[I’m new to the hobby and the forum and I have some questions.]

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!

[Hello from Australia]

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 🙂

[Hello from Australia]

Yes I love the LCA ferts too! they're way better than Seachem, more concentrated.

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I love all the videos on here, but it's often a challenge to translate the suggestions into products you can find, especially medications!

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.

[Hello from Australia]

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)