To my spunkiest, funniest, smartest, and loveable
betta yet...Azriel. I rescued him from Petco at the end of January. I used to work as a Dog/Cat food rep, and I'd go there once a week. I always walked around the Fish section for the better part of of my time there, and for about a month I had seen this lovely, dark steel blue Betta with a double tail. Intrigued, I said hi to him every week, and even convinced the fish section people to let me feed him. After a while, I discovered he had an amazing little personality and, and one day, I decided to take him home (after a month of no one wanting him). I had him in his own five gallon aquarium for almost 5 months, and was constantly battling fin rot, but he was a tough little guy (and we became very close...every time he would see me he would start dancing around the aquarium!), and never gave up. He would always attack his food, making sure to do his death circle a few times before attacking it.
Yesterday, I decided to full out and out clean his tank. So I put him in a cup and dumped the tank water, cleaned the plants, filter, and heater, and decided that since he had fin rot again, I would keep him in the cup and let the tank water cycle for a few days. I went out and bought some melafix at walmart (as I couldn't get to petsmart), and put it in his cup today...he seemed fine, just agitated from all of the stress of tank cleaning and moving. He devoured his breakfast like normal (even did his death dance around the food!), and I left him alone so he could be in relative peace and quiet. I went back an hour later to check on him...and he was dead.
I did some research and found out that melafix is actually quite toxic to bettas, but I've used it before and never had this reaction.
He was a good fish, and I wish I had known about the melafix before, or I'd never have put it in there with him.
