Sooo… In the last 72 hours, I’ve managed to slaughter two betta fish.
My husband has teased me endlessly about how I’m a fish killer. Yes, I know. I am.
I got it in my head this weekend I wanted a betta fish. So off to the pet store we go. I spent $45 on this stupid fish. Okay, he wasn’t stupid. Don’t look at me like that. Anyway, the guy at the store told me to wait about an hour before putting in the fish and $45 later, I get home and we set up the small, one gallon tank. We let the water get to room temperature (which, according to my son is 72 degrees… thank you, son). I treated the water with the drops. I put the fish in. He croaked within two hours.
*sigh*
I made Man dispose of the body. Had I known, I would have kept the fish and returned him to the store. But I didn’t know that.
Fast-forward to Tuesday night. We eat dinner. I coerce Man into going back to the pet store with me. I purchase another fish, a test kit, cat grass (for the cat), and more drops. That was $30 so now I’m in for $75 total. Get the fish home. We are careful. Man helps me set up the tank again. We make sure the water stands for TWO hours at room temp. I use the test kit. The pH tests really high. I use the ammonia test and it’s really high, too. So I add more drops and wait another hour. I run the ammonia/pH test again and get the all clear. Man puts in the fish. I give him a little food and then head off to bed.
At 2:30 am, I check on the fish (I’m a mother, what can I say?) and he was happily swimming. By 7:05 am, he was dead as a doornail.
*sigh*
So while Man is getting ready for work, I remove the fish back to his plastic jar, clean the tank and set it aside. The kid at the pet store told me the night before to use distilled water and I should haven’t a problem.
All I can think is, it’s the water and we must have some REALLY BAD tap water. Back to the pet store I go Wednesday night and exchange the dead one for the live one. They were surprised he didn’t last 24 hours. So was I, to be honest. So I treated the water, put it in the tank. The tank box says to wait 24 hours before putting in the fishy. At the time of this writing, I’m still waiting for the water to be room temperature.
Hoepfully, I won’t slay a third fish. Cross your fingers.
**UPDATE** I didn’t wait 24 hours like the box said. I waited 2 hours for the water to be room temp. I tested the water and got the all clear, then we put in the fish. This morning, he was still swimming! YAY! He was also watching TV and then watching us get coffee. It was kind of funny actually. I’m SOOO happy Henry the Third lived. 😀 I’ll post a picture tomorrow.
How weird. I use tap water all of the time (Mesquite) but I use Stress Coat to slime it up a little and to condition the water. And the weird thing is, betta have a primitive lung so when their water is bad, they can go to the surface and breathe (for lack of a better term). They can actually live outside of water for like an hour as long as their body stays moist. So yeah, your water must be pretty toxic lol.
And time to get a PUR filter for your faucet!
Wow–and Bettas are so hardy! That is strange!
I have NASTY tap water. My little Betta is in a bowl with rocks and his own little seaweed shrub, and when I change his water, I always put in a “Bowl Buddies” tablet. It removes the chlorine and conditions the water for him, and so far, it’s always worked.
Fingers crossed the 3rd time’s the charm!