Vincent - Day 85

Vincent is doing much better today! All of the gold dust is gone, which hopefully means I successfully eradicated the Velvet (which I have decided are the spawn of Satan himself... nasty little buggers!). I'm still going to keep him in QT for another week just to make sure it is gone though. 

His appetite has been good and he has been active. He has been getting constipated a little but that usually only happens for a couple hours before he poops, so I'm not terribly concerned, as he has always had issues with this. He has lost a little bit of color, but I think that is because he misses his castle, as he is healthy otherwise and his water is kept very clean.

Sorry for the dirty tank sides in the pictures! It got a little algae buildup on the outside while I was floating it in his big tank. Since room temperature now is 78 degrees, I made my life a little easier by setting the QT next to the big tank so I could see him better and feed him more easily. I need to clean that but finals are killing me. 3 more days!

Bonus pic of his little face and flap-flappers (what I have affectionately dubbed his little EE pectoral fins):

Vincent - Day 81

EDIT: UPDATED WITH PIC

It has been a while since I posted. Where to even begin!

The cycle crashed after I moved the tank back to my dorm. That was a ton of fun to deal with. Managed to get it stable again.

The ammonia burned a couple of his fin tips so he developed a very mild case of fin rot. Completely treatable and I took care of it. 50% changes every day did the trick.

Then I made a mistake. I bought a ghost shrimp for the tank. I figured that Vincent would probably turn the shrimp into a snack. What I didn't realize is that Vincent would end up being terrified of the shrimp. I had never heard of a betta being afraid of a little ghost shrimp.

The shrimp stressed him out so much that he ended up biting off most of his tail. It wasn't pretty, and I will spare you the rather graphic pictures. He did the damage in the course of an hour while I was away on an errand, and at that point it was already starting to turn black on the edges.

Fin rot treatment started immediately in a floating hospital tank. The shrimp was removed to a separate quarantine. I dosed Vincent at 1/2 teaspoon of AQ salt per gallon, and gradually the fin rot started getting better. I wasn't in the mood to take chances, so I decided from the beginning to do the full 10 day course of AQ salt.

At this point, I was just thinking, "Yeah, things couldn't get worse."

They did.

Vincent developed velvet 3 days into the salt treatment plan. I upped the dosage of AQ salt to a teaspoon per gallon, covered the tank, and prepared to say my goodbyes. Things were not looking good. For 4 days he just kept getting worse. He still had some fin rot and was covered in velvet. I just kept dosing the salt and hoping for the best.

Yesterday he ended his salt treatment, and thankfully is looking a lot better. I believe I have successfully eradicated the velvet. His fins are starting to grow back as well. (My phone is currently dead, otherwise I would upload a pic.) When I checked on him this morning he was busy creating a bubble nest, which he has actually never done before. He wasn't too thrilled when I removed him from the hospital tank and dumped the water and his bubble nest out. I'm doing this for your own good, buddy!

I'm hoping he keeps getting better. I learned my lesson. No tank mates for Vincent.

The ghost shrimp is going to go into the other tank I'm setting up in a couple of weeks with some cherry shrimp and neon tetras.

I'm rescaping Vincent's tank too, so look forward to pictures of that!

Vincent - Day 10

Vincent is doing much better today. No more constipation! He is back to happily swimming the entirety of his tank and not being suspended towards the top. I'm still going to fast him for a day and then feed him two of the Hikari Bio Gold Pellets tomorrow. 

I went into Petsmart today to get a new API Master Test Kit. I was going to order it from Amazon originally, but I really wanted to test the water ASAP after Vincent wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I wanted to see if they had any in stock that I could get that day. I was in luck, because not only did they have one left, but it was on clearance for only $13.50! 

I ran an ammonia test when I got home. The kit was super easy to use and I definitely recommend it over the test strips because this is WAAAY cheaper in the long run. 

The water tested well. I'll do a 30% change in a couple of days.

Vincent - Day 9

I didn't take any photos of Vincent today. He was constipated, so I was more concerned about fixing that. He is already doing much better. By tomorrow he should be back to normal.

I've decided to change his diet from the Aqueon Betta Pellets to the Hikari Bio Gold Pellets. Hopefully that will help prevent that from happening in the future.

Vincent - Day 8

Vincent is doing well today. Active and happy!

Vincent - Day 7

Vincent slept in his log last night. He loves that thing. The new filter comes today so that will be installed tonight or tomorrow depending on when it arrives.

Finally got a picture of him flaring. While he isn't a show fish by any means, I still think he is beautiful. He is getting more pinkish patches on him along with some really dark blue ones. It'll be interesting to watch those develop.

Vincent - Day 6

Vincent had a very exciting day today. He got a floating betta log and a betta hammock! He hasn't figured out the betta hammock yet, but he enjoys racing in and out of the log. The fact that he can sleep in that hasn't sunk in quite yet.

Vincent is also turning blue-er and blue-er, and his head is taking on more of a rust shade. He is also starting to show some speckles on his tail that you can see in the third picture below.

In other news, Vincent is getting a new sponge filtration system for his tank because he injured himself slightly attacking the current filter. He is still active and eating so he should heal fine. The new one should be here tomorrow.

Vincent - Day 5

Vincent is quite happy on day three in his new tank! He has started blowing bubbles to make a bubble nest. I'm excited to see how big it will get before I have to change the tank water. 

The pictures I got today better show some of the red speckling on his head. I think he might marble eventually.

Vincent - Day 4

Vincent is still loving life in his new tank! He is quite happy swimming around with all of that space.

He is a fast little guy, and pretty hard to photograph.

Vincent - Day 3

Vincent went into his brand new tank today! He was a little hesitant to leave his cup at first, but once he flapped his way out, he was excited to start exploring!

Vincent is still a little startled by his reflection in the tank, but he is quite happy!

Vincent - Day 2

Last day in the cup before going into his brand new 5.5 gallon tank! Had to baffle the filter and treat the water first.

Vincent - Day 1