peanut

Hi Meg! The white protruding thing is just her egg spot, it's completely natural and present in most (if not all?) female bettas. So no need to worry!

Stringy white poop sounds like they definitely had some sort of internal parasites, as well as possibly a fungal/bacterial infection. Most likely they were already sick in the store, but the stress of moving to a new aquarium with different water parameters has taken a hit on their immune system, thus causing these symptoms to surface. Either way, I'm glad you're in control now 🙂

Yes I love the LCA ferts too! they're way better than Seachem, more concentrated. I know your pain, generally I find the meds from Blue Planet are a good replacement (and they're the cheapest I found so far in Oz) I guess the most important advice I can give is avoid "meds" that end in -fix, eg. Pimafix, Melafix etc. They're essentially snake oil. You mentioned your guppies suffered from a mystery illness, I don't know the details of their symptoms but if you have really soft water, that could be partially the cause - from what I've learned from Cory, they thrive far better in hard water. Also worth mentioning that a lot of guppy illnesses can be successfully treated with salt.

Hey Josh! I live in Australia too. It sucks that you had to go through that! I also made many mistakes as a beginner, one time I let my tank get too hot during a heatwave here in Adelaide....unfortunately my first betta didn't survive 😞 I was so bummed. But I've learned a lot since then and am feeling way more confident now. It's just part of the hobby! I get most of my supplies (such as tanks, heaters, filters) from a really good local shop here (Seaview aquariums), mostly because it's usually cheaper than buying online. Although sometimes I get some stuff from ebay/amazon, such as the Nicrew plant light which is a great budget LED that is brighter than the Aqua One lights which are sold in stores here. There's also some no-name brand LEDs on ebay that are super cheap, but not sure if I trust them yet haha. I also like to buy my plants online because there's a bigger selection, my favourite website right now is z-aquatics.com.au - always happy with their quality and speed of delivery (although the latter might be dependent on how close you live to Melbourne, which is where they're based)