Summer before last I was invited to a wedding and at the reception I received a betta fish as a gift. I took very good care of him right up until he completely disappeared. I'm pretty sure my grey-and-white cat Booger made a meal of him. Following is the log I kept when I carefully changed his water :
7-28-2008
1:33 PM
I have cleaned a small candy jar and filled it with tap water. I put it next to his jar to let the chlorine evaporate out and let the water come up to the same temp. Later I will add the water cleaner before adding him to it. Then I will clean his main bowl.
7-29-2008
3:28 PM
The water has been setting out for 24+ hours and many bubbles have floated out of it. I have not added the detoxifier yet. I will test the PH now.
The vial of water is the bluest blue on the chart, indicating a PH of 7.6 or greater.
His current water is maybe a little bit lighter blue.
The distilled water is a yellow color. That indicates 6.0 and slightly acidic water.
I just cut the new water with some distilled water. The blue now is alot like the lighter bluefrom his current water. Since he seems happy there and a rapid change in PH can cause shock, I will shoot for the same PH as his old water.
The blue tone for his new water is pretty much the same as the blue tone for his factory water. Although that's not a neutral yellow color it must be alright as his factory water is blue. Plus the web page said some minerals are good for bettas. I also added the water cleaner stuff. So- the water is the correct PH, has some minerals, and has had all of the chlorine and heavy metals removed. Next I will let it warm by leaving it next to him. It's 5:49 PM.
I put him into the intermediate bowl about an hour ago and he seems okay. I have cleaned his main bowl and refilled it. I will let it warm up and let some of the gas rise out.
7-30-2008
6:53 AM
I cut the water with some more distilled water. I added the water purifier. The PH seems more or less correct.
8:51 AM and I transferred him back to his main bowl. He seems happy.
All this for a glorified cat meal.
Wow...Was it really that long ago? Our beta didn't last very long. Maybe a couple weeks? I think the other fish we had were sick and got it sick. They all died. :( Haven't tried more fish since then. Just my facebook fish. (get one..........get a facebook.......)
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