CrissAngelLover animal update thread *update and question*

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Bandit's ear infection is completely gone. biggrin He's loving the frisbee! He's found an amusing and creative way to pick it up. It's a foam one, and he has started to randomly pick it up from the center of it after a little while of working at it. He mostly picks it up by the rim like he's supposed to, but he picks it up from the center at random. I'm working on getting him to let go of it after he brings it back to me. He doesn't let go of it and seems to enjoy playing tug of war with it. XD At least it's durable too. biggrin

I think Patriot (my betta) has gotten dropsy... crying His abdomen has gotten bloated for no apparent reason, and relatively fast... He's been acting lethargic too... Though he is still swimming around a bit, going up to gulp some air, and eating, though not as excitedly as usual. I have also observed him laying at the bottom of the tank on his belly a lot lately too (a lot more often than I see him swimming around now) Either it's dropsy, or he's eating Ace's (my BN pleco) food (I've seen him nibble at Ace's algae wafers, but he had always spat out what he had gotten in his mouth (it kind of looked like he was saying "EEW! That's discusting!" lol) whenever I was watching, so it's hard to tell if that is the case or not) and getting fat from that, and ending up getting less energy from it as well... I hope it's simply him eating Ace's food and not dropsy... Only time will tell... crying If he is eating Ace's food, how can I still put Ace's food in and not have Patriot eat it, just in case that is what it is?

Charcoal has gained some weight... gonk Some of it is probably muscle, though some of it is also fat weight (I can't feel her ribs that well now...). I'll be getting her to lose probably 1/2 to 1 pound.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Patriot is still hanging on. His belly is still bloated. He has become more lethargic. He's been laying on the bottom of the tank a lot more. Last night and this morning, he didn't even beg for food, he just remained at the bottom of his tank... He did tonight... I haven't put any of Ace's food in there since I posted this (I haven't noticed her eating them at all for a while, my tank does seem to attract a lot of algae and she does an excellent job of keeping the algae from going out of control) I'm still thinking of a way to keep Patriot from eating it and allowing Ace to have access to it for a while) to see if it might have been him eating Ace's food and then ending up with bloating from eating the wrong kind of food, as well as way too much food, but so far, it doesn't seem to have helped at all... I'll obviously continue to closely monitor his condition and hope it gets better.

Because of school, I'm now only going to be working 3 days a week until the end of the semester (I graduate this December, too! biggrin ). Charcoal will be almost completely on the Wellness Core dry food (with water added of course). She'll still be getting some canned, but only for a couple meals a week so I can still continue to afford having her and Bandit on the Wellness Core food.  

[DeeSpark]

I hope your betta pulls through... sad.

but good news for charcoal and bandit!  

[Vanilla eXee]

Start feeding Ace vegetables whenever you can, it's healthier than always eating algae wafers and there's a lot of variety to choose from for a balanced diet, lol.

Get some frozen daphnia for Patriot (or live if you can find it, then he'll really have some fun) if the bloating is from constipation that will help, it has a mild laxative effect, and healthier for him than the standard pea cure because bettas are carnivores.

Edit: And congrats on graduating!!  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Vanilla eXee

Start feeding Ace vegetables whenever you can, it's healthier than always eating algae wafers and there's a lot of variety to choose from for a balanced diet, lol.

Get some frozen daphnia for Patriot (or live if you can find it, then he'll really have some fun) if the bloating is from constipation that will help, it has a mild laxative effect, and healthier for him than the standard pea cure because bettas are carnivores.

Edit: And congrats on graduating!!

He doesn't appear to be constipated. I have seen him pooping several times while watching him. I'll try the daphnia, though still and see if that helps. smile

What kind of veggies should I give Ace?

Thanks! I'm so excited to finally be graduating! biggrin  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

DeeSpark

I hope your betta pulls through... sad.

but good news for charcoal and bandit!

I hope Patriot does too. I'm gonna try what Vanilla suggested and see if that helps.

Charcoal had been getting Wellness Core dry (with water added) for breakfast and Wellness canned for dinner before I ended up having to change her to all Wellness Core dry (with water added) with a couple meals of canned a week. biggrin I hope to at some point get her back fully on Wellness canned (hopefully they'll have more choices in the Wellness Core type, as I'd like to have her on that, but they only have 2 flavors available...) after my job becomes full time/I find a full-time job after graduating. biggrin Eventually, I want to get Bandit and Charcoal on raw feeding when ever I can afford it. biggrin  

[Vanilla eXee]

CrissAngelLover12345

Vanilla eXee

Start feeding Ace vegetables whenever you can, it's healthier than always eating algae wafers and there's a lot of variety to choose from for a balanced diet, lol.

Get some frozen daphnia for Patriot (or live if you can find it, then he'll really have some fun) if the bloating is from constipation that will help, it has a mild laxative effect, and healthier for him than the standard pea cure because bettas are carnivores.

Edit: And congrats on graduating!!

He doesn't appear to be constipated. I have seen him pooping several times while watching him. I'll try the daphnia, though still and see if that helps. smile

What kind of veggies should I give Ace?

Thanks! I'm so excited to finally be graduating! biggrin

Pretty much any kind. I usually go with some of the more nutritious lettuces (avoid iceberg) like romaine, red leaf, green leaf, chicory, kale, mustard greens etc. But that's just cause I have those on hand for my tortoise, lol. I've also tried eggplant and zucchini, which were a big hit. Akari's little fella loves yellow things like squash. yupp, I'd say pretty much whatever you can either fit in a veggie clip or get to sink. Just make sure to blanch most veggies first so they're soft enough for him to eat.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Vanilla eXee

CrissAngelLover12345

Vanilla eXee

Start feeding Ace vegetables whenever you can, it's healthier than always eating algae wafers and there's a lot of variety to choose from for a balanced diet, lol.

Get some frozen daphnia for Patriot (or live if you can find it, then he'll really have some fun) if the bloating is from constipation that will help, it has a mild laxative effect, and healthier for him than the standard pea cure because bettas are carnivores.

Edit: And congrats on graduating!!

He doesn't appear to be constipated. I have seen him pooping several times while watching him. I'll try the daphnia, though still and see if that helps. smile

What kind of veggies should I give Ace?

Thanks! I'm so excited to finally be graduating! biggrin

Pretty much any kind. I usually go with some of the more nutritious lettuces (avoid iceberg) like romaine, red leaf, green leaf, chicory, kale, mustard greens etc. But that's just cause I have those on hand for my tortoise, lol. I've also tried eggplant and zucchini, which were a big hit. Akari's little fella loves yellow things like squash. yupp, I'd say pretty much whatever you can either fit in a veggie clip or get to sink. Just make sure to blanch most veggies first so they're soft enough for him to eat.

Thanks! We happen to have some squash! I'll give that a try and see what he thinks. He doesn't seem to be eating the algae wafers that much anyways...

I looked for some daphnea at Petco today on the way home from class, but they didn't have any. They had something with some daphnea in it, but not on its own. I'll check Petsmart and possibly the fish specialty store I got him from later. I'll probably get him some freeze dried bloodworms sometime soon. biggrin He seemed more energetic and even enthusiastically took food this morning, but he's still bloated. I was also looking at "Betta Bugs" which are wingless fruit flies. I think I'll get him some of those too. biggrin  

[Vanilla eXee]

CrissAngelLover12345

Vanilla eXee

CrissAngelLover12345

Vanilla eXee

Start feeding Ace vegetables whenever you can, it's healthier than always eating algae wafers and there's a lot of variety to choose from for a balanced diet, lol.

Get some frozen daphnia for Patriot (or live if you can find it, then he'll really have some fun) if the bloating is from constipation that will help, it has a mild laxative effect, and healthier for him than the standard pea cure because bettas are carnivores.

Edit: And congrats on graduating!!

He doesn't appear to be constipated. I have seen him pooping several times while watching him. I'll try the daphnia, though still and see if that helps. smile

What kind of veggies should I give Ace?

Thanks! I'm so excited to finally be graduating! biggrin

Pretty much any kind. I usually go with some of the more nutritious lettuces (avoid iceberg) like romaine, red leaf, green leaf, chicory, kale, mustard greens etc. But that's just cause I have those on hand for my tortoise, lol. I've also tried eggplant and zucchini, which were a big hit. Akari's little fella loves yellow things like squash. yupp, I'd say pretty much whatever you can either fit in a veggie clip or get to sink. Just make sure to blanch most veggies first so they're soft enough for him to eat.

Thanks! We happen to have some squash! I'll give that a try and see what he thinks. He doesn't seem to be eating the algae wafers that much anyways...

I looked for some daphnea at Petco today on the way home from class, but they didn't have any. They had something with some daphnea in it, but not on its own. I'll check Petsmart and possibly the fish specialty store I got him from later. I'll probably get him some freeze dried bloodworms sometime soon. biggrin He seemed more energetic and even enthusiastically took food this morning, but he's still bloated. I was also looking at "Betta Bugs" which are wingless fruit flies. I think I'll get him some of those too. biggrin

I'd get frozen rather than freeze dried, unless you soak the freeze dried ones first, giving him plain freeze dried is no good because they'll absorb the moisture in his tummy. Was the daphnia in frozen blister packs? I've seen those and usually the mixed packs come with like daphnia, bloodworms, and brine shrimp, which is a pretty good deal as he'll eat all of those and it'll save you some money if you're getting bloodworms anyway, since you don't have a lot of fish so one pack will go a long way. With the daphnia, what I do is shave a little bit off the cube at a time. Some people also thaw the whole thing in water then refreeze it in smaller portions but that seems like a lot of work, lol.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Vanilla eXee

CrissAngelLover12345

Vanilla eXee

CrissAngelLover12345

Vanilla eXee

Start feeding Ace vegetables whenever you can, it's healthier than always eating algae wafers and there's a lot of variety to choose from for a balanced diet, lol.

Get some frozen daphnia for Patriot (or live if you can find it, then he'll really have some fun) if the bloating is from constipation that will help, it has a mild laxative effect, and healthier for him than the standard pea cure because bettas are carnivores.

Edit: And congrats on graduating!!

He doesn't appear to be constipated. I have seen him pooping several times while watching him. I'll try the daphnia, though still and see if that helps. smile

What kind of veggies should I give Ace?

Thanks! I'm so excited to finally be graduating! biggrin

Pretty much any kind. I usually go with some of the more nutritious lettuces (avoid iceberg) like romaine, red leaf, green leaf, chicory, kale, mustard greens etc. But that's just cause I have those on hand for my tortoise, lol. I've also tried eggplant and zucchini, which were a big hit. Akari's little fella loves yellow things like squash. yupp, I'd say pretty much whatever you can either fit in a veggie clip or get to sink. Just make sure to blanch most veggies first so they're soft enough for him to eat.

Thanks! We happen to have some squash! I'll give that a try and see what he thinks. He doesn't seem to be eating the algae wafers that much anyways...

I looked for some daphnea at Petco today on the way home from class, but they didn't have any. They had something with some daphnea in it, but not on its own. I'll check Petsmart and possibly the fish specialty store I got him from later. I'll probably get him some freeze dried bloodworms sometime soon. biggrin He seemed more energetic and even enthusiastically took food this morning, but he's still bloated. I was also looking at "Betta Bugs" which are wingless fruit flies. I think I'll get him some of those too. biggrin

I'd get frozen rather than freeze dried, unless you soak the freeze dried ones first, giving him plain freeze dried is no good because they'll absorb the moisture in his tummy. Was the daphnia in frozen blister packs? I've seen those and usually the mixed packs come with like daphnia, bloodworms, and brine shrimp, which is a pretty good deal as he'll eat all of those and it'll save you some money if you're getting bloodworms anyway, since you don't have a lot of fish so one pack will go a long way. With the daphnia, what I do is shave a little bit off the cube at a time. Some people also thaw the whole thing in water then refreeze it in smaller portions but that seems like a lot of work, lol.

from what I could tell, it was a combo pack, but each thing was a variety of things, daphnia was an ingredient of many in one of the types (it wasn't solid blocks of daphnia, solid blocks of shrimp, etc.). I saw lots of packets of frozen bloodworms, which I'll go with, then. I know Squirtle loves those too, so I could give him some as treats as well. biggrin They had frozen krill, frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp (I'll get some of those too. biggrin ), and some varieties of frozen food that was a combination of different things (hard to discribe). I'll continue looking for Daphnia. I'll probably find it somewhere lol.

Edit: While looking at petsmart's website, they have frozen daphnia. I'll be going tomorrow after my class to see if they have it in the store, if they do, I'll be getting some. biggrin Might get some other things too to give him a variety of foods. biggrin  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

While watching Patriot this afternoon, I saw him attempting to poop and it looked like he was struggling, so it appears it's most likely constipation rather than dropsy! biggrin He's been very active today! He was even doing his food wiggle! whee Hopefully Petsmart does have some daphnia in the store. biggrin If they do, I'll get some and start giving him some. I'll also look at betta bugs/ the flightless fruit flies in the reptile section (from what I can tell, they're the same thing, just different containers and different prices) and might get a container (which ever one is the best price for the quantity) for him. If I don't this time, I'll probably get some on payday, as well as possibly some frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms. biggrin Should I soak his pellets in some water before I give them to him?  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I was able to find the Daphnia (frozen) at Petsmart yesterday! I gave him some last night for his dinner, and he looked at it like "that's not food..." after a little while of staring at some of the daphnia, he decided to taste it and appeared to love it since he was then swimming all over the tank looking for more and chasing it and enthusiastically eating it when ever he found some. I was wondering, what's the best way to give it to him and how much do I give him? I gave him some for breakfast this morning too. biggrin I'll probably give it to him for his meals for a little while to see if it helps at all. I'll also probably pick up some flightless fruit flies, frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms for him on pay day. biggrin I'm not even sure if I'll continue to give him the pellets.

I just picked up a veggie clip for Ace today, so I'll be able to start giving her veggies and not have to worry about if it sinks or not. biggrin She seems to prefer being on the side of the tank anyways, so she'll probably be more likely to eat it there. biggrin

This light fixture totally died too... gonk This morning the light only flashed on and then went back off. The closest to turning it on I could get was it flashing... >.< I'm pretty sure it's not the bulb... gonk  

[Vanilla eXee]

That's so dumb, try to return it and get a different brand if you can!

When I feed daphnia I cut a little chunk off the block with a knife then defrost the chunk and baste it in. Soaking his pellets in water will help. I'd continue feeding pellets, but look for a better brand. Did you say what brand you've been using? I've taken everyone's suggestion and bought Omega One. The first 6 ingredients are whole fish! There was another brand Akari mentioned, New Life Spectrum. I haven't tried it yet, but she swears by it.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Vanilla eXee

That's so dumb, try to return it and get a different brand if you can!

When I feed daphnia I cut a little chunk off the block with a knife then defrost the chunk and baste it in. Soaking his pellets in water will help. I'd continue feeding pellets, but look for a better brand. Did you say what brand you've been using? I've taken everyone's suggestion and bought Omega One. The first 6 ingredients are whole fish! There was another brand Akari mentioned, New Life Spectrum. I haven't tried it yet, but she swears by it.

His pellets are Hikari Bio Gold. I'll look at Omega one and New Life Spectrum. smile

I think I will return it and look for another brand... I'm irritated with this brand of light fixture, given that this is the second one of this brand I have had this happen to... And it is still relatively new... gonk I at least know what size fixture I need now, though... Does anyone have any brand suggestions?  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I have returned the light fixture on Friday. I also picked up some flightless fruit flies, frozen bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp for him. biggrin I gave him some of the fruit flies, but considering I didn't have a light for the tank, I couldn't see his reaction to them... I plan on giving him quite a variety of food. biggrin

Today, My mom picked up a new light fixture at the place I got the fish from. It works great! biggrin It's brand is Marine World (the brand I kept having the same issue with was Aqueon), and it also has one of those fuse things. lol. When I turned the light on, I saw that Patriot looked even more bloated... sad I'll definitely keep trying with the daphnia and hope it works... I'm really worried though... sad