At certain times of the year, it seems a rash of a disease makes its way around any given fish room. As a beginner, I have learned the hard way a lot about controlling disease from books, the internet and experimentation. The most important thing to remember is to sanitize (see Cleaning Bowls & Stuff for some advice). When changing water, place your sick fish into a … [Read more...] about Diseases and Your Fish Room an alternative approach
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Cleaning Bowls & Stuff
Many times people are faced with a situation where they need to completely sterilize their bettas living environment. Some reasons could be a recent outbreak in fungus or a parasite like velvet, but sometimes a person might have recently lost a betta and is wanting to prepare the old bowl for a new betta. Whatever the reason is, proper sterilization of the bowl/tank and the … [Read more...] about Cleaning Bowls & Stuff
Shipping a Betta – the HB way
Many people wonder how I have gotten bettas to their destination with absolutely no color loss and eating right out of the bag. I got my shipping tips from a local breeder that ships their show bettas and takes great care in how they do it. Because I have vested much time and energy into getting my rescues 100% back to health, I take the extra step (and a little extra money) … [Read more...] about Shipping a Betta – the HB way
Lucky’s Story
This is the story of Lucky, that I sent to a betta list many years ago, when I was a complete newbie. This is a horrifying account of what happens when the peace lily vase with a betta is sold to unsuspecting people… "On Monday a colleague brought a vase with a peace lily to my office and said, "I think my fish is dying!" It was given to him as gift 5 weeks ago and the … [Read more...] about Lucky’s Story
Bettas & Filters. My experience – Negative Results.
Ruth wrote: This is a fairly long story here but I feel it is very important. Please bear with me. I am fairly new at this betta obsession. I have been at it a little over a month now. It was not something I decided to do on my own. I, in fact, am one of the people who received a betta in a bowl gift. Not having a clue on how to care for the little guy, I started … [Read more...] about Bettas & Filters. My experience – Negative Results.
Setting Up a Hospital and Quarantine Tank
Regardless of how good of a fish keeper we become, sooner or later, despite all of our efforts, all of us will eventually experience a sick fish. If this sick fish is sharing the tank with other fish, the first thing that needs to be done, is to isolate this sick fish from his healthy tank mates, except in the case of some external parasitic infections like Ich or Velvet, in … [Read more...] about Setting Up a Hospital and Quarantine Tank
Cold Snaps: what can you do?
It's 5:00 in the morning, and you are awakened by a small sudden cold snap, be it your home's heater has broken, your room mate won't allow it to be on, or in my case, it's a gas heater that's been "summerized" and your family won't get it ready for winter until later on in the fall months. By instinct, you decide to check on your Betta and come to find out, your thermometer … [Read more...] about Cold Snaps: what can you do?
The Betta Salt Bath
Salt Baths are also known to be very helpful as an additional treatment for any type of fungus or with parasites. The following instructions were provided by a member of Healthy Betta and have warrented many positive results. Salt Bath Instructions: Use a one gallon container full of aged pretreated water. Add one Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt. Heat on the stove or microwave … [Read more...] about The Betta Salt Bath
Can You Trust Your Local Fish Store Staff?
When buying our first betta, most of us ask our local fish store staff person for advice before anyone else. We believe they are the experts and rarely question the soundness of their advice. After all, if they work in a fish store they must know all about fish, right? Wrong. Sure there are amazing fish store staff out there, but they are a rare commodity. More often, the … [Read more...] about Can You Trust Your Local Fish Store Staff?
A Warning About Preventative Medicine & Aquarium Fish
I want to bring back an old article that was temporarily removed when we updated our site earlier this year. We’ve been getting a ton of emails from readers treating their bettas for all sorts of diseases. I wanted to be sure to share this information as a warning to all our readers. It’s original title, Dangers of Preventative Medicine was first published on November, 14, … [Read more...] about A Warning About Preventative Medicine & Aquarium Fish