redgal

Volcan is dead. I tried one last time to get him to eat but he refused. I sat and watched him for an hour and he took his last breaths and died. I think I must have killed him. I am so sad and feel like a terrible owner.

Here I am lecturing all my friends and family who have bettas in a 1g unfiltered and unheated prison and now one of my dear boys is dead. I tried to save him from a bad life by giving him 5g to himself, a filter, a heater, very good food, treats, interaction, hiding holes and plants and it wasn't enough.

I can't figure out what happened or why he died or why Haka is dying. I wanted to save them not kill them. I am a bad owner.

Haka is still struggling. I fed him this morning and now he is lying sideways on the gravel again. Here are the details - I was posting under this thread:

I think my boy dying :(

I think they had swim bladder...or maybe my nieghbour didn;t feed them enough whilst I was away, I don't know.

If anyone can give me some insight on a possible cause so that I can learn from this, I'd really appreciate it.

I feel like such a terrible owner, I am so sad. Poor boy, what a horrible way to go ( whatever it was) and I failed to help him.

RIP Volcan., You were such a handsome, fiesty boy. I am so, so sorry my poor boy. I'll really miss you

Martinismommy

I'm so sorry you lost him......Don't be too hard on yourself...You did everything you could to save him.....

SBD is not a deadly condition......So even if you did overfeed him it would not have been the reason he passed...The fact that both boys were having problems makes me think it is something else...Can you possibly post of photo of your little man who is still alive?

Lucy

I'm so sorry you lost your little man.
You did everything you could. I know how you feel but we never know what these babies were exposed to before we got them and sometimes all we can do is give them the best life we can until they leave us.

Sending my prayers and best wishes for Haka.

bolivianbaby

I'm so sorry you lost Volcan You're not a bad owner. Things happen sometimes and it's not your fault.

RIP little betta boy.

Red1313

<hugs>

fishtroy

Oh, how heart wrenching.
You are not to blame, don't go putting the blame on yourself, it sounds like your fighters have all the love and care they could possibly need to survive and thensome. Sometimes these things happen, perhaps there is an underlying condition, perhaps they are old and were born around the same age (if you bought them together), maybe there is a problem that you cannot help like a tiny pest snail that came with plants.

Whatever it is don't make yourself the reason & don't feel like you did bad by the bettas. We just wish there were more caring owners out there like you.

Perhaps lower his water level if he is having trouble getting to the top to breathe. Another idea is that if Volcan was sick, the problem with divided tanks is that they share the same water, so it would have passed on to Haka. If there is another container you can move him to it may help. And talk to him. I wish him to get well.

iloveengl

I'm so sorry you lost Vulcan. I hope Haka recovers!

critter_fritter79

I am so very sorry you lost your baby! I am sending healthy, healing thoughts Haka's way! Best of luck and I hope he recovers!!

redgal

Thank you so much for all your kind words.

Martinismommy - managed to get some photos. Haka is the one is blue. I also took a photo of Volcan. (Hope this doesn't upset anyone - I scooped him out of the tank with a plastic cup -the worm things are frozen bloodworm that I had tried to feed him earlier).Any white spots are on the lens/glass not on Haka.

I think he might have possibly starved to death. My nieghbour said she fed him two pellets every other day ( not enough) and although he ate when I returned I'm wondering if the shock of that killed him. But what I don't understand is that Haka seems worse after he has eaten

Thank you.

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Shadowbeam

My thoughts are with you and your boy, i hope he pulls through, but whatever you do, don't blameyourself, sounds like oyu did everything you could and are a fantastic owner

click

I'm sorry for you loss. Heads up, he's in a tank with beta angels now, and I am sure he's happy.

fishtroy

What beautiful fish. There are no signs of discolouration on Volcan or any indicators as far as I can see. Hakas Tummy in pic 4 does look a little discoloured and maybe a little swelled? Or is he just in a funny position? Maybe they were hungry & swallowed something that they shouldn't have.

Shawnie

aww im so sorry as well for your loss rip volcan
both look amazing finnage wise and health wise volcan looks great even after death......have you tested the tank for a mini cycle or something to that effect? ammonia / nitrites can work fast on them.your haka looks a bit bloated.maybe hes constipated? ..are his scales pine coning? ..even without food for a few days, they wouldnt go that fast..

click

Not sure how to say this but how much do you trust your neighbour? You think she fed them something else or she forgot and didn't fed them at all? It kinda wierd that both of them got sick at the same time and they have the same symptoms and it was right after your absence. There's either something in the water or something food related.

Lucy

Poor babies. I agree with Shawnie, visually, you can't see anything wrong.
Any chance your neighbor topped off the tank and didn't use water conditioner?
Maybe lotions or soap residue on their hands with out realizing?
Recently used fingernail polish remover then polished their nails?

redgal

Thank you all for your support - it means a lot to me.

I agree his tummy looks awful and it is for sure swelled - it was the first thing I noticed on my return when he was lying on his gravel. I have fed him a pea but that doesn't seem to have made any diffence. He is in a funny position too - that's how he is lying right now. Both fish had been suddenly darting here and there for a mad second and then just sink.

He is not pine coning, I checked that out very carefully. As I mentioned above I fed haka a pea but no difference. I have just tested the tank again for a second time ( I tested it for everything when I got back and everything was great.). Ammonia and nitrites all zero, oxygen great, pH neutral. I always use Prime to treat the water. My hubby wonders if maybe our municipality started adding minerals or something bad to our tap water that testing wouldn't pick up. Volcan died within 24 hours of me doing a water change although he was begining to look bad before that. I added Prime and Vita-chem to the water after the change and I also had in some carbon filter to remove medications that I had used for haka and his cottony-like strands on his tail ( I used Fungus Clear, as I have done before without any problems, just one dose and it cleared).

We were wondering about our neighbour too. I mean she is lovely and all and will do her best but she doesn't know anything about fish-keeping or pets for that matter. I do think she will have fed them but maybe she didn't feed them as much as she said. Maybe she did feed them something else too....I am not sure how to ask her without upsetting her as she already feels bad about it.

Lucy, there is a very strong chance she has some kind of residue on her hands. We are very anti-chemicals in this house, I mean I am a bit anal about all that and prefer to use natural things. However my neighbour uses chemical all over her house. I mean she wouldn;t know any better but I could see that as a possiblity, especially the nail thing...i could totally see her doing that. Only, before Volcan died I did change the water so wouldn't that have taken out the toxins if there were some? I don't think she topped up the water as it had evapourated quite a bit.

Haka has been a sickly fish since we got him but Volcan had always been great, so I am just so shocked that he is gone and this quickly. Man, I wish I could figure this out!

I have lowered the water in the tank - thanks for that suggestion. He continues to eat then lies on the bottom

Lucy

callichma

If there's a poisonous chemical in the tank, is there a way you could add some activated carbon to the filter to take it out?