Old Journal Entries

June 1, 2000

Sushi's 2 weeks old!!  Not really, he's been in our lives for 2 weeks now.  He's getting healthier everyday.  For a while I doubted he would even live.  We brought him home from a local pet store.  We thought we were doing him a favor by putting him into a bowl that was twice the size of the one we found him in.  We got him gourmet betta bites and a few plastic rocks, and that was to be his home.

Sushi lived at the bottom of the tank only coming up for food and air.  He didn't swim and he didn't flare.  In spite of all this, I surfed the web looking for information about these kinds of fish, and how to take care of him.  After much reading, I got him a new home, (a 2 gallon tank with filter), some new food, (freeze dried bloodworms), and a tank temperature gauge.

Suddenly this lifeless fish that I thought was dying is flaring at us when we walk by, his colors are deeper, and he's more active in general.  I learned that this "Betta" is a Siamese Fighting Fish.  There are tons of sights that tell you about them (after all that's how I learned) so I won't go into all the details.  I think that he didn't have enough surface area for oxygen in the water, he was bored with his food, and the water was too cold. 

Now after all my "web education"  I want to breed him for some pretty fry.  Seems to me that everyone that has bought one of these has had this thought too, so I want to enter into this well educated, prepared, and responsibly.  This is my journal, this is Sushi's journal.  (Hope I keep it up and updated)

June 2, 2000

After a mistake on my part, Sushi is a little ragged looking  ~ I left a mirror by his tank for over 3 hours yesterday.  When I found him, his color was very drained, and he had horizontal "fear stripes." (I think that's what they're called)  I immediately took the mirror away and pampered him with a low stress environment and extra food.  Today he has tattered fins with holes in them, and I don't know if it's fin rot or just "battle" wounds.  I'm thinking of doing a partial water change and adding some salt to see if that helps, if not I will consult with the local pet store. 

June 3, 2000

Yesterday, after finding Sushi with tattered, holey fins, I took some "fix-the-fish" measures.  Around lunch time I did a 25% water change (his tank is 2 gallons, so that was 1/2 gallon replaced) To this water, I not only added conditioner, but some salt as well (1/2 teaspoon for 1/2 gallon water)  I took him out of the tank to do it, and then spent a while cleaning up the tank.  I don't have any type of syphon or vacuum for cleaning yet so this consisted of me swishing the water around and guiding all the trash into the filter intake.  I have guessed that Sushi's condition really was/is fin rot, and it was caused by dirty water.  The water never looked dirty, but you should have seen the junk that started floating around when I swished.  Well, the dirty water was my fault too.  I was feeding him 3 times a day, Betta Bites and Freeze Dried Bloodworms.  I thought he was eating it all, but the gravel was getting it instead.  So from my experience, I know that I need a way to clean the gravel, and I need to stop feeding as much.

I fed him once last night, and tried feeding the Betta Bites one at a time.  This morning when I woke up, he had no more holes in his fins !!!  Yay Sushi!  He still looks a little tattered, but I thik he is getting better.  Now to figure out if I should do another water change today or wait til tomorrow.

June 6,2000

Well, Sushi was better on the 3rd, when I changed his water on the 4th (another 25% change) he got worse, the 5th he went into his "pitiful" bowl, so I can change the water easier.  His bowl holds about 3/4 gallon, and I plan on changing it everyday.  It's been a challenge yesterday and last night to keep the bowl at a good temperature, I ended up putting a cover over it and wrapping it in dishtowels overnight.  I will head for the Pet Store soon, and come home with some Stress Coat for him. 

Sushi died ~ R.I.P.   We got three new fish 15 July 2000

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