. Have you dosed the tank before or mixed in food? Pinky is hiding in the leaves all day and looks rather miserable. He leans over from his own weight and mostly sits in the same area with an occasional swim around the tank in small spurts at the bottom. One day he looks like he has fin growth and the next his body looks dark and tail looks almost red streaked. I’m not sure if fish get sepsis but that’s what comes to mind when I look at him. Thank you for the continued support. Here are tonight’s pics No idea why my pics are posting upside down tonight

Pinky attacked the Repashy without the meds in it! He gets exhausted just eating though and has to take breaks. He’s still mostly lying around on the bottom with occasional swimming in spurts. He looks miserable but his body still appears to be healing. I siphoned out the mess at the bottom again tonight, just taking out 2 1/2 gallons. I added a betta sling i saw in Goldie Blues tank (found on Etsy). Pinky hasn’t been interested but it’s only been one day. My CoOp order with more IAL will be here Thursday so I can continue to increase tannins and have more leaf cover at the bottom for him to rest on. Todays pics are below ..