RIP Red Licorice

Yesterday morning, to my shock, I discovered my son's rescued betta, Red Licorice, lying dead on the floor of the tank. He had shown no signs of illness and was swimming and eating well only the day before.

I tested the water quality today and it was perfect. I guess he just died of old age. (I don't know how old he was when we got him, 18 months ago. Probably over a year since male bettas are typically sold in petstores when they are a year old. Bettas have a typical lifespan of 2 years.)

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Originally published in my journal at the late great Vegan Porn.

Time to think about euthanasia

Jellybean (my betta fish) has been sick for some time now, and today he's looking really bad. On Saturday, he looked constipated again (bulging in front of the anus--but that could also be another tumour) so I'm trying the standard treatment of fasting for a few days and then feeding pieces of a cooked pea (for fibre), which really helped last time. But this time not only is he spending virtually all of his time lying at the bottom of the tank, he is having trouble swimming. When he comes up for air, he has trouble staying upright, sort of staggering all over the place, as though maybe his swim bladder has been affected.

It really looks like the time for euthanasia will be soon (if it hasn't come already). I hate the thought, and my son got furious when I explained that I will have the euthanize Jellybean soon, and what that means. He says I can't because I'm a vegan, and vegans don't kill animals. He wants Jellybean to die "normally".

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has had to make the euthanasia decision; I've had to make that choice once before. It doesn't get any less painful.

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Originally posted on the late great Vegan Porn.

When the tank is ready, the betta will appear

I've had a divided 10 gallon tank set up for months now, in the hopes of rescuing another couple of bettas.

Today my landlord gave me her brother-in-law's betta, which she described as half dead because "he forgot to change the water" (the water was full of debris).

Nicky has named the new betta Red Licorice, because of his colour and because Nicky likes candy (our first betta is called Jellybean). Red Licorice is noticeably smaller than Jellybean, I don't know if he is a lot younger, or if it's because of the conditions he was living in.

Unfortunately my digital camera is not working tonight and in any case my site is down so I have nowhere to host the image. :(

Anyway, please join me in welcoming Red Licorice!

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Originally posted on the late great Vegan Porn.

My betta is sick

Today I was horrified to see that my betta, Jellybean, has a horribly swollen abdomen. He had been moping around at the bottom of the tank more than usual for the last week or so, but he was still eating well and the water tested okay so I was hoping it was nothing.



From what I've read, it could be constipation, or a tumour. I really hope it is just constipation. I recently started using a different betta food because the store was out of the kind I usually get. I hope that's all the problem is. But he is about 2 years old, which is the usual lifespan for bettas though some have lived up to 5 years.

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Originally posted on the late great Vegan Porn.