Maggie's 10 gallon betta project

[Betsy]

Do ittttttt!!!!!  🦐😜🦐

[Maggie]

Today Cosmo got a bunch of new crypyocoryne that I bought from a LFC member. After carefully inspecting his new plants, he said "thank you" by building a bubble nest. 💙

I noticed it looks like he has a tiny tear in his tail fin. I'm keeping a close eye in it and removed the "betta hammock" which he never rested on but may have swiped on his way around the thermometer, which remains one of his most treasured decorations. 

[FrozenFins]

Cosmo looks like a completley different betta from previous posts on this thread. He's soooo blue now💙. This is one of the reasons why I like Koi Bettas so much, their transformations are just so stunning...

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by James Black

[Maggie]

Stopping by to say hello as he swims around his beloved thermometer. (I have a digital but he insists on keeping this one.)

[FrozenFins]

Cosmo has become so blue since your last update! Glad to see that both you and Cosmo are doing great👍

[Trish]

On 2/18/2021 at 1:36 PM, Maggie said:

Cosmo's doing great so far! The dwarf water lettuce in this gif from yesterday whose roots look great? Not so much. I think the alum treatment did it in, and today it's disintegrated. I'm going to pull out some salvinia from the other tank and split it into two containers for alum treatment testing. 

@MaggieWhat an active boy!  Lovely home.  

[Betsy]

Awwww!  I love the teal + blue...and the white on his little noggin!  I didn't know it was possible, but I think Cosmo has gotten cuter!! 😍

[Maggie]

I've been packing up my fish supplies in preparation for selling my house and moving approx 450 miles north - house going on market in about 2 weeks and is expected to sell very quickly, so the move is probably around September 1. 

This box is being shipped. It's mostly spare items used with my other two (rehomed) tanks and fish, but a couple/3 new aquariums are hopefully on the horizon. 

Here's my plan for Cosmo.

He will stay in his tank until the day before closing. I'll be in a hotel a couple days before then, and will set up the 5 gal minibow for him there, where we'll spend 2 nights and leave in the morning the day after closing. I was planning on transporting him in the minibow, but apparently it is better to transport him in a little "betta cup" type container in the beverage holder in the front seat, to avoid being sloshed around, so I'll do that. It's about a 9 hour trip including stops. 

Have to drill some holes in the top:

Some plants, the heater, sponge filter, and of course his thermometer (and my digital thermometer!) will join him in the minibow, and the rest will go in a bucket with the hardscape and gravel, tank water and an airstone, as it will be in there at least 48 hours. 

He won't be fed the day before or morning of the move. I'll set up his tank immediately upon arrival so he can get settled back in quickly. I have heat packs for his cup ride north, spare air pump, battery, and towels. I feel like I'm missing something as I have never moved fish. What else needs to be done? 

I did his water change this morning and he's been ramped up all day. The only red on him now is that slight red at the base of his anal fin, and the only white is on his face, and a single white scale on his body. 

[FrozenFins]

He's so blue now! Wish you the best on your move.

[Maggie]

Finally got video of him flairing at the ramshorn.

 

[Alesha]

Hey Maggie, I just got caught up on Cosmo. He's a real beauty!!! Such an amazing transformation in him from the beginning until now. Thanks for taking us along on his journey...and yours! Congrats on the new place. So glad your move with Cosmo went well. 

Alesha

[Maggie]

On 7/19/2021 at 9:04 AM, Alesha said:

Hey Maggie, I just got caught up on Cosmo. He's a real beauty!!! Such an amazing transformation in him from the beginning until now. Thanks for taking us along on his journey...and yours! Congrats on the new place. So glad your move with Cosmo went well. 

Alesha

Thanks Alicia! We haven't moved yet. I had to get my AC and a couple other things fixed ($$$) before the agent would even consider a listing,  and am waiting for a house painter who's on vacation, and in the meantime I'm packing stuff and moving all the nonessential items out for photos. They asked me to move Cosmo (he's not in a good place for "staging") but I said no - he's gonna have to be moved at least twice during the move. I am planning on it listing by the first week of August. My neighbor sold his house in 3 days and they closed in <45 days, and i hope for the same. Then I have to hope I can find an apartment in time, as they go really fast in the greater Boston area. BUT the market here is sizzling hot right now so that's a good thing for walking away with a few $$ in my hand, which I will need in order to buy some new aquariums and stock! 

[Alesha]

On 7/19/2021 at 11:18 AM, Maggie said:

Thanks Alicia! We haven't moved yet. 

Ah...I see! Wow, that's a lot of "to do" things on your To Do List!!! I hope everything goes well and according to plan. 🙂

The market down here in FL is insane too. There are huge orange groves that have been here since before I was born, that are being ripped out, roads being paved and houses going up, faster than I can even believe it. It's sad to me, because I prefer a rural community, and it is making our roads crazy busy! Traffic is baking up all the way to our road that we live on, from a major highway, at rush hour. And what used to take 7-8 minutes to get across town, now takes 20-25. I hate to see it. 😔

I wish you the best with your move...and hope it's hugely profitable for you! I'm sure there's another fish out there that NEEDS to come live with you. 😉

[Maggie]

The real estate agent is coming Monday to take pics and put house on market...we had a few repairs to get done, but it won't be long now.

Cosmo is always curious about the happenings outside his tank but seems oblivious to the hustle-bustle of packing and taking stuff to storage. He has been working on this bubble nest for 3 days, and started a second one this morning.

I finally got a pic showing the color change to aqua in his tail. It's weird how light from one direction makes it blue but from another direction makes it more green. After Gianne's betta presentation, I won't be surprised no matter what color he changes to! I'm currently getting him used to bottled water ("purified" water - distilled but "minerals added for taste" - hope Cos likes it). I'll be using that for the trip to the new place and until I get settled in and find out about the local water. Since I only change 20% (2 gallons) every 2 weeks, it's not that much extra cost. 

3-day nest

Today's new nest

Greenish tinge

Same photo session, looks blue!

Travel container for when we move, with air holes drilled - not sure about this, might get something with a bigger base

[Maggie]

Cosmo injured his left pectoral fin the other day. I am sure it's because he was over-stressed from the ramshorn snails, from flairing and swimming back and forth at them aggressively like be does, and probably rammed into something and caught his fin. I removed the three big snails and humanely euthanized them (crushed them). I'll have to remove others as I find them until they're eradicated, I guess. Darn, but it was very distressing to see him swim using just one pec fin yesterday. He's a little better this morning, eating and using both fins, and I'm hoping not seeing any snails (esp big ones) will help. I'm of the "don't medicate unless absolutely necessary" camp,  esp with Cosmo being very healthy and robust, but do have meds and salt if needed. 

It was really hard to get good pics. But these sort of show the odd look of that fin. The flash picked up the green coloring on his tail - I love it. Also, he is starting to get more black on him.

My house sold this week (yay!!!) - moving in ~2-3 weeks. I sure hope he's 100% healed by then. I'm really stressing about this move. It's hard enough to drive 8-10 hours, most of it on the I-95 "northeast corridor" (ugh), with a fish in a jar and a tank to set up immediately upon arriving (bringing some of the water, w/plants and sponge filter), when I'll be exhausted and I know my back is gonna be rocking with pain. Now I also have to worry about a possible infection if he isn't healed and gets stressed from the move. 

[Hobbit]

Ooof poor Cosmo! He seems like such a high strung betta 😅 I hope his fin heals just fine. When I accidentally crushed a juvenile gourami in a net during a transfer, it had an injured fin that it held at its side for a bit. But it healed very quickly, thankfully.

Congrats on selling your house! I hope the move goes as smoothly as possible. Do you have anyone helping you? Do you have to drive a moving truck?

[Maggie]

My son is helping and we have u-haul pods, which u-haul will haul for a price. I'm just driving my car, which will be awful enough. I'm having a huge yard sale soon and dividing up the "keep", "sell", "free", and "donate" has been a lot of work. Plus we had to clear out the house for photos and showing and we stayed at a hotel for 4 days (I came back at night and in the morning to feed him). I still don't have a locked-in apartment - it's been hard to find one that accepts dogs, and they go quickly. Stressful. Can't wait for this whole thing to be over so I can live near my daughter and her family, help with their goldfish (they need a tank upgrade - a common and I think a shubunkin (Is that the right name for the colorful type that are also very fast?) in a 75 right now- I want to help them set up a 125 with some tankmates and I can't wait for that!), and start a shrimp-for-profit tank! And a male guppy tank! And a....(no that might be it, unfortunately). Cos has been active today and I'm thankful for that! 

[Maggie]

Cosmo's fin appears to be completely healed - no meds needed! I hadn't seen a bubble nest for a while until this morning - taking that as a sign that all is good. The floating anubias golden in the pic came from my rehomed 20L and I'm waiting for the move to attach it somewhere. It's already grown a new leaf and many new roots in this tank so I don't think it minds being floated at all!

[Taco Playz]

Looks good! Love the betta!

[Maggie]

Well, it looks like I've been overfeeding Cosmo lately and he's got a swim bladder issue. He was fine on Monday. Yesterday he was listless, so I didn't feed him. Today he is hiding near the surface, struggling to swim properly, and is slightly bloated. I started salt treatment at 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons, and will fast him for the next couple days. 

I wanted to get rhe crypts replanted yesterday but now I'm going to wait till he's feeling better. 

The water is bottled spring water, pH 7.4, no ammonia or nitrite, <5 ppm nitrate (100% wc done on 9/15 when we got to new apartment, 10% wc done 9/22), temp has been kept at 80 since I got him. 

He's not being very photogenic today and swims away if I try to get a close up picture. He can swim up to get air, but struggles.

I have plants from the Coop arriving today and am in no mood to deal with them. I'll stick them in a plastic tub for now. 

[Hobbit]

Aww poor Cosmo. You could always try a warm Epsom salt bath with a pretty low concentration of Epsom salts. Might help things move along. It’s SO hard to feed fish the right amount!

[Patrick_G]

Poor guy, I hope he’s feeling better soon. 

[Maggie]

Cosmo seems to be feeling a little better today, but I saw something on his gill area that's very concerning and I'm not sure what it is and if I should up the salt. Photos not good bc I have the light off and a mediocre phone cam.

See the fuzzy spot center-bottom:

Here's what it looks like underneath:

 

[Maggie]

I decided to medicate Cosmo as he was not getting better. I used erythromycin and general cure. He's on day 4 of this treatment in addition to the low level salt. He is still hanging near the top and taking in a lot of air which is concerning as to what's going on with his gills (hence the general cure treatment). I've been feeding very sparingly and he's been eating, so I know he has the will to survive. I've been struggling with what I'll do as far as this hobby goes if he doesn't. But having been through serious illnesses a few times with myself and family members, I know that if you want to eat, that's a good sign. Cos has pretty much been my only connection to the fishkeeping world since June.

[Hobbit]

Poor guy! Rooting for him!