MissMTS

My bettas are sick and I am afraid that it is my fault.

This last week was one of the most stressful weeks of my life. The week of summer recital at the dance studio that I own is always the hardest week of the year. Last week I pulled two all nighters and ended up having to drop my summer school class because I didn't even have time to go. I was litterally working from 5am to midnight (and that was on the nights that I actually went to sleep!). My fishies got a bit neglected during this week- as did my house, my dog, my friends and family, etc, but there is only so much of me to go around and only so many hours in the day! This only happens one week out of the year, and it always sucks, but at least I know what to expect.

Anyways, I went about a week and a half in between water changes, instead of abiding by my strict weekly routine of 50 percent water changes. On Sunday, my first day after the show when I got a chance to get my life back, I noticed that all but one of my bettas have fin rot, and two of them have ich!!! I raised the water temperature to 84 degrees, so hopefully that will handle the ich. I have been doing daily water changes on my bettas and adding vitachem to their tanks in hope that they will get better. Poor little Bijou has barely any tail left at all! I cannot afford meds for another couple of weeks, so hopefully the water changes and vitachem will help a little bit. I am just so frustrated and I feel so guilty. I had no choice but to switch my focus last week, but I am certainly paying the price now. Poor little guys......

COBettaCouple

Water changes and Vita-Chem along with the warmer water should clear up the ich. For the fin rot, I'd do water changes and vita-chem daily until you can get TriSulfa and Rid-Fungus.. or at least the TriSulfa.

MissMTS

Oh wow, I forgot about using Rid-Fungus. I still have some of that from Dusty's last case of fin rot. I'll have to wait on the TriSulfa, but I'm glad that you reminded me about the Rid-Fungus!

COBettaCouple

Cool. That should clear out any fungal fin rot. Hopefully that's the only fin rot that you're dealing with.

shellbell4ever

I'm so sorry to hear about all your stress Hopefully you and your fishy buddies will be off to a speedy recovery!Best of luck with your Betta's!

MissMTS

Thanks! I hope that they start to get better soon. I feel so bad when they get sick....especially when its my fault.

leafgirl115

Poor guys. I hope everything clears up soon and you get some time to relax.

MissMTS

Me too. Thanks

Sprinangl2

it's not your fault they got sick-you just couldn't handle the dance recital stuff AND your dogs AND your family AND your bettas. i'm sure they'll be ok!!!!

jdhef

MissMTS

I wouldn't call 3-4 days late on a water change neglect!

Lucy

I agree.

Miss MTS, you are so good to your finbabies, don't be so hard on yourself.

chickadee

You cannot beat yourself up like this. You will have yourself sick and then no one will be better off. It was not the end of the world. I have had to leave unexpectedly and leave my fish alone with no one to feed them and care for them for over a week before and while it made me feel horrible and guilt ridden I soon realized they were just happy to have me back. The problems you have are fixable and we will be here to help you get them under control. Now stop being so hard on yourself and take a nice long deep breath and we will see what can be done.

You have the ich situation firmly in hand, just make sure the temp stays up for the full 14 days to kill the parasite. The other stuff will slowly heal with water changes and good food and Vitachem and FishProtector and garlic in one form or another. If they do not like it on their food then just a few drops in the water 3 times or so a week until they get healed up and once a week after that. (juice or Garlic Guard) They are going to be okay but the big question is can you get over this and forgive yourself for being just plain human? We all are and these times come up. Just do not be so tough on yourself.

Rose

MissMTS

Thank you for all of the kind words guys I know that I am not a horrible person, but I just feel so bad when I can't give my pets the love and attention that they deserve. I am not as stressed out anymore because I got to take this last week off of work. Starting tomorrow, my work schedule will be a lot lighter. I am going to be working 5 days a week instead of 7. I have learned that I can't overwork myself and that my weekends are an important time to catch up on my personal life and de-stress. It is just so sad to have so many of my fin babies sick at one time. All of my bettas except for Sparticus, Mizu, and Dumbledore are sick. Bubbles is absolutely covered in ich and Bijou has barely any tail left. Yesterday I started using vitachem, garlic gaurd, and ridfungus. Hopefully all of this will help. I think I should be able to pick up some Triple Sulfa tomorrow which should help as well. Thanks for being so supportive everyone

COBettaCouple

Best of luck with getting them all back to healthy. I know you'll be happier when they are - which they will be.

Devon

I wish you the best of luck!

I dealt with a bad case of ich on my favourite fish in the world, my betta David Bowie, just a few weeks ago, so I know how stressed and guilty this can make you feel. Don't beat yourself up!! Just keep up with the water changes and treatment... bettas are resilient and I bet they will be back to their old selves in no time.

hockeyref88

Yeah you can't be everything to everyone all the time............Life happens sometimes and we just do the best we can, and thats all you can do. I have faith you'll get them turned around in no time. Even under the best of circumstances sometimes our fish wind up having issue's.