NOTE: I apologize for the crappy photo quality! I only have my camera phone Plus taking photos of aquatic life from outside is hard. And his bowl is round, too, so it reflects alot and distorts the image a bit.
And the only photo-editing program I have is ms paint. I tried to make due with what I have!


[journal entry about this deviation project]

So a few weeks ago (was it a month..?) I got a pet betta fish named Dark Lord Squiggles and have fallen in love with bettas. I wanted to have a pet, like a cat or something, but my landlord doesn't allow any animals except fish (sadness), so I thought I'd try taking care of a betta fish! I absolutely love it, and bettas are so beautiful. Taking care of Mistah Squiggles has brought me such joy. ^^

So anyway, about six days ago I went to PetCo to shop around and see if stuff was on sale (if I needed to resupply any items for my betta fish's needs) and I saw the terrible condition the bettas were kept in. I am quite sure they hadn't changed their water cups at all since I got Squiggles, which was a long time ago...It was so sad, all, and I mean ALL of the bettas had SOME sort of disease--fin rot was the most rampant, but I also saw some with popeye and ich. One of the worst off ones had such terrible water, it was so depressing. The water was brown and cloudy, and it looked like there was some kind of slime in it. The fish had nowhere to go to escape his own feces and his fin and tail rot was so bad he looked like a skeleton fish. He would randomly dart around and act completely erratic. I immediately asked one of the employees to change his water, and see to the others as well. I decided to buy that fish--which I called Skeletor, which I thought was fitting--and took him home. I told the employee at checkout that they should help out their bettas and change their water, because all of them were sick. Thankfully, the employee was very sympathetic and seemed to know her betta diseases. Anyway, I got him some Maracyn-TC, an antibiotic (the only one I could afford, heh), and have been taking care of him for the past 6 days and changing his water constantly. It was so sad, the first few days his fins were falling off and within an hour or two of me changing the water, I could see parts of his fins floating around on the floor. He has gotten SO much better, though. I can actually tell what color he is, and he no longer stares at the floor for minutes on end for no apparent reason.

I am so frustrated with pet supply stores like PetCo that do not take care of their animals. It infuriates me so much. I'm just glad I could help at least one little fishy out...

Anyway, I kept a photo journal of Skeletor's recovery. I'll post it as an entry so you can see pictures of him progress each day. Make sure to download it so you can actually see the pictures and the type, since I combined 6 days into one file.

I encourage anyone to take care of a pet, or at least look out for them at the store and make sure they are properly taken care of. They don't have voices, so we need to speak up for them!